Mon-Tues-Wed....with the ferts!

[martin 332]

I'm back to work on Friday,so thought I better get a few trips out this week while I could.I had a young lad that wanted to come out for a trip,he had his own ferrets and wants some work for them.I had a few buries in mind to do,so we headed off for the old pig farm,no pigs nowadays just a few sheep and a stables on the land.We arrived,and,I decided to have a go at a very difficult blackthorn hedge,so we spent about 1 1/2 hours netting up.We entered a couple of ferts,and 2-3seconds later a rabbit bolted and slipped the net.That was the last action we got from that bury,which was amazing to me cos usually it holds a good head of rabbits,but,hey,that's ferreting for you.

We then went on to next doors stables,and,an easier bury,which we netted up in about twenty minutes.Well,there was a lot of things going on in the stables,what with vets and potential pony buyers,so we had a small audience for a while.We had 3 rabbits from that bury,and,I started to think that maybe I had hit the place harder than I thought with the rimfire.

I then decided to do a small bury that is in the lane bank,that certainly looks very well used.But,as the day had gone so far it was going to be with this bury too,and,we just had one rabbit from there.That was Monday,and we ended up with 4 rabbits,but,I also arranged to go up to the stable managers land,which is also a stables,and.......yes more blackthorn!!!(my poor hands....LOL)

No pics of that day........forgot LOL!

Tuesday and I took the same lad with me,and,we got there and it was bitter cold,so we set about netting up the blackthorn hedge.........first small bury zero........second bury.......there was a small bolt hole that was missed,and,it was inside a hazel stand.....3 rabbits bolted seconds after the fert was entered,and,they all went to an old railway goods carriage.........so.....off we went.The carriage was a right shit to net up cos there were holes but nowhere to actually hang a net so it was a case of holding nets in place with bits of elder twig.Around the back of the carriage was a pile of dicarded wood fencing,and,all the other bits of crap that you accumulate over the years,so,it was even harder to net round there.Anyway,we did our best and set the ferts to work.The two ferts were moving the rabbits around,but couldn't get them to bolt,so,out came 'Chester' he is a massive Hob that is guaranteed to get them moving,and,move them he did.We ended up with 5 rabbits from there and we had 2 escape from the wood pile(oh for a longnet).The landowner then cam e down with a tray of milky hot chocolate and biscuits for us.....Happy Days!!!

We then went down into the woods,and,we had another 3 rabbits from a couple of buries that at least were easy to net for a change.That was the end of that day,so we ended up with 8 rabbits 3 of which were heavily pregnant(nine babies between them)Good for the landowner -Bad for me!!

Wednesday,and,my brother-in-law came over with his son and his grandson,the grandson had never really been in the country I don't think,let alone ferreting,so he was going to have some fun.After I gave the young lad my hi-viz jacket cos he came with a little waistcoat on,we set off to a bury that actually straddles two lots of land,one being the stables and the other.....well I'm not sure,but,you can't see from the other side cos it is so overgrown,so I didn't expect any problems.I showed the lad how to net a hole and where to stand and what to do if a rabbit bolted by him,and he seemed very excited.Unfortunately,the 3 rabbits bolted well away from him,and I could see that he was a bit disappointed,but,we headed off to the next bury....Oh! and,I had brought 'Ula' the whippet pup to show her a running rabbit,and how the ferts worked,and what was expected from her at some stage in the future.

The next bury was a split level field/fence line,with......blackthorn...NO!!! but,plenty of brambles.....my hands were shredded by now LOL. We couldn't net every hole unfortunately,and we lost a couple of rabbits,but,'Ula'got a very short slip and she ran the rabbit about 30-40yds into a bramble bush,she was BUZZING then,watching everything with an intensity that I never knew she was capable of,as she is always playing(very encouraging).we had another 3 rabbits,one of which the young lad managed to catch in the net,and he was over the moon(maybe a convert).We were just heading back to the truck,when 'Ula' decided she wanted a rabbit,and,she grabbed one from the pile,and went on walkabout.She ran to the other side of the field......

and was spinning it round herself,and flipping it into the air generally having a ball,but,and this was the real best part of the day for me as I whistled her......she came straight over to me

(well within 10ft),to say I was over the moon is an understatement!!! She didn't really want to give it up,so I let her carry it back to the truck as a reward.

And,here is the end of day pic.......all happy faces,and,one young lad with a few tales for his mates back in central Bristol..........

[sureshot 0]

Cracking mate

[Kay 3,709]

Jesus hasnt she grown, nice to see the pics Martin, well done all

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

Nice to see you involving the youngsters mate .Well done .