One to watch if you are bored...

[Jax13 251]

How many people are seeing things like this... 

Fresh droppings, freshly dug out holes, new scrapes in the fields but no bunnies at home! 

We didn't blank, but would have expected a lot more considering the damage starting to be done on the ground. 

 

[Furrosious ferreter 499]

Yes... went out sunday morning.

All good signs, fur, fresh dark droppings and scrapes and my dogs marked the holes... (9 hole warren)

Netted and ferrets in... nothing out after 25 mins.

It was like this on 2 warrens then we hit the big warren 40+ holes and had 6 rabbits.

FF

[Jax13 251]

After that 250 odd yard hedge being totally empty, we dropped 5 out of an 8 ish holer on another hedge the following week (video for that goes live 9.30 on Monday) then pulled another 3 out of a 5 holer at the front of a horse paddock next to the path. 

 

It's been a very odd season. 

[Furrosious ferreter 499]

I have noticed a new badger track and a latrine near my permission and also more fox signs too... might have something to do with rabbits moving around abit...

Or they really smart and they know to do some craps and dig near the holes they aint in (so muggins here ferrets them) then go to an old looking warren to live.

FF

[Sirblessed 2,511]

Sometime the ferrets can just miss them, especially when they are all held up in the same passage, if they take a left instead of a right. It happens!

[micky 3,325]

6 hours ago, Jax13 said:

How many people are seeing things like this... 

Fresh droppings, freshly dug out holes, new scrapes in the fields but no bunnies at home! 

We didn't blank, but would have expected a lot more considering the damage starting to be done on the ground. 

 

there does not seem to much there to me mate the rabbits soon chop that soft soil up the pictures show a similar  place that is much worse but there was not many there

[fred90 3,198]

6 hours ago, Sirblessed said:

Sometime the ferrets can just miss them, especially when they are all held up in the same passage, if they take a left instead of a right. It happens!

good experienced ferrets will do a three point turn if they have to. 

[Jax13 251]

The ferrets aren't missing anything chaps, between buzzards, fox, disease, poachers and roadkill - all of my perms have been hit hard and numbers are scarce 

[Sirblessed 2,511]

6 minutes ago, fred90 said:

good experienced ferrets will do a three point turn if they have to. 

Even the good ones can miss them mate, seen it many times over the years. I always say the good ones don't miss many, mine are better than most I go out with, they don't last long with me if they aren't any good, mine put my food on the table.

[fred90 3,198]

44 minutes ago, Jax13 said:

The ferrets aren't missing anything chaps, between buzzards, fox, disease, poachers and roadkill - all of my perms have been hit hard and numbers are scarce 

if the dog marked then it's either dog or the ferrets that's wrong. 

[Jax13 251]

24 minutes ago, fred90 said:

if the dog marked then it's either dog or the ferrets that's wrong. 

 

On a few patches we have been second guessing the dog due to signs on the ground but she is proving reliable. On others the dog has marked a bit and we have been pulling singles. 

 

The chances that 2 dogs and 7 seasoned ferrets are all wrong is somewhere between slim and none to be honest. 

[troyboy17 631]

The holes dont look that worked and a coupleof rabbits can do a lot of scratches

[Sirblessed 2,511]

2 minutes ago, Jax13 said:

 

On a few patches we have been second guessing the dog due to signs on the ground but she is proving reliable. On others the dog has marked a bit and we have been pulling singles. 

 

The chances that 2 dogs and 7 seasoned ferrets are all wrong is somewhere between slim and none to be honest. 

A good marking dog in those situations is worth is weight in gold. at the end of a long hard shift when they haven't got much juice left in the tank, even the best ferrets miss them, sometimes you see that when you enter a fresh one and out it comes , seen it many times, so when they are all tired days end guess what? A good ferret won't miss many! J.M.O

 

[neil b 2,294]

11 hours ago, Furrosious ferreter said:

Yes... went out sunday morning.

All good signs, fur, fresh dark droppings and scrapes and my dogs marked the holes... (9 hole warren)

Netted and ferrets in... nothing out after 25 mins.

It was like this on 2 warrens then we hit the big warren 40+ holes and had 6 rabbits.

FF

Either your dogs are false marking our your ferrets aren’t up to scratch 

[Jax13 251]

7 hours ago, neil b said:

Either your dogs are false marking our your ferrets aren’t up to scratch 

I think that's a bit harsh to be fair. 

 

There is every chance that a rabbit has passed through that Warren not too long before (especially if it was the first one of the day) on its way back to wherever it is nesting / sleeping so there could be fresh scent there. 

 

I've had it this year where I've seen bunnies using a warren (whilst out foxing with the nv) yet turn up the following morning or a couple of days later and there is nothing home.

 

Im not sure if a lot of the warrens on some of my perms have been vacated after the prolonged hot weather as they are fairly shallow in hard clay ground on one farm in particular but there are a few small woodland areas on the land next door. If it's been a lot cooler under the shade of the trees I'm not sure if the bunnies have moved across there and are usikg their old warrens purely as cover whilst feeding. 

 

It makes no sense to see the numbers I've seen under nv but none of the warrens holding even a fraction of the number unless they are dwelling elsewhere. 7 different proven ferrets cannot all have turned crap overnight.