When Is A Reluctant Ferret Not Reluctant?

[Jax13 251]

went out today with the intention of getting my brown jill to bolt couple as she is the only one who hasn't managed to get hold of a bunny yet so she moved about around the holes in a slightly more pedestrian manner than the other two who seem a lot keener.

 

netted up along a hedgerow, tried to put her down and she wouldn't go. tried a different hole, wouldn't go. tried a third hole... gone. 2 minutes later we see a bunny come up, disturb the net then turn and back straight down the hole, next thing we see on the next hole along is a bit of torso, i managed to grab the rabbit and twist its back end far enough around to get it out of the hole but i couldn't pull it out... little rocket had hold of it by the snout and wasn't for letting go! I was amazed at just how strong she was (nearly pulled the rabbit back out of my hand and down the hole!)

 

finally got it off her and chinned it, she went straight back down and a couple of minutes later we had a second bolt.

 

I then tried her again in the first couple of holes I attempted and she was not interested at all. I think my interpretation of her reluctance to go down and her lazier approach may actually be her way of working, more methodical and calculated maybe than the other 2 as she simply had no interest.

 

this became more apparent later on as we netted up another warren, threw 2 ferrets down and watched a bunny bolt out of the only hole we didn't see. after about 10 minutes, both ferrets were surfacing a lot more frequently and as they came up, they both started working the hedge and moved down towards the next warren abandoning where we had netted up.

 

It just goes to show that natural instinct is worth trusting and i know that i won't bother trying to make her hit a hole if she doesn't go straight down, there probably won't be anyone home!

[Chicken_man 1,651]

Hi,

Funny you should say that, I was thinking along the same line's yesterday. A Hob of mine just was not interested in the hole I decided to enter him, but the one/one's he chose to go down, were the one's which produced the rabbits.

Think I'll give them free range time.

Instinct, and prey drive is the key to success?

Every day is a school day.

Atb

[tsteve9999 456]

It's happened to me a few times now and I think the reason is as simple as there are no rabbits there. A couple of weeks ago me and a mate did 2 warrens that looked to be holding rabbits and my old hob never really looked interested, but the third one we tried he flew down and was gone for a half hour, resulting in four bunnys.