When things don't go to plan .

[comanche 3,298]

A couple of years ago I gave a sandy jill to a lad and a few days ago his mum phoned-up asking If I'd take him ferreting as due to family problems he'd lost the oppertunity to try his ferret out. I'd already earmarked a bit of local ground for attention, albeit just a couple of small burrows between an industrial estate and a paddock , so could see no problem in the lad tagging along .

Except that he ,through no fault of his own , turned -up an hour and a half late which meant that by the time I'd checked a few mole traps on the way and engaged in polite conversation with the customers it was close to noon .

A couple of weeks ago I'd trimmed back the brambles in a subtle manner just to make things easier . Sadly ,according to the land-owner, others had reaped the benefit of my labours. Some chaps from the industrial estate next door had ,shall we say,accidentaly set some nets ,accidentally popped some ferrets into the burrows and accidentally caught several rabbits . I'm sure they did'nt mean to be caught by the landowner either but they were !

I think if my dog had'nt given a positive mark I'd have resigned myself to going home there and then . As it was we forged ahead more in hope than certainty and not only laid a few purse nets but threw my old long-net around the proceedings .

At this point I managed to drop one of the locator collar batteries into the long grass . The one working collar was placed around my companion's virgin sandy jill and I opted to work my old white jill au-natural . She's a good old ferret ,missing tooth ,re-occuring lumps and bumps, getting a bit skinny -everything you'd expect from a ferret that must be in her eleventh year . She's also a bit of a softy and rarely lays up for long .

The first burrow ,after a long wait that saw my companion just itching to reach for the locator lest his ferret be lost , produced two rabbits . The second burrow only consisted of about fifteen holes and the dog was quite insistant that it was occupied so we popped the young jill in. She seemingly went through every tunnel but to no avail.Despite her failure to find what was to prove a very difficult rabbit she'd worked well for a ferret that had never seen action and she came to hand perfectly .

The one working collar was fastened to the old Senior Citizen ferret and she was went to work . The ground rumbled and thumped but still the rabbit would'nt bolt .Despite my general dislike of anything resembling hard work I'd resigned myself to reaching for the spade and locator box when the suddenly the rabbit belted from a badly netted hole and headed for expected freedom . Unfortunatly for the bunny it was simply a question of whether the dog or the long-net stalled the escape. The net won!

What with the late start ,loss of a collar battery and the negative activities of free-lancers bringing the total bag down to three rabbits, on paper the day was close to a disaster .

So,not the sort of day that gets written up in the Game Book in red letters but not a total failure and not unenjoyable in a funny sort of way .

[The one 8,593]

Nice read mate some days are like that you just cant help it

[comanche 3,298]

Nice read mate some days are like that you just cant help it

 

 

Yeh . I think people who expect garuanteed action and instant success with no element of uncertainty might be better off sticking to computor games .

 

Now there's a thought . Wii Ferreting !

[Malt 379]

As least you got out mate. The rabbits are hard work round here, small burries in the middle of thick stuff. We're lucky if we get three on a morning out!

[pencoed hunter 7]

well done mate

[stubby 175]

good of you to take a newbie out mate, getting out and showing ya face, its not all numbers,

[stealthy1 3,964]

I love a challenge, I find the easy days are ferret food, but the harder days are good sport

[pigeonphill 69]

you got a canny way of writing and all ways find your days out well worth the read well done that man or is that man and boy regards phill

[-=Magwitch=- 29]

Always enjoy your write ups better than reading the CMW.................. This season as been pretty poor so far for us numbers wise but I guarantee we've be out come the weekend.

[comanche 3,298]

you got a canny way of writing and all ways find your days out well worth the read well done that man or is that man and boy regards phill

 

Cheers Phil. Well even the bad days usually have some grim entertainment value .

Just to add to the slightly negative spirit of the day ;I'd underated the stretching powers of my not -so- new pup with the result that the three rabbits I hung in my outhouse while I made cups of tea became two and a half rabbits !

 

And Magwich are you sure you did't pinch my older bitch for your photos?

Edited November 8, 2009 by comanche

[iamduvern 62]

 

 

 

Nice one days like that are the ones to remember keeps your feet on the ground wouldn't be half as much fun if you got a bag full every day!!

 

 

[whin 463]

good story simliar to my youth ferreting localy , same holes all the time till we got bikes and well nothing was safe lol