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Bolting to a gun


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A friend of mine invited me to one of his permissions today to bolt rabbits to his gun. It was a great mornings ferreting. The ferrets had to work harder than they ever had before, but eventually they started to bolt, it was so much easier than jumping all over the place and jumping through bushes. We done 3 warrens and got 7 but missed another 3. We also bolted 3 baby's and 3 of the does had young in them. I will definitely be doing it again. 

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On 28/01/2019 at 20:34, Furrosious ferreter said:

Ive been invited to do this, but im abit worried im going to get shot. 

Where is the best place to stand or should i get up a tree

 

FF

I know what your saying I was a bit worried ?. I was mainly standing behind my mate but when we done a long hedge row I stood one side and he stood the other but we was always in line with each other, so if the rabbits bolted my side they would run along the hedge row and he would shoot left or right. I'm going again this weekend on a different permission of his. I'm even thinking about getting a gun license 

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1 minute ago, nothernlite said:

Mate does it regular for danish guys on a estate gets £100 plus tips just stand behind the guns 

oooo...I like the sound of that....£100...nice...:D....

think I would stand behind as well....

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It's great sport. I'd love to get a couple hobs again just for this but not worth the hassle keeping ferrets considering the rabbit numbers past few years.

One rule, don't be swinging on anything until it's well clear of the warren. Personally I was quite happy to stand by the warren, rather than behind guns. Made working the ferrets easier. If I didn't trust the guns not to shoot me then I wouldn't really be happy to trust them not to shoot my ferrets. But everyone I ferreted with I knew personally. Not guests or clients.

Edited by Born Hunter
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Me and my old mate done it back in the early 60s at a place called Medbourne  in Leicestershire, the land was owned by a Fellah called Sir Pen Lloyd  High Sherriff of Leicester, we started well bolting three out of an open sett then a layup , we left my mate behind with the liner and moved to the next sett, me the two guns and a Keeper / dog trainer  the two Guns were an old boy and his Grandson a Rabbit bolted straight away and swung back to where me and the keeper were standing and the younger of the two had a shot and killed the keepers dog and hit the Keepers foot , you can make yourself as safe as you can but if you have an idiot with a Gun shit will happen .

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Thinking about it, if I was doing it professionally for client Guns then I'd probably use sticks/flags to show safe arcs of fire. Similar concept to grouse butts but rather than being physical barriers to gun swing they would be more visual markers either side of the warren to make it absolutely clear where guns are not to be pointed. Maybe even wear some blaze orange/blue so you're more visible in a Guns peripheral when swinging.

If you know your Guns, you're likely safe. It's when you don't or they're inexperienced shit can happen.

Edited by Born Hunter
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7 hours ago, micky said:

Me and my old mate done it back in the early 60s at a place called Medbourne  in Leicestershire, the land was owned by a Fellah called Sir Pen Lloyd  High Sherriff of Leicester, we started well bolting three out of an open sett then a layup , we left my mate behind with the liner and moved to the next sett, me the two guns and a Keeper / dog trainer  the two Guns were an old boy and his Grandson a Rabbit bolted straight away and swung back to where me and the keeper were standing and the younger of the two had a shot and killed the keepers dog and hit the Keepers foot , you can make yourself as safe as you can but if you have an idiot with a Gun shit will happen .

know a lad who shot his own border  when a rabbit bolted and ran the length of the hedge.....poor f***ing terrier had it's head down a hole marking at the time?

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7 hours ago, Born Hunter said:

Thinking about it, if I was doing it professionally for client Guns then I'd probably use sticks/flags to show safe arcs of fire. Similar concept to grouse butts but rather than being physical barriers to gun swing they would be more visual markers either side of the warren to make it absolutely clear where guns are not to be pointed. Maybe even wear some blaze orange/blue so you're more visible in a Guns peripheral when swinging.

If you know your Guns, you're likely safe. It's when you don't or they're inexperienced shit can happen.

The thing is that down in the Midlands and many other places people who shoot bolted Rabbits are few and far between and when Rabbits bolt the often take life long Ferreters by surprise even on a rough shoot I have seen many people take shots when the Bird is to close or in line with another gun , shooting Rabbits is usually Snap shooting that is where the Gun will raise the barrels and fire instantly and just assume that it is a safe shot and very often it is not .

The record bag for shootig Rabbits was  at Bradgate park in Leicestershire it was around  6000 rabbits in a day this was beaten at Blenheim  Palace with about 7000 but  Bradgate held the record because the used a standard number of Guns .

The record for long Netting Rabbits was set at Harlaxton on the Leic,  Lincs ,border where nealy 1600 Rabbits were caught  in a single night  the man who wrote the article said that there was over a Mile of net down and his arms were nearly dropping off from killing them . That would have been a village effort which was common in the day  .

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Not for me, I’ll stick to nets and dogs. If you want to shoot rabbits go out at night with a lamp. I am sure plenty of people do it safely but it doesn’t feel safe to me and it’s all about enjoyment and nothing will compares to watching a dog work a warren and catch a rabbit as it bolts. Would never risk taking a dog if someone was shooting and ferreting without a dog to me is just not the same. 

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If bolting to the gun and there’s two of us we just stand directly in line in front of each other so we no where we are at all times then just don’t ever shoot strait in front , normally give a 2 second rule as when the rabbit leaves the hole count to 2 then shoot that way the rabbit is far enough away from the hole so don’t get any accidents of pellets hitting ferrets 

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