First time with the long net. . . .

[T42 44]

I’m sure we can all agree, the area in which we do our work can often be challenging to say the least. This leads to many frustrating, disappointing and just downright annoying moments and in fact sometimes, days!! I’ve often dreamt about being able to walk across the field and have open sets in the middle of open fields where brambles, thorns, nettles, hedges, wire, and trees do not interfere with the simple task of laying a purse net. However in Shropshire where England meets North Wales such a fairy tale does not exist or I’m yet to find it anyway!

I’m now into my second season of ferreting and am very much still learning. After many days of battling with natures obstacles I had come to the conclusion that you win some, you loose some, however I don’t really like the loose some bit when the ‘some’ adds up to more than half the bag! Surely something could be done . . . I had heard of people using long nets but I had only envisioned them being used at night. However it was when reading an article on this very forum I got to hear about the use of long nets in conjunction with purse nets whilst ferreting.

After our next outing, where we tackled a typical hedge row for our country, and again loosing the equivalent to half the bag due to un-netable holes I decided something had to be done.

I read up and asked around and eventually got a better understanding of long nets and the type of long nets that would be best suited for the job in hand. A week later and I took delivery of a long net, a nice simple 50yard quickset.

Another week went by until I had the time free to go ferreting again. The day had come. That day was today. Having checked the weather last night, it had given rain through the night but stopping in the early hours with a cold, frosty, wind free morning. I went to bed and like a kid on Christmas Eve lay awake for awhile imaging the scene of the next day with hundreds of rabbits hitting that long net. . . . Morning came I sprung out of bed and to the window. . It was still raining! Not a good start. However I got ready got the dog, ferrets and went and picked my partner in crime and a ferreting off we went. It was still raining. We got to our destination. It was STILL RAINING! We decided there was only one thing we could do at a time like this, let’s have a cup of tea. Eventually it stopped raining it was now 9.45am. We walked across the field and to the same hedge row where so many rabbits had eluded us the last outing, but now we had my secret weapon, the long net.

The dog marked several of the holes, the bunnies where at home. We set the long net up on the side of the hedge the rabbits always seem to bolt. I think it’s because its 50 yards the next bit of cover where as the other side of the hedge is an open field of about 50 acres. We netted the easy to get to holes on the edge of the hedge, leaving the more difficult holes and the countless un-netable ones in the middle of it. We were ready to begin our assault! We entered the ferrets and things where quiet for 5 minutes then a rabbit emerged from one of the un-netted holes and instead of breaking from the hedge as usual it went straight back down another open hole! Oh well at least it’s still in there. Another 5 minutes past and another one bolted from a netted hole and was caught by the purse net. A couple of minutes and another bolted, again out of a netted hole and was caught by the purse net. An hour passed and along with it 6 more rabbits in the bag, making 8 in total all from holes that had been netted! The ferrets surfaced and were no longer interested in the warren. That was our lot. I had to be in work after dinner so that one warren was all we had time for today. The long net stood as perfect as when I put it out. It was never put to the test once. We had caught 100% or the rabbits we had bolted all of which were caught by the purse nets! This is the first time we have ever caught 100%. I didn’t really know what to do, I was happy with the result; like I said we had never caught 100% before. Our biggest bag from one warren was 7 and we had beaten that. I should have been ecstatic, but there was a little bit inside that was disappointed, I didn’t get to see the long net I action. Maybe its sheer presence was enough to give us the good fortune and along with it the best result we had!

We packed up and walked back to the van. It was a good morning, I can’t complain. I’m sure the time will come where the long net will do its job and save the day, just not today.

All I can say is I guess you win some, you loose some.

 

ATB

T42

[simonrocco 175]

well done pal sounds like a good day iv just been investing in a longnet iv never used them before so looking forward to using it for the first time they look like they work well if used properly hope you catch in yours soon atb pal

[Guest vin]

great write up mate... i know the feeling..I have a few long nets now and love em..but i know what you mean about netting up all the holes with purse nets and still missing a few..We tried the same methods and sometimes it works and sometimes they seem to know not to run outwards towards the long nets..LOL.. You could also try getting a couple of stop/gate nets,small ones to run across little sections of the hedgerows when they run down the hedges instead of out and away..

I usually miss a hole or 2 when netting up...and you can usually bet money the bunny will bolt from that hole with no net..lol.. We had one jump over the long net a couple of weeks ago.

The main thing with the long nets is knowing where they are going to bolt/run to when they do exit the burrows... if you have a good idea of that your half way there.

 

keep us updated with your progress over the season mate... im sure you will have some very good days.

[KittleRox 2,147]

Fantastic write up, I,m sure your long net will come in handy, atb

[T42 44]

Thanks for the comments.

Vin, i've got a couple of stop nets now as well. the arsenal is growing! I can't wait to get out again and put them all to use.

 

T42

[Country Joe 1,411]

T42 Your longnets and stop nets are handy tools, and when doing hedges, it can be a bit daunting when there are a lot of holes, but sometime its best just to use your purse nets, i know its a bugger purse netting hedges, i do it regular myself, but it can be rewarding.