What Killed My Pheasants?

[John Buttery 0]

To add a bit of variety to our shoot I hatched out a dozen white pheasants a couple of months ago. I found all but 2 dead the other day. One or two had been completely eaten, the rest all partially or completely decapitated with some damage the back.

We have no fox on the island so the pen was made cat proof only. The only way in was via a couple of small gaps 2 -3 inches wide. The roof is covered. My first suspect is polecat. Can anyone tell me the best way to trap them?

[The one 8,468]

Maybe but there's foxes on the Isle wasn't one found run over on a road a couple of years back ?

[jmilam08 193]

Muslims id say.

Better get a mob together

[whippet 99 2,613]

mink

[comanche 2,947]

Any chance a tawny owl- possibly with young in tow- could have found its way in? . They will take quite big poults and often single out the funny coloured ones. Talon marks on the back and decapitation are the trade marks but if the pen is covered by fine mesh its unlikely.

You could spread some smooth sand round the pen and look for tracks.

Having just googled "Polecats IOM" it seems Manx polecats are descended from escaped ferrets. Even so, if it looks like a polecat, smells like a polecat;best assume it is protected like polecat.

Edited August 22, 2015 by comanche

[perthshire keeper 1,239]

Mk 6 round the bottom...and a couple of wires

Pheasant pens are reay just vermin magnets!

[J Darcy 5,871]

You do have foxes on the isle...

[jiggy 3,209]

.

Edited November 2, 2015 by jiggy

[John Buttery 0]

We did indeed have a few after some clown released half a dozen or so. A friend of mine knocked the first one down in a post van, which is how most of the rest met their demise. A couple were shot. That was about 15 or more years ago.

As to the traps, I have borrowed a Fenn 4 & placed it in a length of pipe along one side of the pen. Sound correct?

[CHEVINFOX 3,537]

I would put some mk 6 fenns down mend the holes as for foxes on the isle white van man been paying you a visit

[fabiomilitello 37]

Had some trouble with Buzzards this year, took about 36 of my poults! Had to throw a few dead rabbit carcasses around the place to draw them away from the rearing pens.

[stroller 341]

mink horrible b*****d things

[grompz 703]

no mink, no badgers,no snakes,on the island,probably a polecat,

[taz2010 1,297]

polecat thousand on the isle of man government released thousand to get rid of the infestation of rabbits but it never worked

[grompz 703]

what year were these pole cats released iknow afew lads on the island who have hunted for years,say they never heard of pole cats being released,as regards controlling rabbits the manx goverment used pay a fifty pence bounty on the tails but stopped in the early nineties.rabbits pretty scarce there now.