The fox, unlike the black bear, wolf and other animals, survived the onslaught of Euro-American settlement in Cen-tral Illinois. It wasn't for lack of trying, though, as the first pioneers and those who came later did their best to extermi-nate crafty "Reynard" by way of gun, hound and trap.
During the pioneer era, "ring" hunts targeting wolves, coyotes and foxes were popular with settlers. Hunters, either on horseback or foot, would form a rough circle sometimes several miles in circumference. They would then work their way inward, inexorably driving game toward the center where they would be dis-patched by gun.
Illinois is home to both the red and gray fox, though it's the red fox that's seen in The Pantagraph area. This fox prefers open fields, unmowed ditches and other "edge" environments located near woodlands.
Mostly active at night, red foxes live in underground burrows and eat small mammals, plants (such as apples and persimmons) and insects. Adults, which weigh between 8 and 14 pounds, breed in late January and February, with litters of three to six kits appearing in late March or April.
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In January 1895, 75 "gallant nimrods" gathered in Old Town Township for a fox chase. The "roundup" occurred on the J.M. Dooley farm because foxes had "nightly terrified the population of domestic fowls with their nocturnal depreda-tions." The hunting party, though, bagged just one fox.
By the early 20th century, automobiles were being used to ferry hunters and chase down game.
In 1915, local sportsmen formed the Tazewell-McLean Counties Fox Hunters Association. The inaugural hunt was held on the Charles Amerman farm three miles north of Mackinaw. The farm bordered the Mackinaw River and a stretch of wild lands known by locals as the "Lost Forty."
During the 1920s, fox fur coats, scarves and muffs were all the rage, and Illinois trap-pers could get $10 to $20 for a pelt.
For a while, annual gatherings of the Tazewell-McLean association included a "bench show" with awards given to champion dogs. The association's September 1937 show at Cold Springs north of Carlock featured 294 dogs, with some coming from Missouri and Indiana. Local hunters seemed to favor the Treeing Walker or Bluetick breed of coonhound.
For years, county govern-ments, prodded by farmers interested in protecting poultry and other small stock, placed bounties on fox scalps. In the spring of 1945, Clifford Roth of Waldo Township in Livingston County, rounded up 11 kits, receiving a $3 bounty for their scalps.
At the same time, George Rathbun, Loren Haney and Leslie Hussemann reported a big "crop" of kits near Gridley. "A total of 19 baby foxes have been caught recently in this district," stated The Pantagraph. "The comment of farmers is 'thanks,' for they report thefts of chickens by foxes has increased so greatly the past three years that the loss is considerable."
In the winter of 1959, Joe Necessary (pictured here), John Huth and Kenneth Toepke, all Shirley area farm-ers, killed 15 foxes using steel traps, receiving a $2 bounty from McLean County for each pair of ears. The traps were laid out in the fields and hid-den under straw or hay.
Today, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources sets dates for fox hunting and trapping seasons, and for other furbearing mammals.
In November 1937, Gridley sportsman organized the area's first fox hunt of the season. Men riding in automobiles and trucks were dropped off one at a time every eighth of a mile to form a one square mile cordon.
'' 'Fox in the ring,' somebody called from across the snow covered fields," described a Pantagraph reporter on the scene. "The cry was electric. Every man made ready. Reynard darted out of a cornfield, circled a plowed section to get a quick view of the situation and then created a beautiful streak of floating red as he 'barreled' it up over the hill to the north and slipped unharmed through an unguarded sector of the ring."
For much of the day, the hunters formed one cordon after another but the fox kept escaping northward. William Greenwall of rural Gridley finally brought down the elu-sive animal. "As he lay there in the snow with Mr. Greenwall looking on," the reporter added, "one could not help but admire his cunning and speed which kept 25 armed men guessing all day."
