# Rubbed!



## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Well sorry to say guys but the red fox in my area are rubbed already. It's the first one that I've killed this month. They aren't looking to good. Especially if you plan on selling them.



















xdeano


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## weasle414 (Dec 31, 2006)

Where did its face go is what I wanna know!


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

lol, I knew someone was going to say something about it's face. lol!!!

No, I didn't shoot it in the face. 

It's there, just bent a bit and stuck in the snow, It froze a bit funny. I didn't relize what it looked like until I actually looked at the pic and I wasn't going to go back outside and take another pic.

Very observant though.

xdeano


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

That doesn't look too good!

I put a spot and stalk on a fox Satrday morning. The fox and me must have been thinking alike because as I was getting to my position to call him I see that he beat me there. Needless to say it didn't work out.

I didn't think that he looked super furred out, but I was not close enough either to tell if he was rubbed bad.


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## WIdawg22 (Sep 18, 2008)

Boy looks like a scrub 2 me. I would think thats just an odd ball fox, fox seem to stay prime well into febuary, at least here in WI, never remember seeing one that bad at this time of year, coyote however r the ones that take a hard hit fast.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Around here the fox start going about christmas time, anything after that and they're not worth scoping. They definitely are not any good by Feb. It will depend a lot on what kind of cover they have, this year there is lots of cover up here for them to rub off on. If we would have gotten more snow earlier in the season and the corn crops off sooner, they might still be worth a crap. This one might be an example of an excessively rubbed one. This was also a male fox.

xdeano


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## papapete (Jan 2, 2005)

I've never fully understood that. Why they would start doing that when there is so much winter left. Doesn't rubbing make them colder?


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

papapete

I don't believe this is a an on-purpose type of behavior. I have heard some hair can be pulled out by laying in snow and they freeze in when they get up. And like xdeano said, just moving through cover has a hard effect on fur. For example corn and sunflower crops.

Remember just like a jackrabbit changing color, animals don't have a whole lot of say in their body processes or whatnot. Sometimes we humans like to give those animals human cognitive abilities and thought. There probably isn't as much there as we think.


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## YoteSlapper (Mar 12, 2007)

When they rub the majority of the damage is done to the long guard hairs thus resulting in a fur of no or limited value. The fine fur underneath is the insulating layer that keeps them warm and most of that stays intact even after rubbing.

Has anyone ever seen a "Sampson" fox?

I am not sure if I spelled that correctly or not and maybe it is also know by a different name, but it is a fox that has no guard hairs just the fine downy looking fur like is clearly visable on the rubbed marks on the fox xdeano shows. They are of no value so you might as well just leave them lay.

Used to pick one up once in a while when the fox populations were high.


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## patrick grumley (Mar 9, 2007)

I,ve trapped a few sampson fox back in MI. The horse and hound groups introduced them so fur hunters and trappers would leave them alone, there is no value for the fur.


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## YoteSlapper (Mar 12, 2007)

I never knew that... I just thought it was an odd ball fox that had some gooffed up gene that kept the guard hair from growing. What you're saying sure makes sense though.

We had a few come out of northern IA so they either moved or were introduced in other parts as well.

YoteSlapper


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## patrick grumley (Mar 9, 2007)

Yes it is a genetic mutation, but it is also repeatable, so some horse people had some contacts and release some of these fox in to the area. To my knowledge the fox in that area are still mostly sampson (cotton) fox.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

I've only seen a couple of sampson foxes. They're kind of unique, if I pick up another one i'll probably have it tanned. They are a conversation piece. they look really weird.

But like you said they are worth nothing to a fur buyer. Even this one that I have is worth nothing to a buyer.

thanks guys,
xdeano


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## WIdawg22 (Sep 18, 2008)

Thats kind of weird the fox in Wi are prime as can be yet, and ive seen a lot of them over the years and have a hard time remembering any really bad ones (especially like the one in the picture) until season ends. I would have thought Dakotas would be the same since its just as far north. Wonder if Mn fox stay prime longer?


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Last year whitehorse shot a fox in March and it was prime, very beatiful it was. That was in Central MN.


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## xdeano (Jan 14, 2005)

Yep, it just all depends on the year and the conditions the fox are going through. If I get anymore i'll post a pic.

xdeano


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Weather has really nothing to do with "rubbing".

The cover the animal runs usually dictates "rubbing". If their running buckbrush, cattails, or "rough" cover, theyll rub faster and earlier. Laying in snow is hard on em too.

Years of lots of snow, that keeps em up outta the cover more, theyll last longer. Years of little snow that puts em "in" the cover more, theyll rub faster.

Usually, fox start rubbing around the first of the year here in ND. Coyotes are just behind them.

That one is REAL bad. You usually see it on the hips first. It may not seem bad on the carcass, but you get em on the stretcher and it just POPS right out at you.


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## weasle414 (Dec 31, 2006)

My dad's fur on top of his head started rubbing when he was 26. Do you think he wanted that to happen? It's the same basic concept except instead of branches, brush and corn pulling the hairs out it was the little rascal typing this post :lol:


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

weasle414 said:


> My dad's fur on top of his head started rubbing when he was 26. Do you think he wanted that to happen? It's the same basic concept except instead of branches, brush and corn pulling the hairs out it was the little rascal typing this post :lol:


LOL


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## nita (Dec 11, 2008)

What do you guys mean when you say the fox is rubbed or rubbed out?


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

nita did you read the whole thread?


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