Few hours in the snow

[comanche 3,394]

My ferreting mate rang to say that in the interests of domestic bliss he'd decided to decorate his kitchen and would not be taking part in our planned ferreting trip on the Sussex Downs . To add to my feeling of rejection entirely his boy would be unavailable as he'd been co-erced into taking part in an indoor cricket match. A cynical person might wonder if the weather had played a part in these last minute decisions to engage in indoor entertainment .

I spent a couple of hours slumped over the wood-stove ,feeling rejected and drinking tea with an equally despondent dog hanging on my every move. It was no good . I had to go ferreting .

Half an hour later I was in the yard of a local livery stable . The owner was convinced that I wouldn't be able to find the burrows under the snow and that there was a fair chance that the next time I was in the yard would be as a frozen corpse slung over the back of one of his horses .

With a cheery ,"Just going for a little walk .May be sometime", I set off across the paddocks to a little wooded boundary ghyll that I knew reasonably well and thought might be relatively free of drifted snow .

 

The dog gave an almost immediate mark and I managed to scrape the snow about and uncover what I was pretty sure were all the adjoining holes. The frozen and snow covered ground amplified every sound as I set the nets and I was quite prepared for a bit of a sticky time .

As it was ,a pair of rabbits bolted almost simultaniously into adjacent nets within a couple of minutes .Nothing else showed except the ferret so I upped-nets . I'd done little more than take a few paces when the dog almost disappeared into a snow-encrusted bramble patch thus fixing the position of another bunny .

I was less than certain that I'd uncovered all holes but with the nets down I crossed my fingers and popped the ferret in .

Once again ,two rabbits exited quite quickly and were cleanly caught but a third lifted a net and scrabbled away . I was pretty sure that it bobbed into a snow drift a few yards away and as I did'nt see it emerge I suspected that it had found a hole to dive into .

It became very quiet . Too quiet, as they say in all the best B movie Westerns just before the bushes start to move towards the encircled wagons and the scalp-lifting begins . In this case all I had to reach for was the spade rather than hang onto my hair . A short dig revealled my jill cheerfully sharing a block-end with a couple more bunnies .

There was just time to investigate the snow-drift that I'd seen the run-away rabbit seek cover in. Under the drift were several tunnels and the fact that something was at home was indicated when the dog began to scratch away the snow to reveal a sneaky bolthole that I'd missed.

I was a little concerned about the potential effectivness of my nets . They had started to stiffen as the temperature dropped . No longer were they pliable ,free-running icons of predatory artisanship . When folded they looked like frozen dish rags and when set they resembled mesh frisbies !.

Luckily they held two more rabbits long enough for me and my canine companion to pounce and with the temperature and dusk dropping I headed back to the yard .

A couple of my nets showed signs of being nibbled by their captives which is something that seems to happen quite often when nets are frozen or wet but nothing that five minutes work in the warmth of my kitchen would'nt put right . On the subject of kitchens I must find out how my mate enjoyed his decorating and as for his lad who chose to play indoor cricket . "Batting for the other side", I call it!

Edited December 9, 2010 by comanche

[auld salmon 28]

i well done nowt worse than wanting to get oot but no one to go with i try and leave sets alone that i can manage myself so as nearly always get out at the weekend

could do with bigger picts

Edited December 10, 2010 by auld salmon

[The one 8,626]

Aye nowt worse than being let down but at least you where out

[pitmanuk 2]

cracking write up mate, and for the determination to get out

[turbo28 1]

belta [bANNED TEXT] up that.