Jump to content

A question


JoeD

Recommended Posts


in laymans term, its simply a longnet, anything between 25yds to 100yds long, that is placed around the warren, in whatever shape is neccessary, therefore boxing in all the holes, the ferrets are then entered to do their work of bolting the rabbits out into the net, sometimes if its a large warren, the box can be subdivided again with more longnets, or purse nets can still be put down, as some rabbits will try bolting from one hole, to dissapear down another, within the net

 

longnetting allows you to ferret in areas where it may be tricky getting to the holes, around a bramble bush for example,

if we get to go out next weekend, you'll see it first hand, as myself,richie and ferreter216, tend to be lazy buggers and longnet everything

Link to post

allthough long nets can be used ferreting , and in other ways as well. the real work of the longnet is at night.

 

where ever you have rabbits leaving there home warrens at night to feed else where . there warrens will often be in woodland or hedgrows.

 

the idea is then to sneak along at night whilst there out feeding and set the net a few yards out from the hedge/wood were there warrens are. they will be out in the field feeding . then walk round the back off them and gently push/herd them in to the net.

 

a few pics here

 

 

LONGNETTING12303002.jpg

 

 

LONGNETTING12303005.jpg

 

LONGNETTING12303003.jpg

Link to post
I know you probably hear this all the time, but as I have never done longnetting before, how does longnetting work exactly? Sorry about the question I just want to know,

Cheers for any response,

Joe.

 

 

Hi Joe, You have some very experienced replies already. I love longnets so I'll put in my three penneth. Long nets tend to be used more now for ferreting than they used to be, as traditionally it was a way of trapping rabbits which were out feeding. Basically it is a net lets say 100 yards long, but put onto two cords along which it can slide say 50 yards long, "though can be any length you want". Two yards of net stretched tight to every yard of cord or running line, "we called them bands" probably where Harold Wymans' term" bant" cord came from.1.this seems to be sufficient bag or slack in the net. You would do well to get a copy of Harold Wymans book on longnetting. However this site is excellent, and the guys who have replied already are good guys and will help all they can. One note, regarding Harold Wyman's book, he is quite pedantic, for example about laying a net out on rough ground and going back along pegging it. He claims that laying on the rubbish is asking for trouble. Thinking about it though, setting the net on 25" pegs that he advocates means assuming 4" penetration into the ground, 21" of about 60" of net being kept clear, as even in a good headwind the net settles sometimes..

In my opinion, it is quite acceptable to run the net out and go back along pegging it whilst working alone in a wind on a good dark night, at the very least, it is what I do, and I'm content with the results.

 

 

notes 1 I'm not saying Harold used my term , just that Welsh pronunciation of Band would be Bant, and round here, the top and bottom chords are refered to as bands.

Link to post

The reason that "back-pegging" isn,t the best method for night time work is quite simply the distance you have to cover when setting multiple nets....Let,s say, for instance, that you intend to set three fifty yard nets, a hundred and fifty yards in total. In goes the first pin and you walk fifty yards...you then walk back the same fifty yards pegging up...you then have to walk the same fifty yards again to get back to the end of the net to start on your next net. so you,ve trooped up and down the same FIFTY yards covering ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY yards. Times that by three nets and bingo 450 yards of up and down expecting rabbits not to click onto the fact that something,s afoot. Where I work nets, with all the ambient light problems you,re restricting yourself to blind or browie drops. Try it on a flat field around here and you,d be starving.

 

Regards Mapreader

Link to post

Take heed Lads, Mapreader knows His stuff... I had the misfortune a few years back to step out with a so called expert at the netting who also back pegged ( if only i new this at the time i would've stayed at home ).. This Chap ran out all of the nets first then walk all the way back to the first net then peg all the way back to the last net!!! :no: ..

The way he set about things left a bad taste,, the nets werent even linked together...

The word BANT that Mr. Wyman used referes to a long piece of cord which is dragged across the field between two Men towards the set nets,, Up here this all important piece of equipment is called a SWITCH CORD..Regards ..

Link to post
The reason that "back-pegging" isn,t the best method for night time work is quite simply the distance you have to cover when setting multiple nets....Let,s say, for instance, that you intend to set three fifty yard nets, a hundred and fifty yards in total. In goes the first pin and you walk fifty yards...you then walk back the same fifty yards pegging up...you then have to walk the same fifty yards again to get back to the end of the net to start on your next net. so you,ve trooped up and down the same FIFTY yards covering ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY yards. Times that by three nets and bingo 450 yards of up and down expecting rabbits not to click onto the fact that something,s afoot. Where I work nets, with all the ambient light problems you,re restricting yourself to blind or browie drops. Try it on a flat field around here and you,d be starving.

 

Regards Mapreader

 

 

Harold Wyman specifically relates the pegging to the amount of rubbish the net picks up. Do the rabbits Know you're there? If they do, whether you peg as you go or back peg you'll get nowt. As to the three fifty yarder scenario, yes it would be hassle, and I tend to work one hundred yarder when alone, but I've worked three fifty yarders alone before. It has to be windy on a dark site though.

Link to post
Take heed Lads, Mapreader knows His stuff... I had the misfortune a few years back to step out with a so called expert at the netting who also back pegged ( if only i new this at the time i would've stayed at home ).. This Chap ran out all of the nets first then walk all the way back to the first net then peg all the way back to the last net!!! :no: ..

The way he set about things left a bad taste,, the nets werent even linked together...

The word BANT that Mr. Wyman used referes to a long piece of cord which is dragged across the field between two Men towards the set nets,, Up here this all important piece of equipment is called a SWITCH CORD..Regards ..

 

 

 

Firstly As I replied to mapreader, If the rabbits know you are there you'll get nothing regardless of what you do. If they don't then it doesn't matter how you work. I think the name bant is a Welsh derivative of the term band used for the top and bottom running lines used by old men round here, especially as old bands were often recruited for the job. It matters not one iota though what I think we'll never know for sure.

Link to post
If the rabbits know you are there you'll get nothing regardless of what you do.

 

Sorry but i have to strongly dissagree with this. As witnessed on many occassions, more so at this time of the year, if your quiet when setting they will often sit and not bolt. They know you are there but a rule of survival is to stay still untill the danger has passed, then they will bolt for cover. With this in mind you can see the importance of peging as you set the net otherwise as you run the net out the rabbits bolt over the top of it as you have passed so walking back pegging is a waste of time as they have bolted allready. How do i know this? I have a drop or two that i do on a golf course and there are raised greens on a number of these drops. With you the netter being 6-8ft below the feeding rabbits. Its clear from their behaviour they know your there as they stop eating, raise there ears and then they try to get as flat to the ground as possible.. I and other members on here, Netrigger, stu young to name but 2 have seen it happen, myself on too many occassions for it to be simply a one off.

With this in mind, is it not a viable thought that if the rabbits do this on a golf course when sitting out no further than 20yrds, that rabbits sitting out further and with the safety of darkness will do the same?

 

 

And has been said before, why bother with all that walking, isnt night time netting a hard game without making it any worse?

Link to post
If the rabbits know you are there you'll get nothing regardless of what you do.

 

Sorry but i have to strongly dissagree with this. As witnessed on many occassions, more so at this time of the year, if your quiet when setting they will often sit and not bolt. They know you are there but a rule of survival is to stay still untill the danger has passed, then they will bolt for cover. With this in mind you can see the importance of peging as you set the net otherwise as you run the net out the rabbits bolt over the top of it as you have passed so walking back pegging is a waste of time as they have bolted allready. How do i know this? I have a drop or two that i do on a golf course and there are raised greens on a number of these drops. With you the netter being 6-8ft below the feeding rabbits. Its clear from their behaviour they know your there as they stop eating, raise there ears and then they try to get as flat to the ground as possible.. I and other members on here, Netrigger, stu young to name but 2 have seen it happen, myself on too many occassions for it to be simply a one off.

With this in mind, is it not a viable thought that if the rabbits do this on a golf course when sitting out no further than 20yrds, that rabbits sitting out further and with the safety of darkness will do the same?

 

 

And has been said before, why bother with all that walking, isnt night time netting a hard game without making it any worse?

 

I'll agree with you about the rabbits squatting down through the day in daylight, I've seen that. I was refering to night time, and basically if there are two of you, I agree that it would be better at night to peg as you go, however I work alone and find it slow and awkward to peg as I go because you have to be doubled up and also peg one handed. If I was using say two fiftys, I'd peg the first one and run it off at a fast walking pace stooped over and peg down the end, I'd then peg in the second 2 yards before the first finished and run out to the end. I can quickly peg down the nets accurately sorting bagging, and pegging two handed as I go, linking the nets in the middle.

I would like to see what difference it would make to the actual catch, as I doubt it would make much in good conditions. Harold Wyman is also pedantic about the cord being loose to slide through the end pins too, to the point of being shocked by a picture of it. I dissagree with this too with nylon chord. Cotton in the old days then definitely I agree you had to have it running or the bottom band would slacken as you hitched to the top, but nylon has so much stretch it isn't so critical. I have a 3z 50 two 4z 50's a hemp 50 a 6z 100 yarder and a hemp old style 100 yarder with 2 1/2" mesh and yes it catches, though obviously not small rabbits. All these nets are on nylon cords and three of the 50's are on Wyman style cords, the rest on tied cords and there is not a problem. I tend to run two of the fifties nowadays at night as age hasn't been kind to my joints and I'm a bit creaky

Link to post
I'll agree with you about the rabbits squatting down through the day in daylight, I've seen that. I was refering to night time, however I work alone

 

Before this is seen as an im doing it right and your not kind of reply i can assure you it isnt, just another longnetter having a debate with a fellow netter ;)

 

when i was talking about watching them squat i was in fact refering to night time use, it was because i could see their sillohetes (spelling?) as i was below them whilst netting a raised green on a golf course. And like you i too work alone for most of my long netting and i can honestly say i find setting the net and pegging single handed no problem. As for speed i feel to much is made of speed whilst long netting at night. if you use the wind, lack of moon and your fieldcraft you should succeed where a netter with all the speed and no fieldcraft will not. AND NO IM NOT TALKING ABOUT WHICH IS A BETTER METHOD, BASKET OR ENDPINS, THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT BEFORE ANY READER THINKS IT IS..

 

Ive found that if you gear your kit up for the job in hand and gain the skill both methods are as good as each other but the one thing that will, in my opinion spook the rabbits and result in a minimal catch is back pegging. we each have our views on whats right and wrong, but as most if not all things long netting are about mechanics rather than kit, a few things we do we do for a reson. Look at the tied on endpins, if the endpins are tied and you get a few bitten running lines over the season on the same running line, it wont take long before that running line is not an un even length to the other. OK, you may just simply untie the endpin and level it off but is that making more work for ourselves?.

 

On many occassions i will work 150yrds of net, 3x50yrds. sometime i work 200-250 and as a pair i have worked upto and beyond 400yrds on a single drop, in the dark not daytime. I know a fellow netter who will work up to 400 yrds on his own.

 

I personally feel, as with most things sporting we all have our own way of doing things. Many of us not willing to change our ways or to try and learn new ways which will maybe improve our sporting ways.

 

to put things into context, i have been ferreting for over 20yrs and 2 yrs ago took my young son out on his first ferreting trip. it was cold and the ground was like iron. i gave him a bag of nets and told him to peg up one side as i done the other. It was a pig to force the pegs in the hard ground. when i got to the top of the hedge he was waiting for me. I asked him if he had problems? he said no and he had placed 20plus nets. this i had to see as i struggled. I was expecting to see nets with the pegs baely pushed in but to my surprise he had netted each and every hole with the pegs pushed in fully. HOW DID HE DO THIS?

Because he hadnt been brainwashed into what is right and what is wrong, and bare in mind it was his first trip. He simple pushed the peg into the soft ground at the mouth of the hole and placed the net over the hole. In effect placing the net upside down. It worked and we caught many rabbits in those upside down nets. So, i try to keep an open mind as it has been proven to me by a total novice on his first trip out in the field, there are always other methods to our own :icon_redface:

Edited by mole catcher
Link to post
I'll agree with you about the rabbits squatting down through the day in daylight, I've seen that. I was refering to night time, however I work alone

 

Before this is seen as an im doing it right and your not kind of reply i can assure you it isnt, just another longnetter having a debate with a fellow netter ;)

 

when i was talking about watching them squat i was in fact refering to night time use, it was because i could see their sillohetes (spelling?) as i was below them whilst netting a raised green on a golf course. And like you i too work alone for most of my long netting and i can honestly say i find setting the net and pegging single handed no problem. As for speed i feel to much is made of speed whilst long netting at night. if you use the wind, lack of moon and your fieldcraft you should succeed where a netter with all the speed and no fieldcraft will not. AND NO IM NOT TALKING ABOUT WHICH IS A BETTER METHOD, BASKET OR ENDPINS, THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS THREAD IS ABOUT BEFORE ANY READER THINKS IT IS..

 

Ive found that if you gear your kit up for the job in hand and gain the skill both methods are as good as each other but the one thing that will, in my opinion spook the rabbits and result in a minimal catch is back pegging. we each have our views on whats right and wrong, but as most if not all things long netting are about mechanics rather than kit, a few things we do we do for a reson. Look at the tied on endpins, if the endpins are tied and you get a few bitten running lines over the season on the same running line, it wont take long before that running line is not an un even length to the other. OK, you may just simply untie the endpin and level it off but is that making more work for ourselves?.

 

On many occassions i will work 150yrds of net, 3x50yrds. sometime i work 200-250 and as a pair i have worked upto and beyond 400yrds on a single drop, in the dark not daytime. I know a fellow netter who will work up to 400 yrds on his own.

 

I personally feel, as with most things sporting we all have our own way of doing things. Many of us not willing to change our ways or to try and learn new ways which will maybe improve our sporting ways.

 

to put things into context, i have been ferreting for over 20yrs and 2 yrs ago took my young son out on his first ferreting trip. it was cold and the ground was like iron. i gave him a bag of nets and told him to peg up one side as i done the other. It was a pig to force the pegs in the hard ground. when i got to the top of the hedge he was waiting for me. I asked him if he had problems? he said no and he had placed 20plus nets. this i had to see as i struggled. I was expecting to see nets with the pegs baely pushed in but to my surprise he had netted each and every hole with the pegs pushed in fully. HOW DID HE DO THIS?

Because he hadnt been brainwashed into what is right and what is wrong, and bare in mind it was his first trip. He simple pushed the peg into the soft ground at the mouth of the hole and placed the net over the hole. In effect placing the net upside down. It worked and we caught many rabbits in those upside down nets. So, i try to keep an open mind as it has been proven to me by a total novice on his first trip out in the field, there are always other methods to our own :icon_redface:

Aye alright mate, and I'm not resistant to change, just resistent to being told things are crucial when I know they're not. A video of pegging as you go singlehanded would be useful to see, as when I try it, the bottom line tends to ride up the pin as I move to the next, it's also not at all easy to control slack in anything of an end wind. I'll persevere though and try to master it, if you're sure it makes a lot of difference.

As for the cords getting bitten through, yep it happens especially when working alone so perhaps I'm wrong there too, though it's no hardship fixing the nets, I enjoy it. Anyway thanks for your considerate tones, I've enjoyed the exchange, and learned from it.

Link to post

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...