FOX-FARMING

CHAPTER XXX

WHILE the value of our own red rascal lies in the sport he affords, many of his relations abroad are more sought after for their fur. In the palmy days of trapping, when beaver, buffalo, and Indians were plentiful, the pursuit of fur-bearing animals was a hard, but paying business. It is so to-day in certain districts of America, and both white men and Indians annually repair to the northern trapping grounds. Both prospector and trapper are ever urged to greater exertions, the former by the lure of gold, the latter in the hope that he may secure the chief prize of the woods, i.e., the skin of a silver fox in prime condition.

The more common furs, such as coon, skunk, civet, red-fox, and the like, can be secured in almost any district, but the valuable furs consisting of marten, beaver, silver fox, and lynx, are only found in out of the way places, where the forest primeval is their home. The lure of the silver fox is strong, for a thousand dollars is, or perhaps I had better say was—the present slump in the rarer furs having brought down values—a very ordinary price for a good black fox skin. In 1907 as much as two thousand seven hundred and forty dollars was paid for such a pelt at the London fur sales.

Trapping is a lonely business, even when two men share the work. Snow lies deep on the ground, and under the intense cold of the northern winter, the trees crack like pistol shots. The trap line may cover a circle of from twenty to sixty miles, and cabins have to be built at each end of the route, with smaller shacks in between to serve as all night shelters in time of storm.

The trapper goes scuffling over the snow on his webbed snowshoes, leaving behind him a broad trail; and where the trap line is a long one, he often employs a dog-team to haul his outfit and the furs he secures. Many prying eyes of the wild things follow his movements, and on his return journey he will often find the tracks of the gaunt, grey timber wolves, where they have followed his trail out of curiosity. With the coming of spring, the trapper packs his winter’s catch of furs, and turns his head in the direction of the settlements. On his arrival in civilization, he exchanges his catch for a goodly wad of “greenbacks,” of which every single note has been hardly and honestly earned.

Considering the hardness of the life, and the infrequent chance of securing the coveted silver fox, it is not surprising that the idea finally originated of breeding these rare animals in captivity. It eventually struck a man of the name of Oulton, that “Two foxes in the pen were worth ten in the woods,” and so he set about putting his theory in practice.

The following notes, culled from a rough diary which I kept in Canada, as well as from Bulletin No. 301, of the United States Department of Agriculture, will give the reader some idea of the commercial value of the fox in America.

The man Oulton, with his partner Dalton, had been professional fox hunters, and bought and sold fox pelts as a business. Oulton once killed a silver fox, the skin of which netted him one hundred and thirty-eight dollars. Seeing the possibility of domesticating such a valuable animal, he and his partner set about experimenting. They built fox-proof enclosures, and studied the feeding and breeding of foxes. In 1894 they built a ranch, and stocked it with two pairs of silver foxes. This was the first fox-ranch started on a commercial basis, and the forerunner of what was to eventually become a thriving and lucrative industry. In those days, skins of the black fox were more valuable than those of the silver variety and so the firm of Oulton and Dalton kept their darker foxes, and gradually eliminated those of a lighter shade. As a result of his careful method of selection, they sent, in 1910, to the London fur sales, the finest collection of silver fox skins which had ever appeared there. The twenty-five pelts averaged one thousand three hundred and eighty-six dollars each, the best specimen selling at two thousand six hundred and twenty-four dollars. The ranch from which these fox skins came was situated on Prince Edward Island, a Canadian Province in the St. Lawrence Gulf. In the meantime other small fox ranches had been started in Ontario, Maine, Alaska, Michigan, Newfoundland, and the Maritime Provinces. The Prince Edward Island breeders intended to monopolise the business, and in order to keep their methods secret, they sent off their skins in small parcels, to distant postoffices, the reports of the sales being received in code. They agreed to sell no live silver foxes, and had secured the best that there were to be had.

Naturally, as the business thrived, the financial status of the partners improved, until it was no longer possible to “hide their light under a bushel.” Friends and neighbours soon wanted to participate in the “good thing,” and when the results of the 1910 sales were made public, there was a general rush to start in such an apparently profitable industry.

People with capital invested it in foxes, while others mortgaged their farms to enable them to follow suit. Others wanted foxes, taking a share of the sales’ profits. Prices of breeding stock advanced rapidly, one ranchman selling his finest pair of cubs for seven hundred and fifty dollars, and other pairs for three thousand, twelve thousand, thirteen thousand, and fourteen thousand dollars. In the autumn of 1913, ranch-bred silver fox cubs six months old were selling at from eleven thousand to fifteen thousand dollars a pair.

The enormous inflation of prices was maintained by stock companies originally formed by individuals who for financial reasons were unable to enter the business alone. Companies were then formed for those who had foxes to sell. Dividends of from twenty to five hundred per cent. were paid, the stock being sold through brokers. Prices of twelve thousand to fifteen thousand dollars in the open market were capitalized in companies at eighteen thousand or twenty thousand dollars. Brokers and promoters found a means of livelihood in the industry, which naturally led to an increase of fox companies.

With the outbreak of war in 1914, the palmy days of speculation came to an end. In 1916, ranch bred foxes were selling at one thousand five hundred to two thousand dollars a pair. In certain territories where only foxes which have been kept for twelve months or more in captivity are allowed to be exported, prices of wild, half-grown silver cubs were from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars each. In 1914 silver fox skins fetched about one hundred and eighteen dollars each at the London fur sales, and there were indications that the prices would fall even lower.

In the early days of the fox breeding industry a certain number of people came to grief over it, through lack of knowledge in handling their stock. Now that there are a large number of silver foxes in captivity, a steadier and more healthy development of the business may be expected. In 1913, the number of fox ranches on Prince Edward Island was two hundred and seventy-seven. To-day there are ranches in nearly all the Canadian Provinces, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. In 1914, the number of ranch bred silver foxes on Prince Edward Island was two thousand six hundred. The value of these foxes was estimated at fifteen million dollars. Prices of both live foxes and skins are now far below their original value, and in the future the prices of breeding stock will bear a more approximate relation to the market value of their pelts. The following notes, culled from my diary of some years ago, relate to the construction of enclosures, etc., for keeping foxes in captivity.

A wired-in enclosure on land similar to that in which the animals are accustomed to run wild, will be found quite suitable. A few shrubs and trees are necessary for shelter, and the enclosure should be as secluded as possible. Wire fencing, with a two inch mesh, ten feet high, let into the ground for eighteen inches, with an over hang of two feet at the top, is perfectly fox-proof. Inside the enclosure barrels or dog-kennels are distributed, which the foxes make full use of. Unless these are supplied, the foxes dig their own earths, and the litters suffer in consequence.

The average silver fox is omnivorous in his diet. Beetles, grasshoppers, rabbits, chickens, etc., are all greedily eaten; feeding a variety of food also lessens the expense considerably. Horse beef is fed at intervals, about a quarter of a pound of beef and a few scraps being sufficient for each fox per day.

If over-fed, the foxes become fat and lazy and breed badly. The average weight of a silver fox in good condition is about ten pounds. The cubs are born in April and May, and average five to a litter, though the numbers vary from two to eight. Disease is rare amongst them, and they live peaceably together. The attendants should make it their entire business to look after them. The fur and the disposition of the foxes can be greatly improved by judicious breeding.

Sufficient has been said to enable the reader to get some idea of the enormous value of the business in America to-day. Important as Reynard is from a hunting stand-point, he is of much greater value as a fur-bearing animal, though possibly few people realise his worth in this respect.

The market value of fox skins of different phases, depends upon the relative scarcity of the animal. The price of black skins fell below that of the silver variety, owing to the fact that furriers successfully imitated the former by dyeing ordinary red-fox skins black, and were thus able to put them on the market at cheap rates.