# Fox Scream



## *Andi

Now a panther scream will give you a heck of a chill ... but the fox (IMO) is not that far off...






That would be the vixen scream ...


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## UncleJoe

We've heard all of them. Nice to have an explanation of the different calls. Thanks.


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## Startingout-Blair

I used to live in Springfield, VA outside of DC. I grew up in Western PA but had never heard this until living in VA. I always wondered what it was I was hearing! Now I know! Thanks! Learn something new every day!


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## kejmack

It will raise the hair on the back of your neck for sure! Bobcat screams, too! Sounds like a woman being murdered.


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## CrackbottomLouis

I just played this loudly on my patio under the neighbors. Good reactions


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## Freyadog

kejmack said:


> It will raise the hair on the back of your neck for sure! Bobcat screams, too! Sounds like a woman being murdered.


Heard that one night and Thumper and I could have swore that one of our neighbors was murdering his wife. We actually made calls to make sure that everything was ok around us.


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## *Andi

The fox is one cool critter ... well, as long as they stay out of the hen house. 

I like to hear them call ...


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## Jason

I've heard most of them too. I thought a few of those were raccoon sounds. 

A few years ago in the little patch of woods (1 acre, maybe) beside my house I heard what sounded exactly, I mean exactly, like a woman's scream. We really don't have wild cats around here any more but I thought maybe one was passing through or something. This makes me think maybe it was just a fox.

Very good post, Andi...thanks!


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## DJgang

We have some small overhang caves on our property. You can tell something is denning down in them, we figure foxes or coyotes. I'm thinking we have more foxes than I realize because I've heard them scream numerous times. Husband says its a 'mountain lion' but I think a fox is a nearer possibility.

The bark and alarm as well as the howl is what I hear the most.


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## *Andi

I just about jumped out of my skin ... lol

Went out to the truck for a book and had a fox to scream from the top of the hill. (I saw it for only a few minutes and it was gone.) I also found it interesting that it was this time last year that they were the most vocal ... 

They were rather loud last night also ... very interesting...


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## Country Living

Thanks, Andi, for posting the video. Now I know how to differentiate between the coyotes and foxes. I have a few questions about fox behavior, if any of you can answer....


Do foxes run in non-familial packs?
Are foxes nocturnal? I've seen one just past dawn; but, not during the day. 
Our chickens are locked up tight at night and free-range during the day. What time of day is my greatest risk to lose a chicken to a fox or, stated a different way, shoot the fox that may go after the chickens?

Yes, I know I could Google.... but, you guys/gals give more informative and practical answers. And, as my grandson says, "you're more funner".


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## *Andi

We see our Red fox early morning or like tonight, just before dark ... but I have also seen them in the early evening. So they do hunt in the daylight hours also. My hens do not free range when I'm not home or when I have the grandbabies ... It's like the fox knows when the hens are out. (no joke)

Our grey fox, I've only seen in the late evening. (Last time I saw him he was not looking to well... that was this time last year)

As to "non-familial packs" ... I'm not sure what you are asking but I will say I've never seen a "pack" of foxes. More times than not, it is one fox. With that said, "I've seen the pair at the den."

Yes, I know where the den is and I have not taken them out. As of now ... there is no need for me to do so.


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## bugoutbob

They make an eerie scream no doubt about it. I find a wounded rabbit more so because it sounds like a baby crying


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## dixiemama

Our reds were out last night and pretty close to the house. We thought something was wrong with Bub by the way it was crying (he was snoring away). They are usually king the ridge line. This is the first time in 8 years they've been that close.


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## cowboyhermit

Fox calls are one of the only sounds that has really made my hair stand up at night outside, beautiful but creepy.
It is rare to see foxes in our area in any group over a pair unless you find their den.
Foxes are like a lot of wildlife and animals, most active around dawn and dusk, but they are about during the day as well.


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## BillM

They sound like a woman screaming !

The British Gentry hunt them with hounds and from horse back.

A sport described by one British newspaper columnist as " The inedible pursued by the unbearable !"


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## Country Living

We have a cougar in the area with the screaming woman cry. The fox in the video is nothing like the cougar.

What I meant about foxes being familial - do they only run with mates and their kits or do they run in a pack similar to the coyotes?


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## *Andi

Country Living said:


> What I meant about foxes being familial - do they only run with mates and their kits or do they run in a pack similar to the coyotes?


I've only seen them as a single or pair but I'm sure they teach the young to hunt...but I've never seen it.

When we raised quail and pheasants we would see them just about every day but now it more like once a month or so. (But we do hear them calling)


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## crabapple

Thanks, Andi.
I have seen single red & gray fox out in late afternoon or evening.
Saw a Bobcat yesterday about 4:00 pm crossing a paved road.
My Father went out to kill a fox when I was 10 yr. or so old.
We never heard a shot, he came back & said he saw clubs, so he left them alone, never lost a hen to them, that we know of.


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## mdprepper

20+ years ago we woke up at 3am to police cars and helicopters all over the place. Someone (new to the area) had called the police because they heard "a woman screaming" and they thought she was being murdered. Turned out to be a fox.


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## prepare_survive_thrive

Yeah I had one that woke me up every night for two months. Seems me and the fox both found sounds we didn't like. I didn't like him screaming around my hen house and he didn't like the sound of a 12 ga.


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## dixiemama

Ours must be the exception to the rule then-- we frequently hear/see packs of 4 or more. They haven't bothered anything so far, but like my first post, this is the first time in 8 years they have ventured inside our 'home boundary' fence of 30 acres.


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## *Andi

*Andi said:


> Yes, I know where the den is and I have not taken them out. As of now ... there is no need for me to do so.


And times change ... they are now in my backyard screaming! (can't have that) What a rush and a chill at the same time! 

No one around here hunts or traps much any more...(and) I'm getting 3 or 4 on the trail cams each night. (and each cam)

Time to thin them out.


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## Viking

We have red fox around, never heard them scream but often hear them bark. My wife is good at imitating their bark and they will answer back frequently. A couple of years ago we could hear them bark throughout our valley, I think the youngsters had been kicked out of their dens and were lonely. We also have a lot of mountain lion and bobcat around but have never heard them scream. One time I heard a young deer bleating and then a snarl, pretty sure it was a mountain lion, made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The strangest sound I've heard in the woods is a porcupine, I heard one crying and thought for sure someone had left their baby to die in the woods, I was relieved to find it was just a porcupine.


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## Outpost

We have some red fox around here but primarily see the Gray.

Our end-shed was home to a family of them a couple years back. 1 vixen with two kits. The wife and I were on the deck on a warm summer evening, enjoying the clear night and a drink or two when the vixen came out of the woods holler-growling for her kits. We didn't see her at first, but the sound we heard would have excited any self-respecting sasquatch-hunter.....!

That sound wasn't in the video posted, but...

*Holy CRAP!*

...you want to talk about *pucker-power*?

:eyebulge:


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## Viking

There's a place that's next to where an old sawmill office building used to be that I pick from black cherry trees and often over the years I've had fox bark at me from inside where all the trees are clustered, the only thing I was ever concerned with is running across one that had rabies that would come out after me. I think at one time the area was someones farm or tree orchard that the trees went wild after it was abandoned. There are often elk tracks and droppings in the same area and you can see where they bedded down on the grass. It's forest edge area and gets a lot of different wildlife. What's great about the cherries is that in dumping the pits in my compost I've gotten a number of trees started from them.


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## power

I have a pet fox. One thing I can tell you. If a fox wants something there isn't much you can do to stop it. They will watch and study what you do. They can dig under a fence in rocky ground in a matter of minutes. They can go over a 6' fence easy. They can walk a 1" piece of pipe at a run and stop and turn around.
They are amazing animals.


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## Viking

power said:


> I have a pet fox. One thing I can tell you. If a fox wants something there isn't much you can do to stop it. They will watch and study what you do. They can dig under a fence in rocky ground in a matter of minutes. They can go over a 6' fence easy. They can walk a 1" piece of pipe at a run and stop and turn around.
> They are amazing animals.


They are amazing and the ones we've seen are beautiful. When we were out on the desert in N. Nevada one came up to our motor home about 10' from me, I gave it some of our dogs food and it came back for more the next night. One time while I was gold detecting my wife watched a couple of kits playing with a empty plastic water bottle and jumping up in the air and diving into the den opening. They are very quick, more than one time they have crossed the road in front of me and I thought for sure I'd hit them but they always escaped. In all the years we've lived here I've only seen two dead ones in the road and I think they were youngsters that hadn't learned to get out of the way.


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## crabapple

In a back issue of "Carolina Wildlife" magazine was a article on how fox can out smart man.
One time a group of hunters where hunting a pregnant female fox, she came out of the swamp to high ground, wet, muddy, & exhausted.
A male fox, clean, rested, appeared & rubbed her wet muddy side & waited for the dogs to start out of swamp, as the female slipped into cover away from the chase.
Now that a guy to take home the meet the family.


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## power

Viking said:


> They are amazing and the ones we've seen are beautiful. When we were out on the desert in N. Nevada one came up to our motor home about 10' from me, I gave it some of our dogs food and it came back for more the next night. One time while I was gold detecting my wife watched a couple of kits playing with a empty plastic water bottle and jumping up in the air and diving into the den opening. They are very quick, more than one time they have crossed the road in front of me and I thought for sure I'd hit them but they always escaped. In all the years we've lived here I've only seen two dead ones in the road and I think they were youngsters that hadn't learned to get out of the way.


Mine is a little different than most foxes. It is a cross of a silver fox and an artic fox.


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## Outpost

They're awesome to watch. We had 2 kits being raised under our end shed. Momma would go off hunting and these two little buggers would come out and play.

Unfortunately, we also have neighbors who raise chickens, and *we* are looking into the same thing. Fox and chickens aren't a good mix. At least we have an abundance of fox around here, so it won't be like they're endangered or anything. We're also looking into various "fox-deterrent" methods. I'd hate like hell to harm them (but coyote is a whole different story) but they're simply not compatible with raising chickens.


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## crabapple

power said:


> Mine is a little different than most foxes. It is a cross of a silver fox and an artic fox.[/QUOTE
> 
> Could you post a photo,please.


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## power

crabapple said:


> power said:
> 
> 
> 
> Mine is a little different than most foxes. It is a cross of a silver fox and an artic fox.[/QUOTE
> 
> Could you post a photo,please.
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry, don't have a camera.
> He undercoat is white. His legs and face are silver. His outercoat is cream colored on his sides with some silver hairs along his back.
> He gets a little darker in the summer and lighter in the winter.
Click to expand...


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## valannb22

Guess that answers this question LOL


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## LincTex

Outpost said:


> I'd hate like hell to harm them, but they're simply not compatible with raising chickens.


They are easier to keep out than Raccoons. Damn I hate how crafty ***** are! I had to build my 'Fort Knox" chicken coop to keep them out!


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## HardCider

Once a predator dials in on your chickens, good luck. We had chickens that we would let free range during the day and lock up at night. One of our chickens went AWOL and started hanging out with one of sheep. Seems they had some kind of a bond. The chicken would sit on his back. One night an owl plucked him out of his roost tree in the orchard. A redtail hawk would hit a chicken every once in a while. The foxes and ***** I would take care of.


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