Foxes in Martinez

Martinez has so much wildlife, a fox might not seem like a big deal. I have seen foxes before but not for a few years, that is until about a week ago. I was up on the hill taking pictures of a sunset and my cat was in front of me looking behind me with his eyes big. I thought it was our other cat he was watching and didn't pay it much attention. Until I turned around and saw a beautiful red fox about 12 feet from me watching me. Yes they are sly.

I turned my camera around to take a picture but my camera was set on auto focus for the sunset and would not snap the picture. I was able to get a long range photo of it though as it ran off and up the hill a bit. But the photo was not clear enough to say for sure it was a fox, but I knew it was from my close encounter with it. We live right off of D Street in Martinez by the way, and the hill is the hill to your left as you begin to go up Shell Avenue. That is where this fox was.

So I decided to set up a deer cam, a camera you strap to a tree that senses when something is there and takes a picture. I put a little cat food and water for bait, and waited. The next morning I went up and got the chip out of the camera and bingo, I got the fox! It is a red fox and also has a fox hole on the hill.

I am not sure if it is a male or female. I posted some of the photos on Face Book and found out a lot of people have seen foxes around Martinez. I read about Red Foxes and found out they are one of the widest spread animals of all, spanning the entire Northern Hemisphere through Europe, Asia and North America. In fact they are on every continent except Antarctica. They were introduced to Australia years ago and are considered pest there now.

My wife Becky names all our pets,and wild animals as well. If it turns out to be a male fox she is naming him Rusty. A female her name will be Poppy.

We have about 20 resident wild turkeys on the property, and probably 100 or so baby turkeys on the way. Maybe this fox and the hawks that are about will help control the wild turkey population. It may seem cruel, but that is nature, and I am glad to see a little balance, or we would be over ran by wild turkeys this time next year.