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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.

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