ratting question

[mntwister 0]

I know rabbits are the most popular thing to hunt with ferrets and that ferrets can get injured while ratting but is the reason less people hunt rats because of the risk or just because you would rather hunt rabbits. Also Ive heard people talk about hunting squirrels with ferrets. How do you do that? Are they tree squirrels or ground squirrels. What else do people hunt with ferrets

Edited November 18, 2009 by mntwister

[mntwister 0]

ttt

[dogs-n-natives 1,182]

ttt

Yeah mate rabbits are deffinately the main quarry with the ferret, for pest control and also as they are a good sporting quarry, and good meat for ferrets/dogs and yourself. Ratting is purely pest control, and a lot of ferreters wont have the back-up of a pack of eager dogs to mop up the bolting rats. You also need a very small/lythe and keen ferret to be any good at ratting. I was out today with my jills, and they struggled to push through into some parts of the burry.

I desperately need a smaller strain to keep purely for the rats (if anyone has such a type, please reserve 2 jill kits for me next year lol honestly though, north england/south scotland, cheers)

The smoker wasnt bolting them either today, so it was good old fashioned digging to the terriers marking, and we did ok, accounting for around 30 including a couple of nests of squeekers.

 

Never heard of anyone ferreting squirrels lol not in UK anyway, maybe abroad where they have earth dwelling varieties.

[The one 8,482]

Check back old posts or use the search engine mate its been covered before andit will help you find your answer

[mntwister 0]

Thanks for the info. I have had pet ferrets in the past and want to get some more but not if I cant work them. The only thing about rats is like was said I dont have a bunch of terriers to catch bolted rats. Also dont know if the pet type ferrets in america aren't good enough to hunt rabbits theyre probably not going to be good enough for rats. I thought hunting squirrels sounded strange too but im pretty sure i read it on the internet somewhere.

[ferreterni 29]

I have a ferreting book from the 70's that is nearly totally relevant today. There is a reference in that of someone who had a big hob ferret that loved tree rats, but they were ones that were lodging in peoples lofts, open hatch and let the hob go. Never heard of any others than that. Wouldn't know about ground squirrels, but our grey squirrel is a us import, and the ferrets will eat them happily enough. Squirrels give a nasty bite aswell, so would think more than twice before letting a ferret at one on purpose. Ferrets aren't natural climbers either so would think it nearly impossible for them to hunt treed squirrels.

 

Also I would think that the ground squirrel is similar to the chipmunk? If so i would guess that they have pretty small buries, a small jill can still struggle getting through some rat runs, so would likely be to big for smaller ground squirrel tunnels.

 

The ferret is ideally suited to hunt rabbits and small rodents in the uk, europe, and australia ( imported european rabbits) but quarry species in different continents may call fo r a different natural predator, and the domesticated european ferret may not be ideal for a lot of quarry you have. If you have rabbits of a similar size then I can't see why they wouldn't work them. Some of the bigger rabbit/hare species can give a ferret a bit of a hard time too. But check your laws first.

 

Pet ferrets should in theory still have it in them to work, they naturally want to explore tunnels etc, and if fed on a flesh and fur diet should help to give them the hint what to do, although diet shouldn't make a difference, it's their natural ingrained instinct to hunt.

 

You can also use rat nets, like a rabbit purse net and dispatch that way for rats, but think it would be a bit hairy.