When Mustelids Hunt ....?

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Ok. So our Josh there lost a jill ferret and, upon passing that way a week later, found rabbits popping like corks out of the very bury he lost her in.

 

Now, while it's my own surmisal that she'd have been working the entire area, amazingly happening to be back to that particular bury just as Josh turned up to witness the big event, it got me to thinking about something I've really never stopped to ponder before. Let's examine this one, eh?

 

The jill, Josh found, was still perfectly well fed. Ok, so she'll have presumably caught enough rabbits to sustain herself. Yet Josh's eye witness account says how the buggers were " Bolting " freely before her. This is fasinating!

 

How many times have we read of reliable witnesses saying how they've found a stoat in full pursuit of a terrified rabbit? Uh huh. Common denominator? They're always found above ground! Ian showed us a shot, just recently, of a weasle feeding on a rabbit. May we assume the weasle killed it himself? Either way, it too was sighted above ground.

 

Ferrets are most closely linked with polecats. Would it not therefore be fair to assume that ferrets and polecats might hunt in much the same way then? Like, okay, we all know wild polecats are notoriously faster than any domesticated ferret. But do they not both tend to follow their quarry Underground?

 

Just got me wondering; Has anyone ever found rabbits bolting, for no apparrent reason, and then simply stood back to see what turned out to be shifting them? If so, what was it? Do stoats and weasles pursue rabbits under ground? If so, do they corner, catch and kill down there? Or is the sub terrain the hunting ground of only the ferret / polecat? And, if so, do stoats and weasles somehow manage to keep their chosen victim out in the open? If so, why? How?

 

Dare I even mention Mink ....?

 

Comments? Experiances? Anyone?

[Guest The Big Fish]

Hi Ditch, its probably just a case that we only see stoats etc kill above ground because we are above ground!

 

I suspect that just as much killing if not more, happens below ground where we cannot see whats going on.

 

A few times i have run into stoats below ground when ferreting (not over recent years though strangely), the burrows were always occupied with a quantity of rabbits too. Each time both ferret and stoat did not want to face up to each other and the result was always a bolted stoat.

[Ricky-N.p.p 0]

I was shooting at a local farm a few years back standing over the top of a dump that the rabbits burrow under, it was always a good ambush point just peeking over the top of the dump with the trusty hw97k(my all time favourite gun) I would normally bag 1 or 2 bunnys but this time they just kept coming out and sitting for a bit some would run back down other holes befoe i got a shot off...I managed to bag 8 just at that bit within about a half an hour untill a wee albino ferret popped its blood covered face out. I maned to tease her out the hole using a dead rabbit and took her back to the farmer and asked if he knew anyone who had lost one he said no so I took her home,checked her over took a couple of ticks off and gave her a dusting and put her in a seperate hutch from the rest carefull not to spread any unknown diseases ect.

 

She was verry tame and a great pet but every time i tried to work her she lay up

 

I think ferrets will do all there killing under ground unless the rabbit drags them out whilst locked on.

[T.F.Student 0]

Watched a stoat working a massive warren a few years ago whilst planting trees...rabbits bolting continually...stoat only viewed a few times...and then not seen to come out so we guessed it must of killed below. Years ago i was walking up a track and heard the screams of a rabbit...i could see a stoat chasing it up a banking back towards some holes...they both went in and as i arrived above the holes they came out again where i shot them both. This bitch stoat made contact with the rabbit(which was a youngster) many times going by the screaming.

 

The plot thickens

[foxdropper 17,092]

All mustelids pursue quarry underground mate and kill there too .Once heard a squealing whilst out with the dogs from a bury along a river side that I was trapping mink.Sure enough a mink emerged but was driven in again by the terriers .Heeled in the holes and went home for a couple of cages .Opened up either end of the bury and dug 2 cages in ,one on each exit .No bait.Continued the walk and had the blood stained mink on my return .Curiosity was the lure this time and worked a treat.Otters will also hunt under ground ,all are opportunists .Bolted several stoats and weasels down our way with the ferrets.

 

All mustelids pursue quarry underground mate and kill there too .Once heard a squealing whilst out with the dogs from a bury along a river side that I was trapping mink.Sure enough a mink emerged but was driven in again by the terriers .Heeled in the holes and went home for a couple of cages .Opened up either end of the bury and dug 2 cages in ,one on each exit .No bait.Continued the walk and had the blood stained mink on my return .Curiosity was the lure this time and worked a treat.Otters will also hunt under ground ,all are opportunists .Bolted several stoats and weasels down our way with the ferrets.

[bullsmilk 2]

just look at stoats/ferrets/polecats/weasels ect they all have the same body type long thin slender i think that ansers that one and its got to be easyer for a mustelid to kill/catch under ground as the confines of the burrows dont give the rabbits many escape options