Steve wanted to show me the red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) out at Las Lagos Golf Course along Coyote Creek. When I met him in the parking lot, I wasn’t too sure what we were going to do – something about red foxes. 

“Come on, we’ll go down here and pick up a cart.” 

He drove. We went out on the trails where the golfers rode in their carts. He said, “They’re sometimes right up here.” We came up over a rise, and there they were, right beside the road, lying there, looking at us as we passed. These were urban red foxes. 

We walked into the woods, off the beaten path, because Steve wanted to show me where the trail camera that I had loaned him had been stolen and what he thought might be the red fox’s den up on the slope. I surveyed the woods and on up the cliff. Steve and I climbed that wall of dirt until I looked down directly into a red fox’s den. I felt as though I wanted to climb down in there and check out those “rooms” below. 

“Think that’s a den?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah, sure is,” I announced. I showed him some fox paw prints and some scat. 

Once down on the trail again, we stood there chatting and watching. High on the slope, a red fox appeared not far from the den. For a brief 3 – 4 seconds, it watched us, then it dashed down the steep hillside. The red fox crashed through the dry weeds, then out onto the golf cart path.

Steve excitedly pointed. “Look, he’s going down that way, out along the fairway.” He wanted to chase after it to get some good photos out on the green.

“No, wait,” I said and as I talked, I pointed. “Look, that fox is out there, but he’ll come back into this area and most likely right over there. I’ll bet there’s an animal trail just down there.” I pointed toward the creek. I walked to where I thought there should be a critter trail and sure enough, it was no more than ten feet away. Steve came up behind me. 

I said, “Shhhhh, quiet. Watch,” I pointed, “right over there.”

In that instant, from around a bend in the trail, that red fox trotted directly at us. Stunned for an instant, the fox stood, then turned and dashed down the slope toward the creek. 

I knew where the red fox headed. “Steve, you see him going through the brush down there? He’s headed up the slope now. Just watch.” The fox ran through the brush and climbed the hill up to its den high above the creek. 

In a rush, Steve said, “Oh my God, you just outfoxed that fox. It thought…. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe what just happened.” 

“Well, those gray foxes that I’ve been documenting have taught me a thing or two,” I replied. We backtracked and I added, “I’ve seen this before. This fox wanted us to follow, wanted to lead us away from its den like a killdeer leads a person away from its nest. I knew that it would come back around and climb back to its den. It just had to make sure the kids were safe.”

And so, at certain times of the year, around and about April, one is likely to run into a situation where the male of the family will put its life on the line and lead you far from the den that you likely didn’t even know was there.