Coyotes and foxes don't coexist well I ONCE SAW A red fox trot past our living room window, but I've yet to see a gray fox in our yard. Maybe it's because they're scarcer than red fox. A neighbor has seen them on his property, however. Both fox varieties are classed as furbearing animals in the DNR regulations and, while there's no bag limit, the season is closed much of the year. That wasn't always the case. Not only could you kill a fox any time you wanted, you were rewarded with a bounty. In Portage County the bounty wasn't lifted until 1974, and only after much debate. The reason for the bounty was the undeniable fact that foxes like to eat what hunters like to hunt - things like ruffed grouse and rabbits. Another mark against the fox was its reputation as a chicken thief in those days when every farm had a few hens running loose. Bounty foes said the fox's impact on wildlife was exaggerated, and they said the animal did some good by controlling rodent populations. They contended that the bounty was ineffective as a means of controlling fox numbers, and they complained of fraud. They said some trappers only killed male foxes, releasing the females to insure a future supply of bounty material. Getting back to the gray fox, it can do something neither your dog nor any other canine can do. It can climb trees. In "Mammals of Wisconsin," Hartley H.T. Jackson wrote that it not only can jump from branch to branch as it ascends, it has been known to climb 20 feet "cat fashion" and then hop limb to limb to 40-foot elevations, "either to escape enemies or capture prey." National Geographic's "Wild Animals of North America" says the gray fox has "sharp, curved claws and catlike agility - it can scurry up a tree before most people can pronounce the string of Latin syllables that mean, loosely, 'gray fox.'" (Those Latin syllables, as if you didn't already know, are "Urocyon cinereoargenteus.") "In disposition," Jackson wrote, "(the gray fox) appears to be a little surly." But, maybe feeling a little apologetic, he added, "The gray fox on the whole is not a bad citizen in Wisconsin." The fox, at least the red one, is in good shape around here, according to Conservation Warden Barry Meister. "We have a decent population of red fox in the county," he said. "I do not see a large number of hunters or trappers out pursuing them, however. One limiting factor to the red fox population is the coyote population. The coyote population continues to increase as well as expand its range. Coyote and red fox do not co-exist well and where you find large numbers of coyotes, you tend not to find many red fox." Recent winters, at least until this one, haven't provided good snow conditions for coyote hunting so their population grew, said Meister. "Mother Nature may eventually have to intervene," he added. And, he said, "Gray fox tend to inhabit more densely vegetated areas and are very secretive. I'm sure that they are around but I have not seen one (dead or alive) in a long time." Greg Dahl, the DNR's area wildlife biologist, had similar observations. "Red fox are common but not abundant," he said, and they outnumber the gray fox. "Both are most active at night," said Dahl, "making observing them difficult." At this time of the year, he said, they're most likely to make their presence known by tracks in the snow. And where you have a lot of coyotes, said Dahl, you have fewer fox. "We have a number of hunters going after coyotes with hounds and if they happen to come across a fox during the hunt they will try to harvest it," said Conservation Warden Roy Kubisiak. "Most of the time fox and coyotes will not live in the same areas because they, like most canines, are very territorial." John Irwin of rural Junction City is a computer programmer when he isn't trapping and serving as president of the Wisconsin Trappers Association. The fox population around here is pretty healthy, he said, and the price of fox and coyote fur isn't bad - $25 to $35 a pelt. He said the red fox, which prefers open country, is more abundant than the gray, which likes brush. He agrees with the wardens and the wildlife biologist that coyotes and foxes don't get along, and that the foxes are the losers. But when wolves are around, coyotes lose. If wolves ever become abundant here, said Irwin, coyotes will disappear. But wolves and foxes don't compete, he said. Irwin wishes he could trap more, but his work with the Trappers Association cuts into his time. Trapping teaches you things about nature, he said, and that's what he likes best about it. He sees things most people don't. Recently, after a fresh snowfall, he saw evidence where a hawk or an owl had caught a muskrat on the ice. "When you play the role of the couch potato, a lot of the world goes by," he declared. * * * THE TREE WITH the most value to Wisconsin wildlife is the oak. But despite the saying, "solid as an oak," it's in trouble for a lot of reasons, one of them being oak wilt. This is a disease which can wipe out whole clusters of trees. Wilt in one tree spreads to others through root grafts. The disease also spreads when insects carry the fungus to oak tree wounds. That's why you shouldn't prune an oak during the growing season. If you're going to do it, do it now. Other oak problems are poor logging practices, too much shade from other trees (oaks are sun-lovers), the gypsy moth and excessive numbers of deer, which browse on the seedlings. A long list of creatures feed on acorns - deer, turkey, grouse, blue jays, squirrels, wood ducks and more. Fortunately they don't feed exclusively on them, because the acorn crop is inconsistent. A good one may happen only three years in 10. "The most important type of turkey habitat in Wisconsin is the open oak woodland," says the DNR. It provides food, shelter and places for nesting, brooding and roosting. Oaks come in a lot of varieties. More than 60 species and an equal number of hybrids are native to the United States. Around here, the red oak is the most valuable for lumber, but the white oak is probably best for wildlife, if only because it's more resistant to wilt. Before white settlement, much of southern Wisconsin was dominated by oak savannas, which are grassy or brushy land with scattered oak trees. What kept it from becoming totally forested was fire, often set by Indians to keep it open for the benefit of the wildlife they hunted. It didn't kill thick-barked mature oaks but it burned off the tops of seedlings. When settlers came they carved out farms which stopped fire from running unchecked across the landscape. For a time, that helped the oaks. They sprouted from the roots and thick forests developed. Now, because of the absence of fire which used to kill off their competitors, many of these oak woodlands are in decline. * * * ANCIENT OUTDOOR HISTORY: Portage County Preservation Projects would like to keep the Plover River in its natural state through purchase of scenic easements from property owners. (Stevens Point Journal, April 9, 1970)