Day out in the orchards

[Tyla 3,179]

Went out today with my fiance, aka Assasingirl, to take the ferrets and dogs over to Zebedee's (John) ground. The ground is mainly orchards and the trees are taking a hammering from the rabbits. We only did two warrens and then had a wander with the rifles but ended up with 13 for the day.

 

The first warren was very big and we only had enough nets, 50, for half of it. We netted up and ran the long net accross one end and entered the three jills and the hob. The first to bolt came out an un-netted hole but Tyla had it before it made four feet from the hole . The rest were either netted or back netted and there were several more killed below ground at 6 - 10 foot, deeper than im willing to dig! A couple bolted and made it back down un-netted holes before the dogs got them but we ended up with 7 in total. There were definately still more in but due to the depth and only having the one collar we boxed them up before we ended up with a lie up.

 

These ferrets dont eat rabbit and i wonder if this is what makes them kill and move on , while the rabbit is alive they will stay with it but seem to lose interest once its dead and carry on hunting. This, for me, is a good thing due to the depth of buries i work as its not always possible to dig them out. it does mean that i must buy more collars though!

 

The next bury was smaller and we were able to net all the holes, about 20, and also ran the long net out in a half circle 50 yards away blocking the path to the net warren. Five were netted here, one slipped the purse net but fell victim to the longnet while trying to evade the dogs. i had a little dig here, the mk3 was reading 4 foot but as i got to three the noise must have spooked the rabbit and it bolted.

 

We called it a day with the ferrets then and had a walk with the rifles, didnt see much but John made a good shot on a 40 yard rabbit making the days total 13.

 

it was bloody freezing so we adjourned to the pub , a good end to an enjoyable day. Thanks to John for the invite

 

Heres a few pics from the day, just getting to grips with the new camera!

[Tyla 3,179]

oops pics are huge

[Tyla 3,179]

end of day

[stealthy1 3,964]

Good bag, nice to get an invite out to someone elses patch from time to time.

[Halfinch 51]

Looks like you had a cracking day.

Well done.

[Tyla 3,179]

Good bag, nice to get an invite out to someone elses patch from time to time.

 

Cheers mate, its a nice change to have plenty to go at! its the first time we've ferreted this place this season but im sure it wont be the last!

[csme55ex 2]

well done mate 13 lucky for some

[The one 8,598]

nice one shame its so deep i hate to leave dead rabbits

[COMPO 54]

this is my favourite pic!

 

[Brimmer 220]

Yep that close up ferret pic's a cracker! Well done sounds like a good day, shame about the depth of some of those kills, but even i'd be thinking twice about a 6ft plus unless a critter was well and truly stuck!

Most ferrets will move on once they have killed, especially if there is still rabbits on the move!

[Tyla 3,179]

Hehe! The pic of the jill was taken by my OH. The jill was posing til Amy leant down to take the photo then she just charged the camera, had me and John pissing ourselves!

 

As for the digging i think its just the ground, alot of buries round here are very deep and with the best will in the world im not digging more than 5 foot for rabbits, dont reckon the landowners would appriecate it either really. Obviously would be different if it was to get a ferret back or rescue the collar (dug 6 foot to get the collar back the first time we tried the mk3 )