We’ve had coyotes here forever. Still have healthy populations of grey fox, kit fox, and red fox. We don’t have the population density of either that you guys back east do, simply because the desert just doesn’t have the resources to sustain high populations like some of the habitat you guys in the east enjoy, and that may be why the coyotes haven’t decimated the fox.

I was wondering how long it would take for you guys to get the coyotes (and lose your fox).

It happened here in 1986-87. Fox galore to none in a years timeframe, once the coyotes took hold. They take over quickly and soon your fox will be a distant memory (unfortunately). 35 years later and we are JUST seeing some (a small percentage of what we had) fox coming back in towns.

Pro tip: When you catch a fox now, you are going to find them torn in twos or threes if the coyotes beat you to them in the morning. Stuff a chunk of that fox tail or hide down the hole and there will most likely be a coyote there the next morning. They always come back to that fox kill...and it's most often that same night.

Yep, time to retool your fox equipment. Go to #3s....not 1.75s or #2s. Took me about a decade to figure that one out. I'm a slow learner.

We have no reds or greys In my area of WI. Don't know If the coyotes are completely to blame but they are a big part of the problem.

We even have some on Long Island now, took awhile but somehow they made it... Not a lot yet but that'll change.

Caught my 1st last year... next farm over had 2 on a cam... being hearing about them around here for years, seeing is believing.
BTW... killed a 43" copperhead a few days ago, only the 2nd one I've ever seen in DE, and the 1st was 40+ years ago... been told that's pretty much as big as they get.

Your ecosystem is unbalanced.
You likely have no wolves,so the coyotes will over run and red fox will be the losers.
With wolves in the ecosystem coyotes will not have a chance to overpopulate,and the red fox do very well following the wolves around.Wolves are a big benefit to all the smaller carnivores especially in late winter.
However,the wolves need to be managed by the trappers or the boom and bust will be excessive.
Wolves and beaver are the keystone species.
Pay attention to the management of those two species on your lines and everything else will thrive in optimum harvestable numbers.
Looking at your location,your habitat is likely too fragmented to be able to sustain a minimal wolf population so you will have to live with what is left there.

find some deer that have been run over on the road if you are allowed to gather up one or two of them, start a gut pile, bait station or whatever its called up that way. Set out a few trail cams on video mode and see where they are coming from. make sets with a Good quality gland lure and also Jamesons Cultered egg bait or one similar. set 6-7 traps and catch the entire lot of them butt sniffers. If you know where some persimmons are that are near getting ripe or have some persimmon preserves, thats what I would use for bait.

Rob/Neal and Mud, this is Worcester County. Between Public Landing and 113. This is the most concentrated area I’ve seen them so far

Wolves in Maryland...that'll balance that ecosystem....

Boco, very interesting thanks for the input. We have no wolves and a small beaver population. Beaver are in pockets, not well spread in my area. Otter are more abundant than beaver, on the rivers/bays/ponds that I trap ( can’t speak for the rest of the Shore trappers ).

Coop, that’s a big copperhead! Glad you saw him first.

Sheepdog I might do that. I will kill every coyote that I get a chance to.

Calvin, why the number 3 rather than a #2 for an all around coyote/fox trap ? Just curious to your opinion.

Thanks