Evie Good queried Foxhunting Life about her recent experience with a local fox.
“Can someone explain why a fox would bark repeatedly at me?” she asked. “We heard it barking last night close to the house. We found it barking at the dog this morning. When it saw me it ran to the nearby pasture, but stopped and barked some more. Finally, the fox turned and ran out of sight.
We asked two members of our Panel of Experts—Marty Wood, MFH and huntsman Hugh Robards, ex-MFH—for their opinion on this fox’s behavior.
C. Martin Wood, MFH, Live Oak Hounds (FL)
That’s an interesting question. I have heard foxes barking many times in the past and normally it is a form of communication between foxes, particularly a vixen and her cubs at this time of year.
Barking can also be heard during the mating season, usually December/January. It is a communication between foxes looking for a mate and nice to hear on a cold winter night.
I have also seen foxes bark to attract attention from an interloper such as a dog in the fox’s home territory or close to its den. It will then be sure that the dog sees it and lead the interloper or enemy away from its den or home range.
One of my fondest memories as a boy was watching a red dog fox lead three curs away from his den. He barked loudly and then sat in the middle of the gravel track until the three pursuers got close. At that point, the fox jumped up, swished his brush, barked, and raced away.
He did this three times just playing with the three dogs. One was a bulldog, another was a fat beagle, and the third was a fuzzy cur. The fox definitely barked to get their attention and then just played with them. After he led them away on an exhausting chase, the fox came home to his den.
Fox barking is more common than people may think, as one has to be outside, still and quiet, to hear it and understand what it is.
Hugh Robards, huntsman, Middleburg Hunt (VA)
Hugh reminded me that he had written about this very subject in his book, Foxhunting: How to Watch and Listen—a wonderful book published by The Derrydale Press, now in its second printing. He wrote, “Some people will tell you that foxes only bark when they are looking for a mate or when a vixen has lost her cubs. Lord Daresbury [MFH, Limerick County Hunt] was adamant about this, but his kennel man, Tom Meehan, and that wonderful covert keeper at Kilmeedy in Ireland, Jerry Kelly, both disagreed with him.
“I kept an open mind until I went down to visit Trish and Christian Hueber at Indian Hill in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania, where much of this book was written. Trish feeds her foxes with the best of beef broth and also a measure of Ivermec de-worming medication. As I sat writing , the foxes would run about the garden, chasing squirrels, chipmunks and eating out of the bird feeders. The odd one would sit on the steps in the garden and yap at the dachshunds trying to get them to play tag.” Therefore, I can only presume that the fox in Evie Good’s garden that evening was doing the same to her dog.
Norman Fine, Editor
Hugh’s story reminded me of a fox and terrier that played together some years ago at a friend’s farm. Rick Sullivan lived at the time in the foothills of the Blue Ridge, and though I could scarcely credit his claim, he had the photos to prove it. One photo showed the terrier chasing the fox in one direction, and the other photo showed the fox chasing the terrier in the opposite direction.
“Karen would be in the barn braiding horses for a horse show, and we’d hear a yap, and the terrier would go flying out to play with his fox,” said Rick. “But the fox was smart. Each day he’d lure the terrier a bit further up the mountain. We’d hear a long series of excited yips from the terrier. A few days later, it was only, ‘Yip, yip.’ Finally, there was the day we heard only a single, distant, tired ‘Yip.’ The terrier showed up after a while, totally exhausted.”
This is the time of year when the fox families start breaking up and going their separate ways. After so much togetherness in and out of the den, I have to believe that the cubs are lonely for a while. Evie Good’s fox might very well have been communicating something like, “Hey, won’t someone play with me?”
Posted August 5, 2015