The old fashioned gamekeeper vermin poles were considered an essential piece of kit back in the day. Recently killed vermin be it rats, stoats, polecats and in particular feral cats were strung up on the pole and left there till they rotted away. The reasoning was two fold, one to keep a tally of the vermin killed so as to show off to the land owner the gamekeeper was doing his job and also the smell of decaying vermin flesh was supposed to be a deterrent to other vermin to stay out the area thus protecting the young game being reared there. Fascinating stuff really.
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