New Ferreting Partner!

[Ideation 8,216]

A couple of weeks ago i put a post up here following a days ferreting at a new permission where i said that i had decided (after much thought) to look for a ferreting partner as my Dad works away a lot these days and is not always up for a full day out when he is here. I was skeptical about finding one that i would be comfortable taking on my permissions and someone that i could spend enjoyable days with - we all have a slightly different way of doing things and its hard to find someone you click with.

 

Anyway - i put the post up and had plenty of repys, some were clearly just wanting more land to ferret and some genuinely also looking for a partner. To my surprise i got a message from a guy called Shane who lived only 10-15 mins from my front door! He sounded like a nice bloke and had (by the sound of it) a tidy little team - a couple of good ferrets, a good marking terrier and a solid lurcher. He also impressed me by offering for me to come out on some of his land first to watch him and the dogs work.

 

He invited me around his house to meet the team and his girlfriend and daughter (a real cutie!) so i drove over, had a beer and a good chat. As i had a day out planned with some time coming up off work for a couple of days and wouldnt have time to ferret with him on his land before - he invited me out lamping the next night! I jumped at the chance.

 

So the Monday night (last monday) came around and i picked Shane up at 11, loaded Donna (his fantastic looking saluki/whippet/greyhound) into the car. We drove down to some permission he had and set off into the light rain. This piece of land had seen some lamping this year so there werent as many rabbits as we hoped about and what was there was pretty lamp shy, slipping through the hedges pretty sharpish, the dog having a few close misses through no fault of her own. It was only a matter of time before she put the first one in the bag. Over the next hour we walked a few different small permissions and had some more near misses, taking a couple more to end the night with three. I was really impressed with both donnas running and shanes control of the dog. He proved that the myth about salukis being stupid is just that - a myth. At 18 months old Donna has a huge amount of potential. SHe already has incredible speed and acceleration and is starting to really run smart. Her recall is good and after the first couple of splips she hunts off the lead with no problems. All in all a great night and it looked like i might have found the ferreting partner for me!

 

So one last day of work Monday and then up early to pick up Shane at 7, loaded Donna, Trigger his 6 year old Manchester x Jack Russel Terrier and Sam the Hob into the car and headed back to mine. Added a silver jill and bag of nets to the load and headed off to the permission - which is conveniently located opposite my house. Today we were visiting part of the estate - some game cover and a feeding area in some pine woodland as well as some banking around a lake.

 

Trigger is a fantastic terrier. Her nose is superb and she hunts like a hound, nose down and straight through anything in her way. She marked the first set in a stream bank and we netted up and entered Sam. 5 mins and a bit of thumping later and the first rabbit hit the nets. No sign of the ferret but as i re laid the net another rabbit came up and ducked back down. 2 mins shane notices movement in another hole and theres same pinning a second rabbit. Out it comes and we decide to leave the third that had seen me for another day as a dig here would have been a pain in the arse. We moved down around the lake and despite seeing plenty of active looking sets the terrier wasnt intterested so we moved on to the pine wood. Terrier marked again, and donna also marked (shes just started doing this well). A nice clear 4 hole set. Netted up and entered Sam again, rabbit hit a net on one of the lower holes but managed to slip the net as shane took a face full of tree Everything went quiet for a bit and then Trigger and donna started to show a lot of interest in one of the holes, ear down and could hear the ferret so got the spade out, open the hole up a bit and at arms length found rabbit with sam attached to its head. Rabbit dispatched, hole filled.

 

We moved on up through the wood with trigger bushing a couple of rabbits that made off into the thick cover just out of range of the lurcher. Found a good 25 hole set - netted up, dropped the hob in, double bolt either side of the set. It went quiet for a bit and then another one hit the nets. Then nothing. Hob had killed, so collared up the jill and sent her down, got a mark under a tree and the terrier was trying to climb down one of the holes so we knew where it was, started to dig and hit stone so decided to call the hob out, but he didnt show, so we carried on digging - got to about 2 feet, turned around and the hob was stood behind us giving us a weird look. Decided to leave the rest of the set for another day as we had made enough noise trying to shift the stone and the place was a nightmare to dig. Next set was a nice three holer. Dropped the jill in, plenty of banging about and then suddenly a wee one of about 6-8 weeks old came out through one of the nets, straight through the hole, followed by my confused looking jill. Unfortunately terrier pinned it so we had to dispatch it, but decided to leave the rest of the rabbits in the hole for another day.

 

Carried on a long a hedge line with the terrier pushing rabbits up all over the place - which unfortunately always seemed to run the other side of the fence to wherever the lurcher was, both dogs also found plenty of pheasants We decided to do a bit of a gully on the way home and took another one, with another walking calmly out of the one hole i hadnt thought connected to the set we were doing and which for some reason i didnt net anyway (i'm usually bolt hole paranoid). Ah well there for another day.

 

All in all a great day in great company - it was a pleasure to watch a man work dogs that he has put time and effort into, and i can see the benefit gained from hunting them everyday, they worked as a well oiled team and i would put my house on there being a rabbit at home of that terrier marks. And the 8 healthy rabbits we ended with were a nice bonus.

 

We went out lamping again last night on some of my permission, which includes a burial ground and also some of Shanes, Donna ran the best i have seen her run yet despite there having been a snow fall that day and the ground being frozen or a mud bath. Due to the cold there wasn't much about but she managed some excellent long courses which resulted in 4 fat rabbits. Both Shane and i realized last night that we seem to do all our lamping on hillsides which are often at times almost vertical and when it rains incredibly slippy, this seems to have benefitted the dog. She seems fairly content running on this slopes and has begun to run clever and according to Shane does not over shoot so much, also it gives her good stamina and when running on the flat the rabbits stand little chance, if she manages to turn them away from the hedge once, their dead.

 

So all in all a total success - i'm extremely glad that i put up that post and i think i have found a long term hunting partner. We're off again with the ferrets tomorrow to hit another of my permission which we had a shine over last night and counted the rabbits!

 

Sadly no pictures from the first night lamping of days ferreting but i got a couple last night which i will try to put up later once i've got them off the camera. I'm no camera man though and my photography skills last night were a shambles. It did provide one comedy moment though, we walked up a squatter and when we were about 20-25 yards away i was getting the camera out to try to take a picture of donna striking, when i pulled open some velcro i hadnt seen on the case and it made a noise - the rabbit shat itself and leapt about 5 feet in the air and set off to which shane slipped donna who made a very neat retrieve.

 

atb, yis

 

Jai.

[wilson4347 5]

Glad you found a partner! Thats what its all about!

[HIGHAM 47]

good post , hope things work out pal

[jayjay 264]

just goes to show there are still genuine people out there,good on you, all the best mate.

[The one 8,405]

Nice one mate thats what its all about going out with a partner you trust