Many years ago I was trapping Raccoons in our orchard and I would check the trap before going to bed and dispatch any Coons with 22 shorts and leave them until morning. Well one night I shined my light in the cage and pure hate was staring back at me. I have never seen eyes that red in my life and the snarl was prehistoric and then I realized it was a Red Fox. I backed out of the gate and in the morning I tied a rope to the cage and pulled it next to the fence, went outside and released the Devil with one hand and my 22 K100 in the other incase he wanted to Tattoo me.
Two years later the county closed the dump and the Dump Bears showed up and destroyed most of the fruit trees...
Rabid animals, of whatever stripe, are exceedingly dangerous and not to be trifled with. Sounds like you were lucky there.
When I was a kid I knew guys that would hunt coons for bounty. I suppose some people do the trapping for whatever reason, but I never saw the allure of it.
But I digress....
Glad it turned out for you. Did you stop trapping after that?
CA....