I just had the most amazing time watching a Fox in the field adjacent to my home!
I was watching a herd of 8 Antelope feeding in this snow covered, cultivated field when I noticed a Fox Hunting just beyond them and about 500 yards from me.
Anyway this Fox was "on point" and frozen like a statue with its back humped and head pointed down just in front of him (her?)!
I got my binoculars from the shelf in my sun room as quick as I could. I did not want to miss this Fox and what I was sure was about to happen - the rarely seen high into the air and then nose first dive into the snow after the quarry!
Well I watched and watched for what I was sure was 5 or 6 minutes and I decided - heck I am gonna sit down and look through the sun room spotting scope at the still "frozen" Fox!
I hurried and got the spotting scope set up on the Fox, and focused, and I watched for several more minutes! Still no nose first pounce - just the "frozen Fox"!
I started figuring out the time on this incident and remembered I had taken a break from my "winter reloading" at 2 minutes til the top of the hour (Rush Limbaugh on the radio takes his hourly news break then and I had come upstairs to get juice) anyway I am watching so intently and for so long now my eye is beginning to water from the poor quality optic, and because I am looking through a double pane window!
You might ask, why I am looking through a "poor quality" optic in the first place - the answer is because of the VarmintWife and her habit of "tipping over" my spotting scopes out in our sun room!
I have spotting scopes by Unertl, Leupold, Burris, Bushnell and Bausch & Lomb but the VarmintWife is allowed only to use this "cheap" Vanguard scope to watch the Deer, Antelope and bird life out in the fields.
She is just to haphazard to entrust a good optic with!
Anyway my eye is watering and I begin switching off from the cheap 20x spotting scope to 12x Nikon binoculars - I switch back and forth and its now 20 MINUTES since this Fox was noticed by me, in this frozen position!
FINALLY the Fox extends his neck to his right and he lunges up into the air and comes down nose first in the 2" - 3" deep snow! He gets up and with his back to me, I see his jaws "chomping" several times! And then off he goes at a slow trot, nose low to the snow with ears pricked up!
I was just amazed that this Fox was as "patient" as it was for this small meal! I am assuming it was a mouse he got?
I went back down in my reloading room and my eyes were still watering and I was now suffering from "snow blindness"! It took several minutes before I could "see" the fine lines on my balance beam reloading scale!
Just a slice of life here in Montana.
The VarmintDog then barked his need to be "let out" so I am on another break! As I walked him through the front yard I spied a herd of 32 Mule Deer out at 400 yards - most were lying in the snow and just a couple were up and feeding. Its an un-seasonably warm 42 degrees here now! Normal would be 28 to 30 degrees here at mid-day this time of year!
The sun is just blazing away and it would be a great day for a range session but the wind is bubbling along at 7 or 8 miles an hour!
So much for that.
Back to the loading room!
Like I say, just a slice of the good life from here in Dillon, Montana (SW)!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Nice story, I don't have fun with foxes but the Mule Deer are using my yard for a bedroom everynight. I probably shouldn't do it but I throw them scraps from time to time. What can I say they are in town, might as well be free range pets.

I used to live over near the Bridger mountains where there was a large population of red foxes and most everyone liked seeing them and there was kind of a local agreement that unless they were causing trouble no one shot them.
There were 2 that used to hunt cottontails together.One would go out into a little grassy meadow and sit down the other would hunt the adjoining quakie grove,flushing the rabbits to the waiting fox.One spring two different females had litters in dens about 1/2 mile apart on 3or 4 different occasions I saw one of the females bringing both litters down the road going to the other den.I think there was 14 or 15 in the bunch.I had a pretty good picture of them but cant find it.w/regards

Rainman1882 & Gophershooter: It is -2.3 degrees here in SW Montana right now (11:00 AM January 11th).
Indeed I love watching the wildlife myself!
I tell you one thing and I can not emphasize it enough! I am absolutely amazed that ANY mammal can live through a Montana winter!
Absolutely, amazed!
This morning when I awoke it was 5 below zero and the wind was a constant 25 MPH and gusts to 33! The wind chill I am guessing was around 30 degrees below zero!
It was like that all night here!
Yeah there are 31 Mule Deer in my yard right now! There are 4 small Bucks in the group. They all are munching up a storm on grass and shrubs!
What kind of scraps do Mule Deer like by the way - I will gladly put some out if I have'em.
Yes gophershooter, most all ranchers here in SW Montana enjoy and protect the Foxes as they are mousers and do not chomp on the newborn calves. I have seen Fox eat the after-birth but never a calf! The cattle will be having their calves here in the next couple weeks. This brings the Coyotes into range of the calving pastures! He-he!
The VarmintWife absolutely loves watching the newborn Fox (kits) and watches them for hours as they play tag (she is convinced!)! Coyotes are universally condemned and Hunted by the ranchers here abouts though.
Supposed to get REAL cold here tonight.
I got this new wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer for Christmas! I just love it. It works up to 330 feet from its sender and like I say, is wireless. It gives the low and high temperatures for the last 24 hours as well as the present temperatures. It reads to the tenth of a degree both indoors and out!
I highly recommend this model as it cost only $14.00 and is endorsed by "The Weather Channel"! It was purchased at Macy's Department Store if anyone is interested. Supposed to last 2 years on a loading of 2 AA batteries - we'll see!
The VarmintWife would keep "the good thing" out of reach for a MONTH if I even thought of shooting one of HER Foxes in the neighboring fields!
And, we Varminters, in this area have informally quit Hunting the Fox for the last 3 years now, due to a population crash that was caused by the mange!
They are slowly coming back after what appeared to be a complete die off!
Tough times out there in the cold of Montana!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

VarmintGuy
After reading your story I am sure you live in heven.

muck

Muck: Yes, heaven, it is here in the Rocky Mountains of Montana!
I just took the VarmintDog out for a walk around the house and we saw 8 Antelope and 23 Mule Deer to the south and another herd of 35 Mule Deer to the north! Also saw several Magpies and heard (then saw) some Canada Geese flying down the valley.
Looked for the Fox but no luck. The sun though is just blazingly bright up in the clear sky and even brighter as it reflects off of the snow. The air is very still and remains VERY cold, my thermometer showed -3 degrees here at 1:00 P.M.!
That may be the high for today - we'll see!
So its a COLD heaven, here today!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy