Anyone seen a fox?

[flyfisher]

Hope that fox has a gun licence.
ff

[north-north-west]

Plenty of feral deer in Tasmania. And they're protected!

Oh yes. Closed season much of the year, and does are off limits etc. Insane.
But do they get up into the alpine and sub-alpine areas? Never seen any - either deer themselves or trace - whereas up here about the only place they don't go is up onto the Main Range itself.

[flyfisher]

Yep lots of deer in the Great lake shack area. Saw a mob of 17 behind the Compleat Angler lodge a year or two back. We used to have a shack there and we saw deer often.
Around Arthurs too and I reckon they would be up to Fergus as well.

ff

[north-north-west]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the Great Lake area - we used to see them up there back when I was a wee little thing.

Still, a bullbar is enough to take one out.

[flyfisher]

Does bruise the meat though
ff

[north-north-west]

No, this one zigged with its head down when I zagged. The bullbar broke its neck. Nice clean meat.
Of course, it was late at night and out of season and I didn't have the wherewithal to dress the carcasse. What a waste . . .

[flyfisher]

Highland people saying " ÿa put tha season in em when ya cook em"
ff

[tasadam]

Deer oh deer...

[north-north-west]

And I was just mooseying along, too. No point going elk for leather on that road . . .

[flyfisher]

We wouldn't be getting off topic, would we????????????????????
f

[north-north-west]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
I wanted to see how many posts we could get before Nick decided to split the thread.

[tasadam]

I could split it for him if you like

[north-north-west]

No, let's just say something serious about foxes and other ferals so no-one else notices . . .

Errrrr . . . ummmm . . .

[Son of a Beach]

my splitting finger is getting itchy. But I might just go split some hairs instead.

[BarryJ]

Or split some hares instead?

[Son of a Beach]

mmmm.... hare pie

[BarryJ]

Damn, we rabbit on sometimes!

[tas-man]

Damn, we rabbit on sometimes!

. . . . until outfoxed by another

[sml_12]

Doe!!

[Fizzygood]

I've seen a fox in Tassie.

Myself, two friends (both born here also) and a guy from Germany that we were taking to Hobart all saw it about 3klm from the start of the Arm River Track. We were driving at the time and the German guy casually said, look, there's a fox on the road, we all saw it and there was no mistake... it was a fox. I was a skeptic and even in spite of what I have seen still find it hard to believe, but nonetheless my eyes did not lie... sadly, foxes are here!

Erin

[tasadam]

Latest update...
Click on it for a larger view.

[Drifting]

A friend from work who is 110% reliable in outdoors matters spotted a fox at Don Heads recently.

[theMISSIONARY]

Well im still a sceptic i hunt/control wild life around small and large farms in the Devonport-Latrobe-forth out to Parkham and Burnie to Natone areas(Farms) every week and i have yet to see ANY sign of fox and we(the family) would trap and shoot them in SA before i moved back here....when the weather cools im going to get the lil dog out and see if anything turns up......and if even one does

[theMISSIONARY]

Oh on the feral cats..they tend to help here rather than be a pest as 9/10 they are eating mice......but they are still a pest

[ObtuseAngler]

Well as usual, i have enjoyed the hour i have spent reading this so i thought i'd better chime in. Firstly, I have been very reluctant to speak of my experience with a fox, as most of the people i have told think i/we are lying/dreaming/mistaken or otherwise. But here goes.

It was late 2008, I was driving through to a remote beach in the NE of Tas with a mate. it was a friday afternoon, about 6.30pm. We were about 10 km out of Gladstone, on the Bridport side. As we rounded a right hand corner, about 300m up the road, crouched over a roadkill carcass, was a fox. It took a very quick sideways glance at us and bolted into the bush. I instantly said to my mate "do you (censored for forum)ing see that?!?!?" He replies, "yes, pull over" He is a keen hunter and we had his rifle in the car. He jumped out, loaded the rifle and headed into the scrub. He came back after a couple of mins, said he steped into the bush, heard some foliage rustle, and a mob of sheep on the other side of the scrub took off. But no shots fired and no more sightings. We looked around the carcass and took some photos on a phone of some footprints.

When we got to the rest of our group on the coast, we told the story, and were met with the typical "how many beers did you blokes have on the way down?" Back at work on monday, we told the same story, same replies. We rang the fox task force, 6 times in total that day, no answer to any of them. The next day there was a report in the examiner saying they had 30+ staff in non operational roles with the task force, thats about when i lost faith in the FTF.

I have since spoken to two other people, one a farmer one a deer hunter, that have seen a fox also.

So there is my story, feel free to poke fun at it, as everyone else already has. While i am talking about sightings, i have also seen an all black cat, early 2009, the size of a german shepard with paws the size of my fists. I saw two massive purple eyes on a long straight, slowed to 40km/hr and watched it trott past my car. That story usually attracts more laughs than the fox story, with a few of my hunter mates telling me they've seen some big feral cats in their time, but i must be over exagerating.

[north-north-west]

i have also seen an all black cat, early 2009, the size of a german shepard with paws the size of my fists. I saw two massive purple eyes on a long straight, slowed to 40km/hr and watched it trott past my car. That story usually attracts more laughs than the fox story, with a few of my hunter mates telling me they've seen some big feral cats in their time, but i must be over exagerating.

Don't suppose that would have been anywhere near Narawntapu, would it? I've never dared talk about that one because I was sure no-one would believe it.

[Drifting]

We've heard a big cat in the mountains of Victoria, and seen tracks around our property there.

[Ent]

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Last edited by Ent on Fri 12 Nov, 2010 9:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

[north-north-west]

Biggest feral cat I ever saw was on Maria. Almost as big as a Labrador, and well-nigh unkillable.
I'm hoping it was a freak . . .

[Walker]

Anyone else register for the fox email updates?
Latest email just received shows scat collected from North Bruny Island...
Seems these foxes have learnt to swim?

You'd think they would have caught at least one by now, hold it up to the media and say "See they are here, c'mon come and help us get rid of them" or something like that.

Fox Eradication Program: Physical Evidence Update (28 May 2010)
Further fox positive scats confirmed from Mt Seymour, Melton Mowbray, Judbury, North Bruny Island and Ranelagh

Tasmanian Fox Eradication Program Evidence Update, 28 May 2010

Results received on Thursday 27 May 2010 from the University of Canberra’s Institute for Applied Ecology report that five (5) scats have tested positive for fox DNA.

Mt Seymour (1)
Scat collected on 21 April 2009 during Phase 2 of the strategic carnivore Scat Collection Survey.

Mt Seymour is located 15km southeast of Oatlands and east of Lake Tiberias.

Melton Mowbray (1)
Scat collected on 22 April 2009 during Phase 2 of the strategic carnivore Scat Collection Survey.

Melton Mowbray is located 28km southwest of Oatlands and 53km north of Hobart.

Judbury (1)
Scat collected on 27 May 2009 during Phase 2 of the strategic carnivore Scat Collection Survey.

Judbury is located 47km southwest of Hobart and is situated along the Huon River.

North Bruny Island (1)
Scat collected on 21 May 2009 during Phase 2 of the strategic carnivore Scat Collection Survey.

North Bruny Island is located 47km south of Hobart and east of Kettering.

Ranelagh (1)
Scat collected on 13 May 2009 during Phase 2 of the strategic carnivore Scat Collection Survey.

Ranelagh is located 37km southwest of Hobart and is situated along the Huon River.

All scats are from areas identified as core fox habitat*

Twelve (12) fox positive scats have now been identified from Phase 2 of the Scat Collection Survey (Interlaken, Tunbridge, Campania, Geeveston, Bushy Park, Murdunna, Oatlands, Mt Seymour, Melton Mowbray, Judbury, North Bruny Island and Ranelagh). Analysis of scats collected during Phase 2 is now finalised.

The latest physical evidence brings to eight (8) the total number of fox positive scats received this year (2010) and brings to 56 the total of fox positive scats collected in Tasmania since 2002. For further information about the physical evidence collected and the fox eradication effort in Tasmania, visit http://www.dpipwe.tas.gov.au/fox

* Core fox habitat is defined as habitat that is highly suitable for foxes due to the type of landscape and an abundance of resources, such as food and shelter. It predominantly includes agricultural landscapes, open woodlands and grasslands in Tasmania.