How to Catch a Weasel? A Full Breakdown of Practical Methods

The weasel, whose scientific name is Mustela sibirica, is known in folk tradition as the "Yellow Immortal." It is mainly nocturnal, moves swiftly and secretively, can climb trees or enter water, and relies on its keen sense of smell and hearing to search for food; it is quite cunning and alert. In nature it is the natural enemy of rodents and has an outstanding record in eliminating rodent damage. Weasels must not be hunted without limit; planned and reasonable hunting should be carried out on the premise of maintaining the natural ecological balance.

Weasel Hunting Season

Our country has a vast area, complex terrain, and a wide variety of climates, and the fur growth of the weasel differs from region to region. Setting a reasonable hunting period helps improve the quality grade of weasel fur and benefits the development of this important wildlife resource. Some scholars believe that in the Yangtze River basin, if hunting begins at Xiaoxue (Minor Snow), the proportion of equal-grade inner fur can be raised to 90 percent. In northern regions, if hunting begins at Lidong (Start of Winter) and ends at Lichun (Start of Spring) the following year, the fur quality during this period is good. Hunters know from experience that the period from Bailu (White Dew) to Xiaoxue (Minor Snow) each year is the easiest time to catch them. Some hunters have been seen starting to hunt at Bailu and capturing many weasels whose fur was not yet mature, seeking only quantity and not quality, and selling large numbers of low-grade pelts, wasting the country's wildlife resources.

Weasel Tracking Methods

A hunter who wants to catch weasels must understand the weasel's activity patterns. To understand the weasel's activity patterns, one must examine the various traces left by weasel activity. For this reason, the hunter should go to areas where weasels frequently appear and search for the droppings, footprints, food scraps, and so on left by weasels, so as to learn the patterns of weasel activity from them. Weasels generally do not defecate at the entrance of their dens; they like to urinate and defecate in quiet, smooth, high places. The droppings are black strips with a smooth surface, about as thick as a little finger and about four to five cm long. The urine is extremely pungent and yellow; when it soaks into stone slabs and dries, it forms yellow crystals. On snow, the weasel's tracks are long oval paired tracks running side by side, or paired tracks with one slightly ahead and one slightly behind. When it has just come out of the den, the weasel is lazy and its steps are small, so the tracks on the snow are dense. When returning to the den, its steps are large and the tracks are sparse. From the density or sparseness of the tracks near the den entrance and the direction of the tracks, the hunter can also judge whether the weasel is still in the den. On ground without snow, at wall bases, wall holes, earthen cliffs, and other places where weasels frequently appear, if claw marks left by weasels are found, and fine scratch grooves from claw tips are also seen on hard ground, it shows that weasels frequently move about in this area.

Weasel Catching Methods

1. Clever carbide catching method: First find the den entrance that the weasel frequently uses, then throw a piece of calcium carbide inside, set up a wire basket outside the den, and pour one or two ladles of water into the den. The carbide smokes on contact with water, choking the weasel so that it has to come out. In this way, a completely intact weasel can be caught. This method is both simple and effective.

2. Wooden box trap: Make a wooden box from boards 0.03 to 0.09 chi thick, with length, width, and height of 3 × 0.6 × 0.5 chi. Both ends of the box are movable drop gates. Drill a shallow hole in the middle of the back of each gate, and on the outside of the top cover of the large box, carve a line groove along the center down the length of the box. Drill a small hole in the middle of the line groove, then use a 3-chi-long thin rope with a small round nail tied to each end, hang a 2 to 3 cun long thin string at the center of the thin rope, and hang a small wire hook at the bottom of the string. Hang the bait on the small hook. When the weasel comes into the box to steal food, it touches the small round nails on both gates and dislodges them from the gates; the gates then drop by themselves, shutting the weasel inside the box.

3. Bamboo tube trapping: Choose a bamboo tube about 0.9 chi thick (inner diameter) and cut it to 2—3 chi long. Bury it in the soil with its mouth level with the ground. The inside of the bamboo tube must be kept smooth. Put bait at the bottom of the tube; the weasel crawls in to eat and cannot back out, so it is caught.

4. Using dogs to chase and catch: Take the dog to places where weasels frequently move. If the dog smells the odor of a weasel and keeps wagging its tail, it indicates there is a weasel in the den, and at this point one can try to catch it.

5. Searching for dens to catch: In the wild, pay attention to identifying the footprints left when weasels pass by, and carefully identify and search for den entrances. Generally, one weasel has more than two den entrances. Once they are found, keep only one main entrance and block the rest tightly. Then put a cloth-bag-style plastic sleeve over the den entrance, and another person disturbs its nest from behind the den and surrounds the burrow. The startled weasel flees toward the opening and ends up entering the bag and being caught.

6. Hanging-door cage trapping: When the weasel enters the cage through the entrance to eat the food, it must pull down the wooden rod; the rod then comes loose, the mechanism loses control, and under the force of gravity the gate blocks the entrance, so the weasel is shut inside the cage.

7. Funnel-entrance cage catching method: The funnel entrance is made from steel rods (which must be elastic), and the tips must be sharpened. The cage must be woven from iron wire, not bamboo. A live toad is placed inside; the weasel, wanting to eat it, enters but cannot get out.