ninjaferret Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 Yeah polecat, you did right to let her go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treetree Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 Stunning looking creature. No way could I have shot that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billytheghillie Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 9 minutes ago, ninjaferret said: Yeah polecat, you did right to let her go how do you know its a female? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 1 hour ago, washerboy said: It's a polecat coloured ferret. Wild polecats are like hens teeth. That would have been my answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 (edited) In a cage trap u could easy have left it in the trap or covered trap and took it with u while u ID'd it. Dunno where u are but seen some pretty big polecat marked ferrets, mind I was given a monster hob, was bloody useless as so big. Be hard to prove it wasn't an escaped/feral ferret. Given how rare they are would be more likely. I see mice just typed the same😀😀 Edited June 22, 2020 by scotslad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted June 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 I did think of taking it home to I’d it but frankly it smelt so badly I didn’t want to put it in the car. It did have an attractive face. I later looked up mink on the the web and found one photo identical to the animal I had trapped so if I had taken it home I would have shot it (by wrong ID). Are mink similar sized? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotslad Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 They're all the same family, mustelids. Like anything u get big and small 1s, mink can be all sorts of colours but I've never seen 1 marked like that before. But u do get 'polecat' ferrets that are marked exactly like that. That big hob I had was exceptionally big and would be as big as many small/med mink. Bloody thing was the size of some rabbits. I imagine the only 100% certain way would be a genetic test Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 (edited) It doesnt look like any mink ive seen, as others have said feral ferret would be my guess amercan mink from black to brown Edited June 22, 2020 by islandgun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninjaferret Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 56 minutes ago, billytheghillie said: how do you know its a female? Kind of an educated guess, looks TO ME like a female EU polecat. Male would be quite a bit bigger, but hey I can only see the same as everyone else, so just a guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 1 hour ago, ShootingEgg said: As said above, you were unsure so did the right thing. Not as bad as that pheasant you dropped that turned out to be a bald eagle ... suppose you live and learn 👀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 That is polecat , whether it is a wild pure poly or a polecat ferret is difficult to tell. Possible someone has lost it ferreting at some stage or an escapee. It appears like a Jill to me (30 odd years of keeping my own line of working polecats) but for obvious reasons could not be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted June 22, 2020 Report Share Posted June 22, 2020 If it happens again and you're still not sure then simply shoot half of it and keep everybody happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mel b3 Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 6 hours ago, 7daysinaweek said: That is polecat , whether it is a wild pure poly or a polecat ferret is difficult to tell. Possible someone has lost it ferreting at some stage or an escapee. It appears like a Jill to me (30 odd years of keeping my own line of working polecats) but for obvious reasons could not be sure. Is the perfectly correct answer. And you did the right thing by not shooting it. I quite like that ferret musk smell . Years ago , our vet(a huge Irish man, with an even huger beard ) , would rub ferrets around his beard as he liked the smell so much . He was a xxxx vet , but he was cheap , and you always came home laughing 😅. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 Should have and could have. Should have because Polecats are real killers of Water Voles and other mammals and aquatic nesting birds along with Kingfishers etc. Could have despite the protestations of the blind followers of the BBC (and presumably Packham), it is perfectly legal to kill a Polecat caught accidentally in a trap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rim Fire Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 MinkPolecat I am bewildered on here sometimes by some of the comments regarding identification of animals and birds and these are the people with guns that got to identify there quarry in a split second before pulling the trigger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12gauge82 Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 1 hour ago, JDog said: Should have and could have. Should have because Polecats are real killers of Water Voles and other mammals and aquatic nesting birds along with Kingfishers etc. Could have despite the protestations of the blind followers of the BBC (and presumably Packham), it is perfectly legal to kill a Polecat caught accidentally in a trap. I don't think it's as straight forward as that, it is very much open to interpretation under the law and like the op I'd play it safe, there's nothing wrong with doing so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sciurus Posted June 23, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 This must be a first for Pigeon Watch - everyone in agreement it was a polecat! I was wondering why I had caught it with a bait of peanuts and sunflowers, then I remembered I had been chucking the squirrels I had caught in the trap 10ft away into the bracken. I guess the polecat had been attracted to the corpses. Oddly, this small wood suddenly stopped catching greys, I wonder if the polecat had been spooking the greys away and the polecat had detected the smell of squirrel in the trap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 4 minutes ago, Sciurus said: This must be a first for Pigeon Watch - everyone in agreement it was a polecat! I was wondering why I had caught it with a bait of peanuts and sunflowers, then I remembered I had been chucking the squirrels I had caught in the trap 10ft away into the bracken. I guess the polecat had been attracted to the corpses. Oddly, this small wood suddenly stopped catching greys, I wonder if the polecat had been spooking the greys away and the polecat had detected the smell of squirrel in the trap? Let him keep doing his good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benthejockey Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 They don't half stink! I once caught a male pole cat in a fox trap after the dead pheasant I had in there. And a few weeks back I ran back into the house from the garden to screams of BEENNNNNNNNN THERES A FERRET IN THE HOUSEEEEEEE. I thought they were imagining it and it was a little cat or maybe an overly brave mink or something. Turns out it was the kids ferret from next door that he'd lost 2 years ago! It had a quick run round the utility room, fortunately the dogs were shut up, got scared by their barking and made a right old stink and then disappeared up the garden. I caught it a it later on and returned it home...where it escaped again a week later 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 13 hours ago, scotslad said: Dunno where u are but seen some pretty big polecat marked ferrets, mind I was given a monster hob, was bloody useless as so big. My big hob was great, you could put him down once the Jill's had been through with his collar on and dig out any kills, he was like a puppy he was so placid and happy. Only problem was when he barrelled into the nets, he would just hang there like a puppet with its strings cut, happy days 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 4 hours ago, Mice! said: My big hob was great, you could put him down once the Jill's had been through with his collar on and dig out any kills, he was like a puppy he was so placid and happy. Only problem was when he barrelled into the nets, he would just hang there like a puppet with its strings cut, happy days 👍 I can see him now K, I have had a few hobs like Him. Great for pushing a reluctant jill off a deep stop ender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShootingEgg Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 17 hours ago, Lloyd90 said: Not as bad as that pheasant you dropped that turned out to be a bald eagle ... suppose you live and learn 👀 Biggest pheasant i ever did not shoot. Also ive never aeen a bald. Fool hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloyd90 Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 11 minutes ago, ShootingEgg said: Biggest pheasant i ever did not shoot. Also ive never aeen a bald. Fool hahaha I don’t think we have bald eagles in the Uk 😂😂🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 56 minutes ago, 7daysinaweek said: I can see him now K, I have had a few hobs like Him. Great for pushing a reluctant jill off a deep stop ender. Me and a mate could throw him back and forth over hedges, and twice he pulled rabbits out of holes, he would probably have been great if I'd have used long nets not purse nets, such a character, and he was called Charlie😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted June 23, 2020 Report Share Posted June 23, 2020 28 minutes ago, Mice! said: Me and a mate could throw him back and forth over hedges, and twice he pulled rabbits out of holes, he would probably have been great if I'd have used long nets not purse nets, such a character, and he was called Charlie😁 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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