Fox in the Freezer

RebelDigger · #1 01/08/13, 08:57 PM

Annie, our chicken guard dog, broke this poor fellows back the other morning. So we did the only humane thing and put him under. I could not bear to waste his pelt though, he has his winter coat and is beautiful. So, since both Dh and I have been down with the flu this week, I triple bagged him in Glad hefty bags and put him in the freezer til we can get him to the taxidermists to have him peeled and cured. (I still feel kind of like one of those crazy cat hoarder people you see on TV with dead animals in the freezer LOL. But Dh assured me that is how the thing is handled so . . .) I hate that he got in Annie's way but, she was just doing her job and he was right where the chickens usually hang out so he most likely had ill intentions.

Fox in the Freezer - Homesteading Questions

Fox in the Freezer - Homesteading Questions

hiddensprings · #2 01/08/13, 09:39 PM

He is beautiful. My son does a lot of trapping and his freezer has more pelts in it then it does food most of the time.

RebelDigger · #3 01/08/13, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hiddensprings

He is beautiful. My son does a lot of trapping and his freezer has more pelts in it then it does food most of the time.

That makes me feel a bit better about it. It just seemed so strange to me to open the lid and push aside the hamburger and put this in there.

Sanza · #4 01/08/13, 10:01 PM

That's going to be a nice hide when it's tanned. Are you going to hang it on a wall?
I would throw any moose or deer hides in the freezer until I could take them in to be tanned, but haven't done that for a while now.

bassmaster17327 · #5 01/08/13, 11:10 PM

You should see my freezer, it is full of animal heads including bear,ram,deer,fox and coyote. I do skull cleaning and european mounts for people so the freezer is full of heads waiting to go in with the beetles.

That is a nice fox, their skulls look really nice cleaned and whitened

Pops2 · #6 01/08/13, 11:14 PM

Really nice grey. It takes a really good dog to catch them as they usually stay tight to cover.

tailwagging · #7 01/09/13, 05:09 AM

hey! the crazy cat women aren't the only ones who put dead pets in the freezer!
some pet breeders do so they can get a neocropcey done at a later time.
(and no I don't have any in there.)

OkieDavid · #8 01/09/13, 06:16 AM

Nice pelt. I also have critters in the freezer. Wife knows if it's in a black garbage bag she really doesn't want to look inside and see what it is.

tailwagging · #9 01/09/13, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OkieDavid

Nice pelt. I also have critters in the freezer. Wife knows if it's in a black garbage bag she really doesn't want to look inside and see what it is.

salmonslayer · #10 01/09/13, 09:59 AM

Yup, your not alone. We hunt for meat and waste nothing so we often have hides in the freezer waiting for their turn to be tanned; right now we have a few rabbit pelts and a deer hide in deep freeze. I would encourage you to learn to tan your own though as its not difficult or expensive and its pretty satisfying to do things for your self. I flesh the hides, salt them a couple times, then soak them in a brine solution, then wash them with clean water and dish soap and then apply a commercial tanning solution.

I am always sad when a beautiful animal is killed like that but it much more humane to dispatch the animal quickly and good for you for not wasting the pelt.

Silvercreek Farmer · #11 01/09/13, 10:19 AM

Make sure he is legal. Around here anything killed while attacking livestock must be buried unless you have a permit to keep the hide/meat.

RebelDigger · #12 01/09/13, 01:57 PM

To answer a bunch of the posts above at once.

Hee hee, it ain't just the hide in the freezer, it is the whole darn carcass. That is why I feel so strange about it. As soon as we get well enough, I hope to get him to Dh's friend to skin him and do whatever. We don't actively hunt, and the only thing I ever kill and clean is chickens so I felt it would be best not to start out practicing on something so perfect. I have been told that fox skin is easily torn and I am sure I would make a poor job of my first attempt.

Annie's a good dog. She is half Great Pyrenees and half Black Lab. We "know" her parents as they are owned by a close friend. She has been a good guardian for my flock and takes her job very seriously. The only other things I know of that she has killed before are moles and mice. Crazy to watch, she digs the moles up then tosses them in the air and plays with them like a cat, the same thing she did to the fox. Guess that is what comes from being a puppy raised with only an old, cranky cat for a role model LOL.

I doubt there are any special rules around here regarding a kill like this. Out here, folks tend to mind their own business. That is why we bought this place, no zoning, no building permits needed, no one telling you what to do on your own property. Sure, there is a hunting season schedule and right now deer season is on but, no one thinks anything of hearing shots fired around here at any time cause we all target practice all the time anyway.

I will most likely have it hanging on the wall in the living room somewhere.

**Kris in MI** · #13 01/09/13, 03:24 PM

Beautiful fox. Here we have reds, and my intent is to do the same as you if I ever get lucky enough to catch one in the vicinity of my chickens.

As far as whole dead animals in the freezer--a few years ago our beloved Jack Russell got hit by a car in January (his fault, he had a nasty habit of going across the street whenever he was able to get loose or the fence had a short). We couldn't bury him because the ground was good and froze. So we wrapped him in several trash bags and put him in the deep freeze until spring.

Allen W · #14 01/09/13, 03:42 PM

Check quietly to be safe, but you might need a license or tag to get it tanned, especially if it will cross state lines.

mekasmom · #15 01/09/13, 04:29 PM

That pelt is beautiful. I have only seen the red fox in person, never one that color.

My BIL does taxidermy, not professional just as a hobby. It's funny because when you go to their freezers you have to move around dead animals to find the food. SIL showed us their freezer a few years ago with whole frozen fish, frozen dead pelt animals, etc. BIL can make some beautiful things, but he is slow about it.

Gianni · #16 01/09/13, 05:00 PM

It should always make us reflect when we take an animal's life. I believe that you should feel better than if he killed 5-6 chickens. he is pretty we don't see many grey's here just reds.

nancy237 · #17 01/09/13, 05:07 PM

Fox in the Freezer

Has a ring to it, like a country song line...

big rockpile · #18 01/09/13, 08:13 PM

I had one Tanned,far as stuff in the freezer I had a Hog Skull in mine for a year before I got it cleaned up.

Nothing like having whole Hog Heads or Deer Heads in the freezer.

big rockpile

fishhead · #19 01/09/13, 09:29 PM

I kept my dog in the freezer until the ground thawed in the spring one time.

You can tan it yourself if you just want to hang it on the wall.

nancy237 · #20 01/09/13, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by big rockpile

Nothing like having whole Hog Heads or Deer Heads in the freezer.

big rockpile

Reminds me of one of my first jobs at a BBQ Place.
They sent me back to the walk-in freezer to get something
and I found hanging hog head when I opened the door..
Apparently all the newbies got that same initiation..

Loved that job...