The red fox is well documented in West Virginia, 368 records across 39 counties, but its map tilts north. Preston County alone holds 110 and Hampshire 61, well ahead of Jefferson and the rest, while Monongahela National Forest, Jackson’s Mill, and Burnsville Lake Wildlife Management Area hold the largest named-place clusters.
A hunter of mixed country
Red foxes thrive where cover and open ground interleave: pasture edged by woods, old fields, farm country, and the fringes of towns. They hunt mice and voles by ear in open grass, striking with a characteristic high pounce, and den in burrows on sheltered slopes, often with several exits. Inside the big forest blocks they keep to meadows, road corridors, and logged openings rather than the unbroken interior.
Spring is family season
Reports climb from February through May and crest in April. Late winter is breeding season, when pairs travel and call at night, and by April and May the kits are in the den. Provisioning parents then hunt nearly around the clock, trotting field edges with mouths full of mice, which puts more foxes in view in daylight than at any other time of year.
Status in West Virginia
NatureServe ranks the red fox S5, Secure, in West Virginia, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
