The mysterious creature in the hole

[mrkaijai]

Hey all,
Many of you will have noted my fox thread posted a few weeks ago and in that i mentioned there was, what i thought to be a badger set in my woods, so i told you that i would set my camera trap up, put some food down and hope for the best - well on Wednesday evening i went to have a look at the camera trap and there i found on the camera trap a picture of a badger!

Now here's where the questions come in, the camera trap was placed on a tree a few meters away from one of the serveral set entrances, however from the picture it seems that the badger has not come from the set entrance it was faced towards, it seems to have come from behind where the camera trap was. Most of the entrances i can see are pretty messy and havent been cleared of some fallen leaves - Is this badger living in the holes or is it just on a visit? If there are any badger finatics out there - now is your turn to speak up

[ViperaBerus]

It's impossible to say without seeing the site. Stick your head down and look for sign, there will certainly be hairs left at the entrance, and if a fox is at home, you will smell it.

[mrkaijai]

When i stick my head down this badger hole what am i looking for?

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by mrkaijai

When i stick my head down this badger hole what am i looking for?

Dont look for anything use your nose.

[mrkaijai]

and it will smell like?

[Dogghound]

A musty smell.

[~T~]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

A musty smell.

Kinda badgerish?

[ViperaBerus]

Look for hairs at the entrance. A sett being used by badgers won't smell too much, but a fox will certainly be unmistakable.

[mrkaijai]

So even though there are leaves in the set entrance it could still be in use? A few months ago i saw hot air coming out from one of the entrances. Maybe this could be a messy badger not cleaning out the entrances? Or could the badger be using a set entrance that i can't see?

[Dorts]

Boar Badgers will travel several miles at night, often visiting disused setts, just to check them out,( this could be what this one was doing).
Obvious signs that a sett is unoccupied are cobwebs over the entrance, plenty of debris around and no strong smells.
Setts that are occupied are well-trodden around the entrance and by this time of year will be almost devoid of leaves, (look for flies going in and out, a sure sign that badgers or foxes are at home, especially as the weather warms up).
The smell of Badgers is difficult to discribe but I would call it 'sweet and musty'.

If you manage to get a pic of the bagers tail there is a fairly easy way to see if your bager is a boar or a sow. The sows tail is full with plenty of long hairs down to the ground, whereas the boar generally has a rather sparsely hairy tail, often almost bald.
Dorts.