Gray fox numbers falling, but Ohio still allows hunting

A gray fox takes stock of its surroundings in a southeast Ohio forest/Jim McCormac

Columbus Dispatch

April 5, 2026

NATURE

Jim McCormac

Prior to European settlement, when Ohio was 95% forested, the gray fox was the only fox species in the state, and it was undoubtedly common statewide. It wasn’t until the late 1700s that the first red foxes appeared in the state. Prior to that, red foxes were confined to more northerly latitudes. This species benefited from human activities such as forest clearing and persecution of apex predators, most notably the gray wolf, that allowed it to expand southward into new territory.

However, the foxy twain didn’t meet, at least much. Red fox prefers open country, while gray fox favors heavily wooded sites. Competition due to the red fox’s arrival probably had little if any impact on gray fox numbers.

Coyotes, which also expanded into Ohio much the same as the red fox did, didn’t appear until the mid-20th century. Even by the 1980s, coyotes were still actively expanding in Ohio and were nowhere near as common as they are now. Unlike the red fox, coyotes can and will prey opportunistically on gray fox but probably play little if any role in reducing their numbers. Gray foxes climb trees like cats and can easily elude ground-bound predators.

A major and abrupt decline in Ohio’s gray fox population began in the 1970s and continued into the early 1980s. The reason? A major trapping run, spurred by high fur prices. For about a decade – roughly mid-1970s to mid-1980s – gray fox pelt prices spiked, reaching a high of nearly $45 (about $180 in today’s dollars).

High pelt prices prompted trappers to target gray foxes (see attached graph, courtesy Appalachian Wildlife Research Institute), which by many estimates is one of the easier mammals to trap. This led to a wholesale slaughter of the small forest-going foxes (average weight is about 10-12 pounds). Between 1973 and 1983, nearly 250,000 gray foxes were trapped in Ohio alone. This caused an enormous reduction in gray fox numbers, and they never recovered.

The major gray fox decline correlates with an excessive trapping run in the 1970's-80's. Graph courtesy of the Appalachian Wildlife Research Institute

An abrupt and massive human-caused decline such as the gray fox trapping run makes a species far more vulnerable to other threats such as canine distemper and other diseases, predation, loss of genetic fitness and other detrimental factors. While virtually everyone familiar with gray fox agrees their numbers have plummeted and the decline continues, and biologists speculate on the causes, no one mentions the huge trapping run as a root cause. Indeed, much of the information from the wildlife management community uses 1990 as a starting point for gray fox discussion, thus conveniently ignoring previous history.

In wildlife management-speak, compensatory mortality essentially means “doomed surplus.” In other words, animals taken (“harvested” in game management jargon) by hunting/trapping would have died due to other causes anyway.

Additive mortality is when human-caused factors such as trapping directly decreases a population, removing individuals that otherwise would have survived. Given the now-tenuous status of Midwestern gray foxes, any unnecessary pressures on the population, such as hunting, are detrimental. That’s why the Illinois DNR, with the support of that state’s hunting and trapping community, banned gray fox hunting last year.

While the Ohio Division of Wildlife has instituted a study on gray foxes, they have not placed a moratorium on gray fox hunting. The season runs from Nov. 10 to Jan. 31. There is no bag limit, nor has there ever been one on foxes. That lack of limits is what allowed the mass slaughter of gray foxes during the aforementioned period of high pelt prices.

I would note that hunting regulations only reference “fox” lumping both gray and red fox together. That’s akin to comparing apples and oranges. Red fox is far more common and widespread than their very different gray fox counterpart. However, the methods used to trap foxes are essentially the same and it’s probably hard if not impossible to set traps that differentiate between the two species.

Despite gray fox being a legally huntable species, the Division of Wildlife lists it as a species of concern. That category is defined, in part, as: “A species or subspecies which might become threatened in Ohio under continued or increased stress.”

We’re already there, regarding the threatened status. Removing the fox from hunting pressure is an obvious step in removing an additional and unnecessary source of additive mortality, and the right thing to do.

Naturalist Jim McCormac writes a column for The Dispatch on the first and third Sundays of the month. He also writes about nature at jimmccormac.blogspot.com.