Mange in Fox and Coyotes

[The Grebe]

Hey, any of you diehard trappers out there have any idea how long it takes for mange in fox and coyote to run it's course?

I set my last fox traps about 10 years ago and I was picking up mangie fox and coyotes then. The first 15 years that I trapped, I never caught a mangie anything?

Today we were out doing a couple of jobs and it took us along the river and a pitiful looking fox crossed the road.

As many Red Fox as my wife has seen me bring home, and that has been a bunch, she did'nt know what it was! That things tail was about as round as my thumb and the end looked like it had been dipped in white paint....we could see the crustiness and scabs from the truck. It seems I have been seeing more with mange then without?

[HC Eye Hunter]

I know what you are saying, I used to run a long line back in the 80s and out of all those fox I would maybe pick up one or two a season that had mange on them. It seems that when the trapping preasure subsided the mange really kicked in. And when the mange kicked in the fox disappeared and the coyotes moved in. I personally miss those days of a healthy and plentyful fox population.

[The Grebe]

HC....I never had much trouble with the coyotes. I would have one kill a fox once in awhile, or dismantle one of my #1 1/2 coils, but they did'nt seem to be a problem?

I did'nt set for coyote intentionally, I did'nt like skinning them, but I would get one every once in awhile in a fox set and hold them. I got a triple once, a fox in one set and 2 coyotes in the other 2 sets, it was cool!

I used to love fox trapping when I had more time and a pard that had close to as much drive as myself. We did 155 fox one season,
the 55 I got on my own line down here, the 100 we picked up in the Little Falls and surrounding areas. I got alot of doubles and several triples over the years.

The mange thing helped make it easier for me to pull the plug, that and development.

[psegriz]

Grebe

You said ya pulled the plug?

I missed out on a couple trappin seasons due to back injury not to mention not shootin a shotgun for four yrs.

Now after surgery I'm going back but probably won't make opener due to work. I'm mostly a water (mink) trapper. Since I won't be able to trap til end of november I don't think I'll see too many of them 30+ mink a day deals anymore. But it's in my blood.

I've missed those times of gettin the **** scared outta me when a buck jumps up a few feet from ya in the middle of total darkness. A trapper sees things that lots of sportsmen never see or have the opportunity to see. At 5:00 in the morning making a set and havin a skunk come up and smell YOU A moonlit night sittin in a corn field over lookin a swamp fox huntin and have one come down the row of corn your sittin in and trip into your lap don't know who was more scared me or him? How can a guy just hang that up?

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Goosin now but Ice is coming soon!!
GRIZ

[The Grebe]

Psegriz...The feeling is always there? I sometimes go out tracking, just to see what is out and about. I fancied myself a really good tracker.

I had about 500 mixed traps, mostly fox traps, cause that is what I liked to do, trap fox. I even wrote and published a booklet on it.

Getting up early to go plugging for bass, going out to the deer stand, or the duck blind, was always a struggle for me, but when it was time to get up and run those
traplines, I literally hit the floor running! No alarm, I just knew it was time to get up and go.

I used to pinch Copenhaugen, about a 10 year habit and I gave that up about 12-15 years ago, but I still like the smell of the stuff. I guess that if something is in you, it is in you and thats that.

There are a few traps left out in the shed, and all my other trapping gear and I know for a fact that if the bug got me again, I could be operational within a week. Getting the land and permissions would be a different matter though.