A Fox in a Box

When the boys were small, they had a book they read over and over and OVER, that had the phrases:

A fox in a box. . .
A fox wearing socks. . .
A fox on a box full of locks, rocks and clocks.

It was a great book, though I can still recite large parts of it because I had to read it SO MUCH!!!  I meant LOTS!  (I even tried to hide it now and then, just to get a break from reading the same thing over and over, ha!)

Now in the “noses and toes” book by Richard Hefter, the fox in the box looks rather cute and kinda happy. . .

I mean, that’s a pretty self-satisfied looking kind of fox.  He looks like that box is just where he wants to be.

Well, I can’t say the same for the “fox in the box” we found this morning.

Predator Party, Part II

Yes, we caught another fox!

And he didn’t want to BE in the ‘box’. . . he (she?) wanted OUT!!!

Well, I’m sure if I were the fox’s place, I’d be wanting out as well. However, that was not an option though the critter really tried hard to escape.

It took two nights to catch this fox.  The first night we put the turkey remnant in the cage, and that sly fox managed to grab it and pull it out over top of the trip lever without causing the door to slam shut.

This time The Farmer got a can of cheap-o dog food and put in there.  Not easy to just grab the lot and pull it out.  Nope, if you want it, got to go IN the cage and eat it.  Which the fox obviously did, and this time, bingo! Walked on the bottom lever that makes the door fall shut.

A Fox Wearing Socks

Now as it happens, it does kind of look like the fox is wearing black socks.

Okay, so it’s not quite the kind of socks the pretend fox in the book was wearing, but I don’t think there was much chance of trying to put a pair of socks on this creature. In fact, I wouldn’t have tried touching it or putting any part of my body anywhere within reach of its’ sharp little teeth.

As perturbed as this fox was, I don’t think it would have had any scruples about biting the hand that fed it!

A fox on a box full of locks, rocks and clocks. . .

As many rocks as there are in our fields, I have no doubt the fox was on rocks. And the cage was locked. The clocks, however, were missing.

What it DID have, that might have stopped a clock, was a SMELL. I mean a

BIG STINK!!!

I had no idea foxes could create such an awful odor!  In fact, having discovered just how odoriferous they can be, I have a feeling there are a few times I’ve went out in the morning and thought we had a skunk around, and it was a fox instead.

I know one thing for certain. . . this is not the last fox.

First off, I heard another fox ‘barking’ in the woods when I went out at 6am this morning and found this fox caught in the trap.

Secondly, something tried digging around the cage in an effort to get the trapped fox out.

Oh yeah… we’re not done yet.  No telling how long, or how many foxes, until we totally bust up this particular predator party.

It’s time for a livestock guardian puppy.