There is a Reason They Call Him "The Sly Fox"
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope you are having a really good day.
The word "sly" means tricky, or crafty or even clever. For years Foxes have had to develop ways to fool the dogs that seem to always want to chase them. In fact, many times it isn't just one dog hunting the fox, but a whole pack of dogs. Why in some places humans will bring together 10 or 20 dogs and set them lose in a pack to chase after just one lonely fox. The call it a "fox hunt", and they follow along after the dogs on horseback, and they think it is a "sport", or a game, like soccer or baseball. For the foxes, if they didn't have so many tricks to use, it certainly wouldn't be a game at all.
The advantage the fox has is that they know every inch of their forest, and they use that knowledge to their great advantage. Also, the fox is many times faster than a dog, so it can stay ahead of the dogs without much trouble. But rather than just outrun the dogs here are some of the clever things the fox does to frustrate the dogs.
First the fox will run in very large circles - sometimes for two to three miles. The dogs will keep running 'round and 'round as the scent of the fox will always be just in front of the dogs noses. They won't even realize that the fox left the trail an hour or so back when, after completing the circle, it has jumped into a stream right beside its circular trail , and walked out on the other side, and is now watching the dogs going around in the circle, basically now chasing nothing -- but their tails.
A fox will also will team up with its mate to wear out the dogs. Foxes are very loyal to their mates, staying together for their entire lives, just like my mother and father. So when one fox is being chased by a pack of dogs, after running for hours, the fox will duck into a hollow log where it's mate has been hiding, and the mate will come out the other end of the log, and continue the run. The dogs have no idea the switch has happened. They think they are chasing the same fox, but really they are chasing a totally different fox. In this way the foxes get a rest, and the dogs don't. I remember one time this went on for two full days, before the dogs gave up exhausted - while the foxes were barely tired.
But the best trick I've seen a fox pull was when he had run really far ahead of the dogs. Then the fox turned right around and came directly back toward the dogs. I thought that seemed like a strange thing to do, until I saw the fox jump almost 25 feet off the trail in one giant leap. The dogs came running by with their noses on the ground following the fox's scent straight ahead. But when the dogs got to the point where the fox had turned around, the trail seemed like it came to a dead end, and that the fox had just disappeared. The dogs then just ran around in circles like they had no idea which way to turn.
So sometimes when someone wants to start a fight with you, it might be better for you to be a little sly to avoid the fight, just like the fox.
Keep your chin up.
Robert P. Rabbit