Lawn diggings from Red Fox

I thought I would post this one because I've never seen it before in any books or heard anyone have this issue, so maybe it will help others down the road.

I got a call from a lady last summer who said she had red foxes digging up the sod in her lawn and destroying it so much that she couldn't even mow her lawn all summer, and that every morning she had to wake up early and re-roll the sod over the holes to fix it. I chuckled a little and said, "Ma'am, I think it's probably skunks doing that, they dig up the grubs". She said, nope, she knows they are foxes and that nobody else would believe her either.

So I went out to her residence and inspected her lawn. I was dumbfounded. I couldn't believe the huge areas that were ripped up; some were 8 feet in diameter and 6 inches deep.

So I set 6 traps in her lawn and baited them with various baits, urine, gland lure, etc.

The next morning, I came back to check my traps and caught THREE foxes! I couldn't believe it. I relocated them to my relocation spot, and kept trapping that week. The next morning I caught another big male and relocated him as well. Then another male yearling. I only had a few days to trap there, but I ended up relocating FIVE red foxes from her property.

I followed up with her this year to make sure they that I took care of the problem and she happily reported that she had NO MORE diggings and that the problem seemed to be solved!

YOWZER! Always something new. Well done. Was that last one wet or ?
And, Welcome to the gang!

I wouldn't have suspected fox either, but I have done stomach content surveys on late Spring fox and they have a lot of insects in them.
I am curious about your "relocation spot". Are there no laws preventing the relocation of rabies vector species in your State? Not passing judgement, just curious.

At first glance it looks exactly like a hog rooted the ground.

52Carl,
In Wisconsin, you can relocate to private property with landowner permission only. The spot I chose had no coyotes, so the fox do okay there. I caught 3 red fox from that location the season before, so I "replenished" with these nuisance ones. Sometimes relocation can be detrimental, but I put up scent posts under trail cameras and had a good assortment of reds, sometimes 2-3 on one picture, so I'm confident they relocated successfully, however I didn't trap there this year because it was too far of a drive.

That damage looks like our coon damage in lawns and golf courses as well. Skunks don't typically roll back grub damaged sod like that in my experience and to that degree.