Siting Traps and Bait Stations
Trap spacing
Spacing between traps and bait stations is an important consideration.
- The best density will maximise the possibility of ferrets visiting a trap or bait station, while minimising the number of traps/ bait stations that need to be deployed.
- Spacings of approximately 200 and 400 m were used in a study of wild ferret populations.
- Other researchers with considerable experience with wild ferret ecology suggested, based on the home range size of ferrets (about 100 ha), that 500 m would be a suitable spacing.
- A spacing of 250 m will ensure that the home range is well covered with control traps.
However, North Canterbury farmers pointed out that a grid design for trapping may not be the most practical and cost-effective method in a commercial situation. They pointed out that ferrets are inquisitive and therefore the most important factor is the siting of the traps in hot spots.
Determining "hot spots" for controlling ferrets
Ferrets tend to concentrate where there is a good source of food or shelter and along access ways such as sheep tracks. Typical hot spots include:
- dry country (sunny warm faces) with rabbits
- hay barns with mice
- offal pits with rats
- dams and creeks with frogs and eels
- alongside country roads where ferrets make an easy living from animals run over on the road
- along edges of creeks
- beside tracks or drain pipes under tracks
- clear areas under trees
- in rabbit holes
- possum dens
- lone trees
- gateposts (especially those marked by dogs)
- on approaches to bridges/culverts
- along the bases of banks
- edges of vegetation
By radio tracking ferrets on North Canterbury farmland, Landcare Research scientists assessed the optimal spacing and location for traps and bait stations so that most ferrets encountered them. This showed that riparian strips were a particularly effective place to set traps.
Farmer experience shows:
- It is worth trialling traps or bait stations throughout the whole property to find the most productive areas. It is also good practice to leave them for at least 10 days in the same spot before shifting them if nothing is caught.
- Once you have identified the problem areas, ferret control should concentrate on those parts of the property, rather than across the entire property.
- Another consideration in siting traps is your ability to service them regularly in your day to day work programme.
- Unbaited leg-hold traps sited on well-worn animal tracks through long grass adjacent to ungrazed pasture, ponds, or public roads, catch ferrets.
- Placing traps or bait stations permanently at successful sites is a smart strategy to control ferrets.
- It is important to experiment with different sites to identify those which attract ferrets. These include along creek banks, around the end of rows of trees, near hay barns and other farm buildings, near cattle stops and culvert pipes.
- Set traps or bait stations in places, or beside objects, that may attract the curiosity of a ferret. For example, gate posts (especially those marked by dogs), cabbage trees, lone pine trees, a large manuka tree, a junction where a cattle track meets a farm track, or any object that is different.
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