Anyone ever outcross to wild polecat ?? (breeding)

[Ruger8 0]

Anyone ever used wild polecat blood on purpose or accidently (escaped, recaptured ferret perhaps) ?

 

I have had some discussions regarding this of late and was curious to hear the opinions of others.

[Ossie 11]

i've never seen an actual, provable wild polecat cross, although there's always someone in a pub round here, claiming they've done it, or that they have a wild polecat... in norfolk?!?

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Ruger8; This subject's long ago been done to death and nauseum on this board mate. Net up shot is that, sure, many a brainiac's tried that one. For what ever reason.

 

Result is, by concencus, that ye just end up with something mean spirited. Unmanagable. Faster than death and completely worthless to anyone wanting to bring home rabbits.

 

I've personally endured a whole lifetime of listening to fantasists trying to insist that their ferrets are out of " Genuine, wild Polecat stock. " Bullshit. They were just good, ordinary, usefull ferrets.

 

It's so easy - more so by the day now - to get hold of a wild Polecat, don't ye think everyone who wanted one would have a Polecat / ferret hybrid by now?

 

Reason they don't is because those who try it realise what a f*ck up they have on their hands and are just glad to be shot of the bloody things.

 

If ye really want verification of what I just summarised for ye there? Sure. Just trawl back, or run a search on this board. It's all still there. Done to death. As would be the majority of such useless hybrids.

 

There's a potted 'Others Opinions', mate. Six months and, no doubt, it'll all crop up again.

[OldTrapCollector 377]

Result is, by concencus, that ye just end up with something mean spirited. Unmanagable. Faster than death and completely worthless to anyone wanting to bring home rabbits.

 

I have tried it and have also had the same results as Ditch speaks of - you'd have as much chance trying to train a stoat to sit quietly in your hand as a poley X.

 

Just use a well bred stock ferrets from known workers and there should be no need to 'fire up' the blood line with the 'real deal'.

 

OTC

[Guest Frank]

Spot on.

 

Frank.

[Kay 3,709]

neither use nor ornament if you ask me

[bullyson 2,023]

i have kept genuine wild polecats for 4/5 years now, i've got 3 at the moment 1 male and 2 females! i originaly got my wild polecats from a breeder in scotland who is in fact a widlife ranger. i've crossed them with all types of ferrets and out of maybe 20+ hybrids i've had over the last few years one was a 100% worker to rabbit/rat and squirrel, to be honest 1/2 breds are a waste of time,very hole shy and can be very aggresive!! i've worked my pures to rat etc and they are well more agile than any of the ferrets that i have owned. and the kits i bred 2 years ago all the lads who had them are very pleased, one lad who has had ferrets for nearly 40 years said that it was the best thing he ever owned the one problem he did have was that it killed he's best ferret!

i'll take some pics later and put them up, cheers keith

 

..ps, i dont want this to start an agruement as it only my opinion but is genuinly true.

[ginge2k6 0]

It would be interesting to see these pics mate. where did you aqire the polecats though, if you had not caught them "wild" how can you be sure they were genuine polecats, I don't wan't to start an argument either but I just want to be sure. :thumbs-up:

Bollocks just read the rest of your post.

So you got them of a wildlife ranger in scotland.

Edited March 1, 2007 by ginge

[Ruger8 0]

Ruger8; This subject's long ago been done to death and nauseum on this board mate. Net up shot is that, sure, many a brainiac's tried that one. For what ever reason.

 

 

 

Sorry ditch shitter i usually do a search before posting for just that reason , shot off a bit prematually this time.... i'm afraid i'm quite prone to doing that

 

 

Would still love to see some pics though bullyson.

 

 

I posted bcause there was a debate on a falconry forum that i use which became very interesting, simular points were made about the problems and the negative input of such a cross. However one lad who is always very well up on his ferrets, believed that once you got down to 25% pure polecat they became usefull prospects. (I believe the lad is in fact a ranger in scotland bullyson)

 

I am not capable of argueing either way as i only have experience of ferrets, i personally like a very quick active ferret bounding with energy.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Relax, lads! All this talk of not wanting to argue. No one wants to 'argue' over this subject. What's to argue about? The majority view, of experianced people since the days of Graham Wellstead's book, has been that it's not worth the effort when we already have perfectly good ferrets which have been purpose bred for millenia.

 

Someone wants to try and reinvent the wheel? Fine. Why not. But doesn't 'One out of twenty plus' say enough? If ye had a ferret who produced 20+ kits and ONE of those kits proved any use to man or beast; Ye ever going to breed that sukka again???

 

That's what most people are saying and always have.

 

Me? I don't give a shit. That's why I steppped in to 'referee' the discussion from the start. Because we have no wild polecats in Eire and I have all but no rabbits around me. I'm effectively now an Ex Ferreter so have no 'Interest' in the debate

 

Always nice to hear others experiances and opinions though. Carry on. No arguement

[inan 841]

Result is, by concencus, that ye just end up with something mean spirited. Unmanagable. Faster than death and completely worthless to anyone wanting to bring home rabbits.

 

I have tried it and have also had the same results as Ditch speaks of - you'd have as much chance trying to train a stoat to sit quietly in your hand as a poley X.

 

Just use a well bred stock ferrets from known workers and there should be no need to 'fire up' the blood line with the 'real deal'.

 

OTC

I remember an article in the C W a few years ago the writer tried this outcross and warned against it,he said all the kits were very hand shy,I dont see tge benefits from using a Polecat myself ,I like a steady worker who will come to you without darting in and out of the hole and when it is above ground doesnt make off ,but goes down the next hole working methodically,my mate Magwich has a hob like this ,he is a pleasure to work.Inan.

[Kay 3,709]

Was the article by Les white by any chance i cant see the point in trying to create an animal thats half domesticated & half wild :whistle:

[wife 1]

we have had genuine polecats in the past a good few but we kept 1 and bred from it,like has been said they were more aggressive and although a few lads who did have a few of the young ones could handle theres they killed in more than our domesticated ferret,is there such a use for a cross ?this year i am having a mink cross ferret,not for rabbits and from what i have heard these crosses are hard work again,doubt i will have much luck with it or i could be wrong,the lad who has the mink at the moment seems confident that he wil have all the young ones hand tame,he has been in the game for years and so have all his family and would not say anything unless he had faith in doing it,for rabbits i will be sticking to my old small jill and hob,keep hunting

[Guest Magwitch]

I've had a delve into polecat hybrids with 1/4 and 1/2 crosses, the ferrets produced from these matings are very fast workers but hand shy, the polecat hob I used has the sire came from a line of polecats which were trapped by a welsh gamekeeper, they are very dark coated almost black and could only be handled wearing welders gloves. For further reading on this subject there's a passage in James Mackays book ferret breeding which makes good reading.

[highlander 0]

I used to breed polecat hybrids we had one polecat that we were sure was pure 100% he was as magwich says almost black and would hold on to your fingers every time even with the gloves on. The reason we got him was we lost a gill when ratting and we were ratting the same place a year later and we saw him and dug to him and found the jill we lost with a litter of kits we took them all home and reared the kits and took a few litters off the hob. They were great workers but no bloody use on realy windy days for some weired reason and they had to be handled every day or they would go wild. The hob sadly died when the wind blew the lid of the hutch on top of him whilst feeding. I only have one hob left out of that line now. There was an advertisment in the CW last year about pure polecats cant remember where but I have the number some where.