Grey squirrel cull grants

[Two Acres]

Too many bunny huggers are the reason so many pest species are seeing numbers increase year after year. Then The government pick up the bill for an organised cull because things are out of hand. Badgers now squirrels and I don't think it'll be long before deer are being culled in the south because sportsmen don't have a big enough impAct any more. Hunting has become taboo

 

I agree with you Mickdundee about hunting and I'd like to add otters to the list of pest species. I'm into my fishing and in my part of the world otters have been reintroduced. The rivers were full of fish, so the otter population boomed. Now lots of the big fish are gone, so the fishings not too good. In the past they had otter hunts to control the cute furry fellows for a very good reason.

[keptenjim]

We had to contract someone to carry out a major grey squirrel cull at our place a couple of years ago. They stripped 3 of our beautiful oaks of bark in the upper strata. Couldn't believe the damage these little mites can cause.

[Bren.]

I agree with you Mickdundee about hunting and I'd like to add otters to the list of pest species. I'm into my fishing and in my part of the world otters have been reintroduced. The rivers were full of fish, so the otter population boomed. Now lots of the big fish are gone, so the fishings not too good. In the past they had otter hunts to control the cute furry fellows for a very good reason.

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to refer you to the Lotka-Volterra equations here. Yes we have enjoyed high levels of fish stocks in many waters (mostly due to stocking), but they are not natural. A predated system is typically a more healthy one and to be honest, industry has done far more damage to our water systems than Otters ever will. A healthy system will find a balance and always does, it's when we start finding predation getting in the way (usually of our country sports) that things get messed up

As an interesting side note. I once saw a fight between a Dog Otter and a Dog Mink on Bure Marsh. Needless to say the Otter won. The amazing thing was that he didn't kill the Mink, he just pinned him down and bit off his testicles. Never seen anything like it.

Oh, and I hunt, shoot and fish so don't go getting any ideas about me being some kind of Anti.

The comment about Greys having no natural predators in this country is interesting. I sometimes go out with my Ferrets with some guys locally who hunt with birds of prey, they absolutely **** themselves if one of their birds gets onto a grey, the little buggers will bite off toes no problem. the only exception seems to be the guys with Red-Tailed Hawks, which are a North American bird and therefore have evolved to hunt Greys and don't seem to have a problem with losing toes as they have their technique down pat.

[Mountain man]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to refer you to the Lotka-Volterra equations here. Yes we have enjoyed high levels of fish stocks in many waters (mostly due to stocking), but they are not natural. A predated system is typically a more healthy one and to be honest, industry has done far more damage to our water systems than Otters ever will. A healthy system will find a balance and always does, it's when we start finding predation getting in the way (usually of our country sports) that things get messed up

As an interesting side note. I once saw a fight between a Dog Otter and a Dog Mink on Bure Marsh. Needless to say the Otter won. The amazing thing was that he didn't kill the Mink, he just pinned him down and bit off his testicles. Never seen anything like it.

Oh, and I hunt, shoot and fish so don't go getting any ideas about me being some kind of Anti.

The comment about Greys having no natural predators in this country is interesting. I sometimes go out with my Ferrets with some guys locally who hunt with birds of prey, they absolutely **** themselves if one of their birds gets onto a grey, the little buggers will bite off toes no problem. the only exception seems to be the guys with Red-Tailed Hawks, which are a North American bird and therefore have evolved to hunt Greys and don't seem to have a problem with losing toes as they have their technique down pat.

 

What an interesting post!

[Joe Newton]

What an interesting post!

 

 

It's how I win fights too.

[Mountain man]

That's a mental picture I didn't need!

I'm going to research that a bit (the mink/otter relationship)

[Bren.]

What an interesting post!

Can't quite decide if you found it interesting, or you are dismissing it.

The joys of the lack of nuance on internet forums.

[Bren.]

That's a mental picture I didn't need!

I'm going to research that a bit (the mink/otter relationship)

Please understand that this is anecdotal and I'm not sure any research has been done. You might be better served by seeing if there is any evidence of this happening on an intra-species level. Otters and Mink are closely related so it may be a behaviour that has been observed in Otters before.

[Mountain man]

Not being sarcastic, I kept ferrets and worked at a fishery where mink were an issue.

All the mustelids fascinate me, I was lucky enough to see a wild polecat and pine marten on holiday recently.

They are all clever resourceful little hunters.

Many of them overlap prey wise, and how they deal with each other is interesting.

[Bren.]

They do indeed. I remember working one of mine a few years back, under shotguns in an old railway embankment.

I was amazed at how many rabbits she was putting up and the fact that they were coming up from opposite ends of the warren within seconds of each other. I thought I must have the best little jill ever. After a while a stoat popped out of one of the holes and wandered off up the embankment.