Red fox ranks eleventh in Missouri and carries a NatureServe status of S4, apparently secure but a step below the S5 rating given to raccoon, opossum, and the state’s squirrels, a small sign that fox records here are genuinely thinner on the ground. Mark Twain National Forest, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, and Ha Ha Tonka State Park all sit in the Ozark highlands, rocky, spring-fed country quite different from the bottomland refuges favored by several of Missouri’s more commonly reported mammals, and it’s the setting where red fox turns up most in the record set.
Reports climb through spring and peak between April and June, which lines up with kits becoming mobile and visible outside the den. All 318 records are GBIF entries, with no iNaturalist photos logged, so this count reflects survey coverage more than population size.
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