Close to nature.

mallards

I was out hunting at the weekend and as approached an area that holds woodcock I spotted a furry object away to my right.



As I moved closer I could see it was a rabbit and my first thoughts was that it must have mixy to let me approach so near. I've never seen myxomatosis up here and as I approached I could see why it wasn't moving much.



A stoat must have pounced on it's back and done this damage and the rabbit must have escaped and got this far. With no sign of the stoat I dispatched the rabbit and counted myself lucky to add coney to the game bag. On closer inspection I could see what damage this little predator had done to a fine sized rabbit.





I hung him up on a tree and decided to paunch him out when I returned from hunting that area. When I did return imagine my surprise to see his bouncy little killer mystified as to why there was no rabbit at the end of the blood trail it had followed.
I decided to give the rabbit back to the stoat and see if I could get a picture or two. As I approached the wild little terror it made of into an old stone wall. I came to a big stone on the end and lay the rabbit down and waited. By this time the evening was drawing in but I didn't have to wait long before an inquisitive pair of whiskers picked up the scent of his prize.
As he began to feed and his mind was on his belly a edged closer and closer to the pocket sized terror until I was ten or twelve feet away.









I came closer still, and soon was at arms length from the little stoat. I was mesmerised by the busy little fellow.



As the darkness fell around me I recorded four short videos of him trying to get the rabbit under the rock before preying eyes could locate his quarry. His strength was amazing to watch.









It was like the Serengeti in miniature, where they have lions and gazelles, I have stoats and rabbits! It was a fascinating evening spent in the country side and I can't wait to do it all again this weekend.


Mallards

Sika_Stalker

great pictures and a great story.
thanks for that.

wicklow newbie

Amazing little fellow!

Dusty87

Nice little story Mallards.
Id say it was great to watch it so close. Fair play to ya

doyle61

thats just put a smile on my face:D
great pictures aswell

johnner1

Thanks for sharing your story and pictures with us, things like this is what makes hunting so good, you just dont know what will show up next:)

greenpeter

Fair play mallards super story.

homerhop

Nice shots Mallards.
Heres a pic of a lady hanging around the top of the garden here.

mallards

A Buzzard, we have plenty of them also!

bunny shooter

Many years ago while shooting bunnies as usual as I shot 'em as I went along the ditch and collected 'em on the way back.

As I was picking them up on the way back I picked one bunny up and there was a stoat attached to the dead bunnies neck :eek: hanging on for dear life and doing his/her best to hiss & spit at me

I put the bunny on the ground and the stoat proceeded to drag him off. Nice to share my surplus IMO. Shared with a few foxes and birds of prey too in my time What amazed me was he took the nicest bunny in the batch :eek: Haven't seen too many stoats over the years probably 4-5. Great to see 'em though

mallards

I've seen one other in my life. I'm told the ones we have get a bit of a white coat during the winter. This one didn't, he had a white underside and I was close enough to stroke it, not that I would, as he would probably have had my arm off!

Mallards

homerhop

Have seen them cross the roads down here, they vary from that dark brown to a light tan in colour, one ran across me about a month back. I remember when i was a child seeing 2 chasing and playing in the garden with each other.
Have you come across any pine martins up that parish Mallards, I have spent endless hours in woodland here and only ever managed to see 2 in my life.

mallards

I didn't but the cousin did. It was chasing a grey squirrel up a tree in one of the local forests.

marlin vs

mallards wrote: »

I didn't but the cousin did. It was chasing a grey squirrel up a tree in one of the local forests.

Good post Mallards, I enjoyed that.:D