Pheasants ripped apart in pen

[Reece]

Have you got any Pinemartens in your area ? if they were taken from the trees while roosting perhaps that is the culprit ? but I know little about em but is that a possibility ?

 

Pine maretns are unlikely, but he says he's from Dumfries, and there is a pine marten population in Galloway forest. They were reintroduced to and apparently, they are slowly expanding in range. Martens do roam over wide areas as well.

 

Not sure where markyboy is exactly in relation to that though.

 

Markyboy, where exactly in Dumfries are you? Anywhere near Galloway forest?

 

Again, pine martens are extremely unlikely. I suspect fox. I would keep cage traps set, and you should eventually catch the culprit if it is still in the area.

 

But remember, if it is a pine marten, pine martens are protected.

[markyboy]

The shoot is between Lockerbie and a place called lochmaben! No casualties since the hole was repaired ! But feathers at pop holes, birds have been in pen around 2 months as poults! Traps down I'm going a look for a Charlie this wk at dusk ! But very wet fields just now

[henry d]

I would say fox/es, with a possibility of badgers, rather than bigger mustelids, mink/otter/ferret, due to the hole under the netting. I know of a large kill due to a mustelid where the poults were killed and dragged to the pop holes and the culprit wasn`t big enough to drag them through as the wings caught the netting and it ended up looking like something had tried to drag them 6 at a time through the pop holes.

[la bala]

If you have more than one or two kills then blame a fox as 90% of the time you will be right

 

knew a case last year when a fox got in a pen and killed a 100 or so (a fraction of the birds in the pen). nothing for a few nights then 25 killed, same next night 25 killed, third evening two big hedgehogs were removed from the pen as they emerged at dusk, no more kills after that.

I worked on a duck farm when i was a lad, we had a similar problem with some young ducks, the culprit was a hedgehog.

[Reece]

If there have been no casualties since the hole was repaired, I would say fox.

[lumpy]

Put some sand patches down, footprints will give you a good idea as to what and how much predator activity you have around your pen's.

[duke hamish]

Sand??? I have a shoot ten mile from him, thiers plenty of mud around to find prints!! Wetest place in the country.

[Paul223]

earth around the pop hole will be compacted so sand could be a good idea

[Alycidon]

Fox, feather trail gives it away, most likely a vixen feeding big cubs. Bait an area near the pen with sloppy dog food for 3 days, on the 4th evening wait 100-150 yards downwind with a decent centerfire rifle, dont miss !!, wait for sideways on shot, put it centre chest. Now the wheat is off lamp hard again with a centerfire, you have a couple of weeks before cultivations are well underway,

 

Why don't you have a decent electric fence around the pen? That acts as a good deterrent,

 

A

Edited September 5, 2012 by Alycidon