Snifferboy 659 Posted February 9, 2014 Report Share Posted February 9, 2014 After reading through some of the articles on here recently I stumbled across a bit of footage on Landmark rabbit control and thought to myself how well the man ferreting came across... Providing a service, quick, clean and humane and admired how his dog worked etc. So eventually I worked out who this said individual was and plucked up the courage to send him a message… A few messages later I told him I was a plumber and didn't get out any where near enough with my dogs on decent ground and that rabbits aren't in any kind of numbers on the land I hunt… A message came back with a boiler problem mentioned… And I saw my opportunity!!! A date was set, I kept telling myself that I hadn't just groomed the said individual, but actually, I think I did!!! Typical being in the business I am in, I had planned on having a nice sedate Sunday afternoon loading up my van with all the gear that I thought I would need, when at 4 in the afternoon I had a call out that didn't see me get home until around 9, so after rushing around for an hour or so I had loaded up everything I thought I would need and more, desperately wanting to make a good impression!!! And planning for every possible problem that I thought the boiler may have… Didn't really get much sleep that night and before I knew it, the alarm was going off... 4am, up, breakfast, cuppa… On the bike with the dogs for a quick couple of miles before being in the van for possibly 3 hours, make me Thermous, double check I have all my tools and away I went… I made pretty good time and when my Sat Nav told me I had reached my destination, I drove on passed Kens House and took my dogs for a walk further up the road for a while. I wasn't entirely sure whether I would work my dogs or not as by this time I had got myself really nervous about meeting a man over the internet to fix his boiler and go out for a proper days ferreting… Dogs back in the van, back down the road and knock on the door... I was invited in and after a cup of tea and a good chat I knew that the days going to be fine so long as I could fix the boiler… Luckily for me, it wasn't too taxing and after a bit of fannying around I was pretty sure that I had it sussed. So after some cooked breakfast and the boiler had been run for a good while we got on to the best part of the day… I decided to take the little pup Willow with me as my older dog had a slice across the back of her leg that was still open, loaded everything up into Kens truck and away we went. We pulled up to the venue for the day and in all honesty, compared to where I go ferreting this place was heaven!!! A nice long bank with holes everywhere and plenty of activity that you could pull up along side in the truck, this was a proper bit of luxury ferreting I thought to myself!!!! We netted the first little bury and down went one ferret and it wasn't long before the first rabbit bolted, first thing I noticed was how much quicker and 'busy' Kens ferret was compared to mine and my mates who I usually go out with. Another bolt, followed by the ferret and we picked up and moved on. The next part was a larger part of bank and Ken showed me how he would set the long nets around and where to put the stop nets and a few other little tips that when you think about it are quite obvious, but until someone who is doing it all the time points it out to you, you just don't think about it… It was at this time, Ken got the call… I'm going to have to grab your dog as it is howling the place down… F@cking mutt!!! I should have guessed she would do that… And whats worse is when he came back from dealing with her, she had chewed up half the feather edge of his Kennel wall… Cheers Rue, thanks for that!!! Anyway while he was away, me being me completely misunderstood what he said to do and netted up every hole within the confines of the long net instead of the odd few that were outside, but it was all good practice… 3 ferrets went down and in no time at all we had beaten my best days ferreting ever! And I don't think it was much past 10.30!!!! I think we had 13 in the bag by this time and my pup had really started clocking what was going on, especially watching Tilly, Kens dog. We picked up again and moved along the bank, this time with out interruption from howling kennel chewers, we had set up in no time and the 3 Ferrets were deployed in different parts of the bury. Rabbits seemed to bolt really quickly and the dogs were right on top of the in no time, putting the pressure on, picking the odd one up or pushing them into the long nets. At this point Willow had really switched on, she had started to listen to what was going on a bit more and she was getting closer to the action which was great to see. The difference in watching Tilly who is doing it all the time and my own dogs who do a bit is massive and it was really good to see a decent dog in action in the flesh as there is only so much of an idea you can get from watching dvd's. Working the dogs loose whilst ferreting is something I haven't done before, as the guy I usually go out with doesn't let me for one reason or another and having a good number of rabbits to go at makes such a difference, I learned a lot in a day with Ken and so did the pup! By the end of this part of the bank we had over 20 rabbits and I couldn't believe my luck and when Ken asked if I wanted to head home I wasn't having any of it, so the long nets were gathered and set up on the last bit of bank and down went the 3 ferrets again. This part of the bank was closer to the public footpath and as the ferrets were doing their jobs and the dogs theirs, a couple of passers by showed quite an interest in what we were doing. It was quite interesting to see how Ken handled these people with their dogs etc. Answering their questions professionally and politely, where as when ever I have been out and similar situations have occurred the chap I go out with has told them to f@ck off and mind their own business… Not helpful at all and not good for the sport either! We finished up this part of the bank and after a bit of coaxing we managed to box up the ferrets and pack everything away, Ken took a pic of me at the end of the day with me pup and the bag stood at a bloody cracking 32 rabbits. We gutted them all (though I could barely keep up Kens speed gutting, not something I have ever had to do...) and packed everything away. I had a blinding day and so did the pup, learning all sorts of things along the course of the day, but more importantly meeting a decent bloke, who does a decent job, has decent animals and the decency to explain why we do what we are doing to people who don't understand… A good advocate for the business… So once again Ken thanks for the day out and thanks for the ferret you gave me, it's a little cracker 5 Quote Link to post
vanman1 411 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Cracking out come for you both,the world would be such a better place if everyone worked like that well done! Quote Link to post
TOMO 28,431 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Nice post that snifferboy,,, and a nice bit of barter,, work for some sport ,, well done to both parties Quote Link to post
bobcullen79 1,495 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Happy days bud. Ken said you enjoyed yourself. Whats in the breeding of that black dog ? Quote Link to post
Snifferboy 659 Posted February 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Happy days bud. Ken said you enjoyed yourself. Whats in the breeding of that black dog ? She's just a first x beddy whip mate, nothing special but good fun. Quote Link to post
Guest vin Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 great stuff. well done chaps. Quote Link to post
blueeyes 45 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 You should be writing books bud very well put down and the smile on your face says it all. 1 Quote Link to post
foresterj 1,096 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Cracking write up bud, surely thats what its all about? That grin would put a cheshire cat to shame. Quote Link to post
socks 32,253 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Your more than welcome mate ... It was a good day and its nice to spend it with somebody that's keen and wants to learn new skills ... That wee dog was certainly clicking onto the game by the end of the day and with work under her belt will make a handy little tyke ... The obedience is there the speed is there and the strike is there ... She just needs to practice her skills now and she will be a big asset to you ......... 1 Quote Link to post
FERRETBOY 680 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 (edited) Great read mate, It looks like you can be going back to your old ferreting partner and show him how its to be done properly from now. what a gent for giving you a ferret as well. Edited February 10, 2014 by REW Quote Link to post
Deano10 139 Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 brilliant write up mate enjoyed the read! Quote Link to post
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