Wildlife Monographs
Red Fox Predation on Breeding Ducks
in Midcontinent North America
Tables
Table 13. Fur value, fur harvest, population trends, and harvest regulations for red foxes in the 94,245-km2 Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, 1963-80.
| Year | Pelt value (dollars)a,b |
Furs bought by
ND furbuyers (N)a,c,d |
Spring population | Season length (days) | New Harvest restrictionsa,f | |
| Families (N)e | Km2/family | |||||
| 1963 | 1.74 | 7409 | 13528 | 7.0 | 365 | |
| 1964 | 1.82 | 24219 | 16669 | 5.7 | 366 | |
| 1965 | 2.37 | 28100 | 13403 | 7.0 | 365 | |
| 1966 | 6.93 | 37623 | 5316 | 17.7 | 365 | |
| 1967 | 3.51 | 28362 | 6934 | 13.6 | 365 | |
| 1968 | 3.99 | 25430 | 7625 | 12.4 | 366 | |
| 1969 | 7.75 | 22250 | 4717 | 20.0 | 365 | |
| 1970 | 6.35 | 18849 | 6401 | 14.7 | 158 | Aerial hunting restricted to 5 Jan-28 Feb (54 days) |
| 1971 | 6.16 | 9609 | 9265 | 10.2 | 114g | Aerial hunting and chasing with snowmobiles banned |
| 1972 | 9.10 | 22779 | 11624 | 8.1 | 213 | Use of toxicants banned |
| 1973 | 14.72 | 37827 | 13477 | 7.0 | 212 | |
| 1974 | 28.89 | 61556 | 6483 | 14.5 | 197 | |
| 1975 | 25.57 | 32812 | 10366 | 9.12 | 123 | |
| 1976 | 31.30 | 38938 | 7107 | 13.3 | 129 | Use of snares banned |
| 1977 | 45.69 | 50107 | 4619 | 20.4 | 102 | |
| 1978 | 50.54 | 34064 | 3372 | 27.9 | 87 | Use of carcass trap sets banned |
| 1979 | 69.09 | 34584 | 5995 | 15.7 | 87 | |
| 1980 | 63.01 | 28306 | 6841 | 13.8 | 72 | |
aApplies to year ending in spring of calendar year given.
bAverage values paid by furbuyers in North Dakota.
cApplies to all of North Dakota but at least two-thirds of the foxes are believed to be from the pothole region.
dMany additional foxes were killed for sport or as farm pests prior to 1969 and not sold. Such activities diminished greatly after 1969.
eEstimated number of fox families provided by Johnson and Sargeant (1977:8) for 1963-73 and calculated for 1974-80 by applying their methods to rural mail carrier sightings of adult foxes/1,000 miles driven in April. Evaluation of mail carrier data is provided by Allen and Sargeant (1975).
Virtually no restrictive regulations were in effect 1963-69: gassing, digging, and shooting of pups at dens; aerial hunting; private use of toxicants; unrestricted use of snowmobiles, hounds, traps, snares; and other hunting methods were widely employed. All listed restrictions remained in effect during subsequent years.
gSeasons were stratified in the state but length given applies to most of the pothole region. Shortened seasons apply to fall and winter and always included period when furs were best quality.
