Woodsmoke
Well-Known Member
Brings back memories of RAF Leuchars Friday night NAAFI bops . . . .
Aggressive Badger!
- Thread starter devon deer stalker
- Start date
johnnyha
Active Member
Similar experience, out walking with terrier, turn corner to find it mid stand-off with Brock. Wanted to avoid a trip to the vet so prodded with a stick in the expectation that he would run off. He took exception to this, bit the stick then came toward me hissing. Channelling Jonny Wilkinson I took aim and gave him full boot (didn't do the hand claspy thing but there were no posts in sight) and into the bushes he flew, never to be seen again. Well at least not that day.
Might be interested.......is it good with children ?
I give the damned things a wide berth whenever possible. Many years ago I was assisting with the relocation of a sett (licenced to do so) due to the fact that the sett was in the way of a planned new housing estate. A team of us arrived and constructed a fence around the sett, a set of 'Badger tongs' were on hand (borrowed from a local Museum of Rural Life) and then the JCB started to take the top off the sett.
The main entrance tunnel soon became a trough, open to the sky and it wasn't long before Brock decided to leave .. the way he's always left. One of the guys stuck a spade in the trough/tunnel and jumped on it to form a barrier so the others could bring the tongs into play. Brock ran up to it and in a very few seconds and whilst nicely imitating a highly aggressive version of a "Nom nom nom" sound, simply bit clean through the spade handle and carried on ..
I'm not getting into it with something that can make light work of over 1 1/2" of hickory with it's gnashers.
The main entrance tunnel soon became a trough, open to the sky and it wasn't long before Brock decided to leave .. the way he's always left. One of the guys stuck a spade in the trough/tunnel and jumped on it to form a barrier so the others could bring the tongs into play. Brock ran up to it and in a very few seconds and whilst nicely imitating a highly aggressive version of a "Nom nom nom" sound, simply bit clean through the spade handle and carried on ..
I'm not getting into it with something that can make light work of over 1 1/2" of hickory with it's gnashers.
WH308
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine was out lamping with his dad and a badger ran at them, his old man had to kick that before he got bitten. He still lost though as he broke his foot on Brocks head!
WH308
Well-Known Member
He was less prepared with a pair of Nora wellies!
We (west Derbyshire) got our cull started last September 3000 were killed around us .we can carry on four more years but no more “new“Culls will be allowed.Badgers and cattle are going to be vaccinated. (Good luck with that). We were inundated with the bloody things but we don’t notice their runs now.
Foxyboy43
Well-Known Member
Worst badger ever was a very large, moderately annoyed boar who was caught in a fox snare that didn’t belong to us. The poor old boy had basically completely levelled a stout hawthorn hedge including quite a bit of the bank for the radius of the snare and defo was not happy. I had received a call from the lady farmer to tell me she wanted the badger released so I came prepared. Recalling a tip given to me many years before I cut a 3’ square piece of strong plywood and added a 1” wide and 6” deep cut in the middle of one edge. You get your mate to approach the snared badger, protected by the plywood, he then catches the tethered end of the snare in the notch and keeping the board firmly on the ground he pushes it right up to said brock until tight against it’s neck. Now, from the top of the nearby tree you helpfully throw him the pliers he has forgotten so that he can cut the snare right at the badger’s neck - preferably from the non-badger side of the board and thereby setting it free instantaneously. I have found that it helps enormously if you make encouraging noises but for heaven’s sake do not let him hear your laughter. It is usually at that precise moment he discovers (a) you are not the mate he thought you were (b) you were not right behind him like you said you were and (c) those brocks can run.
Lost lots of pals that way, still...........
Lost lots of pals that way, still...........
Milk no sugar please
Well-Known Member
I was going to suggest a good connection with old Brocky would make a mess of your foot! They are tough as you like, concrete drinks a pint of badger for its breakfast
landkeeper
Well-Known Member
I have released lots from snares all you need is a two pronged pitch fork and a pair of stout wire cutters
As to one biting a spade handle in half all i can say is bllx they have a strong bite but thats not possible !
As to one biting a spade handle in half all i can say is bllx they have a strong bite but thats not possible !
As children there used to be an big Irish feller who used to walk a badger on a lead which he said was a pet " He even took this thing to the pub with him. he used to tell us he's not vicious at all ?? until it savaged his mother's legs in there kitchen one day 
he had it put down after that
he had it put down after thatYou think Badgers are wild, try an otter. A while ago whilst with another keeper/mate we were having a run around his wires and cages. There were several logs and plank bridges over the brook on which were tunnels with fenns on the logs and snares at each end of the bridges.
My pal had a proper dog catching tube and locking loop, bought in case he caught Brock so he could handle and cut him free. We came to one snare, in which was a very pi...d off bitch otter. Easy! we think, ha,ha, noooo. She was like quick silver, try to get the loop on she bit the wire and shook it. She bit through my trousers an inch short of my leg and it took us half an hour to catch her as she was caught round the waist. Eventually I fed her a stick through the loop, she bit the stick and the loop was round her neck and shoulders. Now a bitch otter weighs about 18lbs and I am reasonably strong but by God she took some holding, on the ground in the air it was like trying to wrestle with a quick python. We managed to get her into a small fox cage and release the noose. We then took her to the main river and let her go, last seen spitting and shouting at us and then a twin chain of bubbles.
My pal had a proper dog catching tube and locking loop, bought in case he caught Brock so he could handle and cut him free. We came to one snare, in which was a very pi...d off bitch otter. Easy! we think, ha,ha, noooo. She was like quick silver, try to get the loop on she bit the wire and shook it. She bit through my trousers an inch short of my leg and it took us half an hour to catch her as she was caught round the waist. Eventually I fed her a stick through the loop, she bit the stick and the loop was round her neck and shoulders. Now a bitch otter weighs about 18lbs and I am reasonably strong but by God she took some holding, on the ground in the air it was like trying to wrestle with a quick python. We managed to get her into a small fox cage and release the noose. We then took her to the main river and let her go, last seen spitting and shouting at us and then a twin chain of bubbles.
I fully concur with TFH vivid description of a 'captured' otter. Many....many years back, (I was 17or18 at the time), I was salmon fishing on the Wood Pool, middle Ribble and an otter kept poking its head from beneath some roots alongside where I was standing. Being young and foolish methinks it would be 'a good idea' to try and catch it ! I exited the river and hung over the bank and said roots and waited for 'him' to pop out 'his' head again. When 'he' did I grabbed firmly around 'his' neck......not good at all !!! To this day it still ranks as one of the most ferocious, epic encounters I have ever experienced with an animal !!! As TFH says, 18 lb of quick wriggling python....only with teeth ! Holding it at arms length for some bizarre reason I didn't, couldn't seem to let go for fear of it sinking it's teeth into my arm as I tried to release it. Boy are those claws sharp too ! Was becoming scratched to doll rags ! After what seems ages (probably minutes), I summoned the courage, swung it around and hurled it out into the river still hissing, spitting and chattering whence a great splash ensued.....and relief all round ! Oh the folly and foolishness of youth !
Couldn’t agree with more plenty of farmers want them thinned out but not eradicated
I have a similar otter story - this one was male (and probably therefore 1/1000th of 1% less vicious than a female). It was caught in a fox snare near the outfall from the Middle Lake at Haddo House in about the summer of 1978. I went with the head keeper who, being a wiser man than I told me to bring an old combat jacket which he threw over the animal's head before lighting a cigarette and sitting down. Fortunately the incident was not filmed but I suspect to the onlooker why two men on their hands and knees should be heads-down and bums-up opposite one another lifting the edge of a combat jacket would have been a mystery, and laughable. Eventually I got lucky and found the tail and pulled. Renewed hissing and I can vouch for @The fourth Horseman 's assertion that otters are strong. Joe Buchan the head keeper, being as I said wiser than I then instructed me to pull tight against the snare whilst he eased off the snare from its neck. Done he then said we shall let go on "Three". On "two" Joe let go of the sharp end and it doubled over and sank its teeth into my left wrist near my watch. Four clean (but deep) puncture marks resulted. I think I was saved by the fact it was an arm bone as Joe said they could crush a pinkie finger beyond the last joint. I suspect because it had been several hours in the snare its mouth was clean but it never was sore, swelled up or became infected. I did put some Germolene or Dettol on that night but that was all.
Many years later I angered a stoat, whilst stalking near RSPB Leighton Moss in N Lancs., which was dragging a dead adult rabbit up a gentle slope. I mischievously put my foot on the rabbit which action triggered such a hissing and spitting and ferocity from one so small. I then grabbed the rabbit by hand with stoat attached. After probably thirty seconds of tug-of-war interspersed with hissy fits I let go and it carried on not many more yards up the dykeside before disappearing into a hole in the bottom of the dyke still dragging its (now doubly) hard-earned rabbit. That was probably about ten years ago.
In the autumn of last year not 300 yards from the house I was by a roadside sett with the dog, fortunately not the puppy, when he and I encountered one of the sett inhabitants scuffling down the road toward us. It was very dark. I met him with my stick tapped firmly but not hard on the road in front of him. He was totally undeterred and kept coming. I then (slightly panicked) swung a shoe and connected with his shoulder and the dog barked from very close-by. Yes they are solid and heavy; more so than a wet heavy rugby ball from my prep-school age days which I remember as having a fair degree of inertia. This was just solid and a strong kick only delivered him to the side of the lane. I am sure if the dog had not barked he would have continued on his way (through me) but he thought better and shot up the bank and into the field where I lost sight (more like sound) of him. I pass the spot almost every night late at night [the final dog emptying act of the day] and only yesterday evening heard the heavy scuffle as he shot back into his hole hearing the dog and I approach.
Many years later I angered a stoat, whilst stalking near RSPB Leighton Moss in N Lancs., which was dragging a dead adult rabbit up a gentle slope. I mischievously put my foot on the rabbit which action triggered such a hissing and spitting and ferocity from one so small. I then grabbed the rabbit by hand with stoat attached. After probably thirty seconds of tug-of-war interspersed with hissy fits I let go and it carried on not many more yards up the dykeside before disappearing into a hole in the bottom of the dyke still dragging its (now doubly) hard-earned rabbit. That was probably about ten years ago.
In the autumn of last year not 300 yards from the house I was by a roadside sett with the dog, fortunately not the puppy, when he and I encountered one of the sett inhabitants scuffling down the road toward us. It was very dark. I met him with my stick tapped firmly but not hard on the road in front of him. He was totally undeterred and kept coming. I then (slightly panicked) swung a shoe and connected with his shoulder and the dog barked from very close-by. Yes they are solid and heavy; more so than a wet heavy rugby ball from my prep-school age days which I remember as having a fair degree of inertia. This was just solid and a strong kick only delivered him to the side of the lane. I am sure if the dog had not barked he would have continued on his way (through me) but he thought better and shot up the bank and into the field where I lost sight (more like sound) of him. I pass the spot almost every night late at night [the final dog emptying act of the day] and only yesterday evening heard the heavy scuffle as he shot back into his hole hearing the dog and I approach.
117 Grain Quarter bore.
