Would a fox eat your face?

[Scythe13]

Quick question, I don't know the answer.

Would a fox come over and bite your face while you slept? If you've not read the Dartmoor latest thread, then you'll probably not understand my curiosity for this question.

Situation, you're asleep under a basha, a fox comes over to you while you're sound asleep. Mr fox looks at your face poking out from your bivi, under the basha. Would he have a bite?

[CharlesHarris]

I don't know about foxes, but a bear will, especially if food smells are about and you have spilled food on your clothing. Here it is important to store food in a sack raised high, out of reach and not to store any snacks, dirty mess kit, etc. in the tent. Instead rig a perimeter alarm at least 10 metres away from and surrounding the sleeping area, hanging your mess gear, empty food cans filled with gravel, etc. to make noise. Keep a powerful hand torch and bear spray handy. I have several times had bears in camp and the bear spray is an effective deterrent. Works on feral dogs and people too.

[Binnie]

I know the humble fox was given some really bad press a year or so ago, mauling babies and suchlike, i don't think they'd tackle an adult human, they might give you a sniff but that'd be about it.

above everything else, i think my snoring would be enough to keep them away lol.

(14 October 2013, 01:15)CharlesHarris Wrote: I don't know about foxes, but a bear will, especially if food smells are about and you have spilled food on your clothing. Here it is important to store food in a sack raised high, out of reach and not to store any snacks, dirty mess kit, etc. in the tent. Instead rig a perimeter alarm at least 10 metres away from and surrounding the sleeping area, hanging your mess gear, empty food cans filled with gravel, etc. to make noise. Keep a powerful hand torch and bear spray handy. I have several times had bears in camp and the bear spray is an effective deterrent. Works on feral dogs and people too.

apart from zoos, i reckon we'd be safe from bear attacks here, on account of them being extinct here, unless they can swim the english channel, north sea, or atlantic ocean, i'll keep the bear spray towards the bottom of the list bud

[TheFalcon]

Like Binnie said there was a lot of press about fox bites in the last couple of years,So i would say yes a fox would bite your face luckily for you it didnt bite your face at the weekend

[Jonas]

All the foxes I knew in college, I wanted to... oh, never mind...

[Carnebwen]

My face is made of meat. Meat tastes good.

[Scythe13]

I spoke to a vet the wife works with today. She said more than likely the fox would just sniff my face then leave me alone, same as it would any larger animal, e.g. cow, horse, donkey, etc.

Only likely to bite it super hungry, I smell dead, if cornered, or if protecting cubs.

[Highlander]

I think that we have to remember that the foxes of today fall into two distinct species, the Urban fox is a different animal to the rural fox

I dont know how far away from a built up area you were camping in,... but I would say that not a lot of people would have a close encounter with a wild rural Fox, they are quite secretive,... but with a curios nature.

The Urban Fox is almost the complete opposite, it is brash, fearless of humans and cheeky enough to do strange things that the Rural Fox wouldn't dream of doing

If it was the Rural Fox that visited you, then it was his curiosity that caused the visit, and I doubt he would have hurt you,... I dont know too much about the Urban Fox, but from what I have heard and read, they do seem quite capable of doing damage

[Scythe13]

(14 October 2013, 20:56)Highlander Wrote: I think that we have to remember that the foxes of today fall into two distinct species, the Urban fox is a different animal to the rural fox

I dont know how far away from a built up area you were camping in,... but I would say that not a lot of people would have a close encounter with a wild rural Fox, they are quite secretive,... but with a curios nature.

The Urban Fox is almost the complete opposite, it is brash, fearless of humans and cheeky enough to do strange things that the Rural Fox wouldn't dream of doing

If it was the Rural Fox that visited you, then it was his curiosity that caused the visit, and I doubt he would have hurt you,... I dont know too much about the Urban Fox, but from what I have heard and read, they do seem quite capable of doing damage

Middle of Dartmoor mate. About as rural as you can get South of Birmingham. This fox was definitely persistent. The fact he came back 5 times (possibly 6, but I was in a tent after the 5th, so wouldn't have noticed a 6th visit, or any others) does say he was persistent and unafraid of me...having chased him and thrown stuff at him 5 times.