Sunday to Sunday Ferreting.....

[Sirius 1,358]

Heres a brief write up and a few pics of my last 3 trips out with the ferrets, dogs and nets...

Last Sunday the weather report was terrible with heavy rain allday according to the Met Office, so on Saturday night myself and my mate had decided to cancel the following days ferreting, which we had planned. So Sunday morning came and upon inspection at 9am the rain had stopped and I chanced a quick mooch out travelling light with the dog, 3 ferrets, a handful of purse nets and a couple of traditional longnets. Driving the couple of miles to the hills was like being in a speedboat and when I saw the hills the tops were dusted in snow! I couldn’t drive the truck far up the fields due to the snow and wet. The plan was to wander over a valley and look for smaller spots which the dog marked as I wanted to test a second year hob out. He has done OK but I am not convinced he’s really got it about him, so doing a few smaller spots I should get a better idea if hes really working and hunting. Well the first place was about 20 holes under a big oak tree, which all went well and we caught a few and lost two which bailed out to a warren close by, I was sure the hob had bolted a few of those caught but I was still unsure. The action had ended and the dog was still marking the adjacent warren of anound 15 holes so longnets round and again in with the hob and a seasoned Jill, several bolted and all accounted for in the nets, then a short dig to the hob who had killed his rabbit. The next 2 hole place one bolted which the dog caught and the last place was under another oak tree and in with the hob again, which produced one into a net and then a mark of 6ft, knowing the MK3 is usually wrong on depth I chanced it but after 3ft it was big roots, so waited while the hob came out 15 mins later and headed for home. I was travelling light but with the added weight and slippery ground it was a slow assent up the valley to the car. A good day for the Hob, and it looks as though he’s staying in the team. Ended on 9 or 10 cant remember



Wednesday

Today was a pest control job to clear as many rabbits as possible from a piece of ground, we do this annually to keep on top of the numbers. We had planned to have 3 of us out today but one fella pulled out, so It was going to be a bit more work. My good old mate Hedgesteeper came over with 4 ferrets and his two dogs which are cousin and aunty to my own dog and know their way around a warren (when they are not sleeping). I took another 5 ferrets which gave us a decent team for the bigger places. We started on some open warrens where the nettles had been beaten back a bit and started to account for a few but not as many as expected from these spots but they all bolted cleanly. One place is an old ‘Pill Box’ which held a few and luckily no layups under the concrete floors! You just have to work systematically here and work each warren one by one in order so not to miss any as you go, and once the smaller open ones were done we headed for some bigger places of around 50-100 holes which were deep into the side of a steep valley.While my mate netted up the first of the bigger places I did a small 10 holer and accounted for 7 in quick succession it was amazing they got netted the bank was that steep they were literally airborne when the excited but there decent was into the old longnet. The bigger places were producing more rabbits but harder work and by 12pm we had 30 odd rabbits, so we tried two more before calling it a day. We had a quick count up and were just shy of the 50 so did a little place which bumped it up nicely to 52 . The dogs worked well although to be honest one good dog would have sufficed with all the nets laid and my dog can turn into a competitive nobber when in company, eben though these dogs have worked together countless times. I think the dogs only caught one or two rabbits all day but were without doubt useful when you have 4 rabbits bolting at the same time into nets. We also had no digs today at all and missed very little, I wish all days were like this.





Todays’ outing was onto some fields on a cider farm, where the rabbits are causing some problems. The plan was to g clear 3 hillside warrens, all deep places and get my mate Swifthunt’s young 10 month old lurcher bitch out on her own, so I left my dog at home. This bitch had a cracking day today, nice and steady for a youngster and managed a couple of good catchs and both were acompanied with a nice retrieve to hand to boot . Working in a field full of sheep and Alpacas she was steady the same again when she had caught a rabbit and the ferret got hold of it, no stress, just walked off with it till the ferret fell off Again these warrens today were fairly big affairs with lots of holes and not so many rabbits, so the ferrets had to work hard to push these out into the nets. Each warren was encircled with longnets , a few purse nets and divided up with stop nets and a trammel I dug out of the shed. Netrigger had gifted me this Trammel net year before last and to be trustful I had put of using it believing a trammel to be too fiddly HOW WRONG WAS I. We had a few rabbits in it today and I will be purchasing another one. I just love the way a rabbit is proper fecked once in the pocket and even better the net /bagging doesn’t slide up and down like on a traditional net when a rabbit hits it, making it great for hillsides. I must say these nets are killer I just which I had more of them. And they are not fiddly at all to pick up and use, as simple if not more so than the longnets I have used for years. But I must say I wont be sticking through too many hedges.
Anyhow I digress, it was a good old day, frosty to start and then proper hot by 10am we ended at 1pm with 16 rabbits, no digs, no escapees and a very happy Swfthunt and rightly so.


Good Hunting Sirius

Edited November 5, 2013 by Sirius

[21dangermouse 86]

Top quality post their bud, really enjoyable read and stunning photos. How's the dog bred in the last Sunday post? Atb dangermouse

[patterdalejoel 669]

great pics and write up, enjoyed that. is that merle anyway connected to Hancocks?

[Sirius 1,358]

Top quality post their bud, really enjoyable read and stunning photos. How's the dog bred in the last Sunday post? Atb dangermouse

 

Swifthunt may correct me but a mix of deer grey collie and a dash of saluki 24"

[Sirius 1,358]

great pics and write up, enjoyed that. is that merle anyway connected to Hancocks?

 

Not that I am aware of.

[fathom 2]

great write up and pics lad cracking looking dogs, hows the fawn dog in the 8th pic bred? out of interest how is the traditional long net set up it looks like the main running line has been attached to a thicker running line above it? what the purpose of this and how was it done?? Atb Fathom

[Sirius 1,358]

great write up and pics lad cracking looking dogs, hows the fawn dog in the 8th pic bred? out of interest how is the traditional long net set up it looks like the main running line has been attached to a thicker running line above it? what the purpose of this and how was it done?? Atb Fathom

 

It's Lurcher to Lurcher bred for generations. The long nets are normal set up, a long net running on top and bottom lines which are the same thickness on end pins.

[max abell 196]

Nice post and pics mate well done

[terryd 8,039]

Nice read that I love the look on the ferrets face when the dog waltzes off with his rabbit

[Jekyll 329]

Cracking pictures and write up Sirius, i've still got a silly grin, yep that's her breeding with a bit of whippet too

[tomburras 2,721]

Great write up and pics it was interesting reading. Your permissions and doogs look great too.

[Sirius 1,358]

Cracking pictures and write up Sirius, i've still got a silly grin, yep that's her breeding with a bit of whippet too

 

Let's hope she carries on they way she is going she should make a handy dog

[NEWKID 26,166]

Another top write up mate, well done on that young dog looks a real nice one....

[Brimmer 220]

What can i say, but bloody awesome! Nice dogs, and good work. Reading your replys to posts i could tell you knew what you were doing, but reading this and seeing the piccies confirms it! Excellent read, and please keep posting reports.

[ferretville 69]

Good write up and good pics sirius well done lads