Nice going Spud.  Were foxes imported down there to control the jackrabbits?

Local fox couple comes through our back yard now and then, looking for one of the rabbits that live under our back porch, or maybe a nearby yappy little dog now and then. They feed them to their pups. Lotsa free rabbits to support the foxes.

They used to come by more often cause previous owner fed their dogs in back yard, so they were feeding foxes as well.

Old Win & Called Flyer, foxes where introduced by the Brits back in colonial days so the gentry could hunt them on horseback, reminded them of home. They became a real pest and have colonised most of the country. Impact heavily on native species especially the small marsupials & birds. Feral cats are worse and do more harm than foxes to local wildlife. Foxes got a real bad name with sheep farmers as they took lambs.

Same with the deer. The Reds & Fallow were put on estates & the Sambar, Chital, Rusa & Hog were released in the forests mainly from the 1830's to 1880. Since then the population numbers have gone through the roof to the extent that deer numbers in some agricultural areas are causing real concern. Hunting does reduce numbers to a small extent but govt. authorities are now talking about culling & poisoning campaigns. It would be a shame to see them gone completely. I usually take two or three a year for meat. If they have antlers....that's a bonus.   

Even our trout were introduced.

Joe, I must admit that I like some foxes too. I actually have a pair on my place that help to keep the rabbits in check. Feral cats are shot on sight!
What's a Rockchuck?
Spud

fat rat. big toes.
looks like a Larson cartoon.

Aaron

You don't even get the plop when you hold low with a  110 gr in a .270. and skid the round off a granite slab.
All that is left is the skin, skull and paws and a bit of magpie bait. Two-seventy had a Weaver K4 with a 12X adapter. 

On the  other hand I put a kirksite round thru a similar chuck and all it did was drop from vertical to horizontal. I sat there for 5 min waiting for movement. Finally walked up: I'd nailed it dead center vertical ... and may have disrupted the nervous system.

We used to shoot them in Eastern Oregon around Long Creek. We'd shoot until we couldn't handle a barrel from the heat, and then wait for guns to cool. Within minutes of stopping the turkey vultures would begin circling and in a few minutes there wouldn't be a single dead ground squirrel in sight.
The rancher who let us shoot on his property was hesitant at first, but soon was asking us if we were coming back next year! He lost a fair number of cows to broken legs from their burrows.

Now you have me worried!  I wonder if I can somehow mount my 1903 Springfield bayonet on my Stevens 218 Bee.