Fox Hunting Info

The arctic foxes, also called the polar foxes or the white foxes, are a distinctive genus of the Arctic. They are small (3 to 5 kg) circumpolar, tundra-living canids. In several areas, the arctic fox is the most plentiful mammalian predator, which affects the migrating birds’ breeding success and maybe lemming cycles. This creature is itself a victim of predation, mostly from red foxes Vulpes vulpes, wolves Canis lupus, wolverines Gulo gulo and golden eagles Aquila chrysaëtos. To the aboriginal people, the polar fox is a source of meat, fur and mythology.

These foxes are opportunistic eating just about anything that’s digestible. They mostly feed on berries, insects and larvae, seaweed, birds as well as their eggs, seal placentas, fish, small mammals and remains of big mammals. In continental regions, the central prey species in the summer is lemmings, Lemmus and Dicrostonyx spp., voles, Microtus and Clethrionomys spp., as well as remains of reindeer Rangifer tarandus. In the wintertime, ptarmigans Lagopus mutus and L. lagopus are as well important food resources. In various years, the food is copious, large litters are frequent and population size boosts quickly, only to collapse one or two years afterward and these cycles are normally repeated each 4 years.

Arctic fox burrows are located in frost-free ground, regularly low heaps or eskers in the tundra, or in rock loads. The burrows have 4 to 250 entrances and a structure of tunnels that covers around 30 square meters. Several dens are used for generations and generations of foxes. Arctic foxes are capable of breeding in the first year and are thought to be fundamentally monogamous, even though they can enlarge group size in high population density conditions. Mating regularly occurs in April – May, with the young being born following a gestation period of 52 days. When they are 3-4 weeks of age the young (called kits, whelps, cubs or pups) begin to emerge from the den; they steadily become self-governing during the next month.

The arctic fox continues to be the most important terrestrial species of game in the Arctic. Indigenous tribes have constantly used its excellent fur, and with the arrival of fur industries, the arctic fox rapidly became a significant source of earnings. Because of their notorious reproductive capacity, the arctic foxes can uphold population levels even under tough hunting pressure. The arctic foxes have survived high prices for fur better than the majority of Arctic mammals. Hunting has dropped significantly in the last few decades, because of low fur prices as well as substitute sources of earnings. Around the end of the century, fur industry in Russia but also in the U.S. brought the arctic fox to remote islands, where the animals caused serious declines and exterminations of numerous home bird populations. Efforts to eradicate arctic foxes from such islands have been made, by hunting, poisoning and by introducing sterile red foxes.

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