Red Fox on the Chippewa River Trail Traditional Cache
Red Fox on the Chippewa River Trail
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Even though this is right in town, I saw a Red Fox here, around 5:00 pm on the day that I placed the cache. I was very surprized to see a fox so close to human activity. The fox crossed the bike trail from the east, where there are a lot of oak trees. He then walked along the abandoned concrete roadway, and then thru where I placed the cache. He watched me placed the cache from about 150 feet away, and then returned to this area.
The red fox is easily identified, by their small dog-like appearance and bushy red coat and bushier tail. The red fox is about 3-3 ½ feet in length, slinky and long-legged. They only weigh 9-12 pounds full grown.
Their large, upright ears allow them to locate a rustling sound within 1 degree of its true location, which is substantially better than my Garmin. A fox can hear a mouse squeal from 150 feet away.
Mice, especially meadow voles, are a popular food for red foxes, but their favorite dish is cottontail rabbit. They aren’t picky eaters though, and will eat berries and insects in the spring and summer, along with squirrels, songbirds, ducks, and pheasants. This fox probably also feasts on human garbage, given the proximity of a McDonald's and Taco Bell.
Nighttime is the right time for red foxes to be active. They do most of their hunting from 2 hours before sunset to about 4 hours after sunrise and travel up to 9 miles a night.
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