One of those.

[stealthy1 3,964]

Had an Email from a landowner asking if I could do a quick survey on some thick Hawthorn bushes and briers, its one of those places that nobody wants to go any were near with ferrets, I tend to shoot it on and evening out of the car window. the problem is that these bushes border 3 fields, so the damage is quite substantial, so the idea was to have the bushes ripped out, job done. But this landowner is old school, so likes the wild life on his land, so hence the survey. I'd decided that I was going to take the dog and walk it to the place, thinking that if I took one of the old Land Rovers from the yard I would be giving it the lead foot and getting lost in a bit of off roading instead of doing what I was meant to be doing, but I'm not like that Also I did'nt want to scare everything away. So in the bag went twenty red purse nets, locator, collared up two ferrets, one polecat, and one albino. So off we set, I should point out that I dont do surveys as a career or anything, I just list what I see and report back to the land owner. A quick look around the the bushes revealed a few bird nests. There was Blackcap, Blackbird, Long Tailed Tit, and a Wren's nest, and this was just on the edges of this jungle. There were also a couple of Robins hopping around too. there was alos a fair amount of rotten composted material, which I'm sure would have newts from the nearby pond over wintering in. the dog also put up a couple of Pheasants. All and all it looked like a patch of ground that could do with saving The problem now was the rabbits, and the damage they do. The feilds are owned by three different land owners, two of which wanted this corner of the land burnt to the ground, and Rodenated So the landowner asked me what I could do about the rabbits. So I Proposed that we cut some pathways through the briers to chop it up into longnetable sized pieces So thats whats happening to it, the wildlife will still have its home, and the rabbits are having it in a couple of weeks when everything settles down:clapper: Anyway, on the walk up the dog marked a few odd one and two holers, so I planned to do them on the way back to the car The first set we did was a one holer, but the dog would not mark it, I had my doubts and netted the hole anyway.

 

 

If you look at the set its got all the trademarks, a mass of chewed bark, a nice sized spoil heap, and nothing at home, just a big headed dog

The next set we did was a two holer the big head had marked

 

 

This produced one rabbit

 

 

The next set we did was a 9 holer. This looked like a bagger, nets on, ferrets in, BANG! one in the net, and then another hits the spun poly, so thats 3 in the bag

 

 

Next up is this 2 holer, did'nt know what to expect from this set, the dog was all over it like a rash, I think the dog holed one into there, so the scent was strong, this set produced one. Four in the bag

 

 

Onwards, the next set was in this tree stump, did'nt look that occupied. Nets on, fezzers in, and BANG! number five hits the net And the number six hits the net and tries to do one into the woodland complete with net, but gets picked up by the dog

 

 

Two more bolts, and thats it, 8 is enough to carry the the two miles back to the van. So a prductive day A bit of my summer shooting is saved, a longnetting job to do a bit later in the month, with the company of the songbirds that live in the saved briers, rock on!

 

 

Todays team inspecting the days haul

 

 

The end of day

 

Keep at them folks!

 

stealthy.

[Bradford Lad 74]

Very interesting read mate and a good bit of sport, well done

[auld salmon 28]

well done stealth is that the first time youve been out for a while

[andy s410c 61]

Nice 1 S1 looks like you'll get some decent numbers out of it once it's ready for the old longnets

[Jamie93 57]

Nice one mate Just goes to show you've got to speculate to acumalate

Happy Hunting Jamie93

[stealthy1 3,964]

well done stealth is that the first time youve been out for a while

 

 

Been out a couple of times every week with the ferrets since the season started, but nothing to write home about really

[stealthy1 3,964]

Nice 1 S1 looks like you'll get some decent numbers out of it once it's ready for the old longnets

 

 

I'm looking forward to going back to see how many bunnies I can extract from it, should be a good day when it settles down

[beechris 0]

good one, hope you get more and the farmer is happy with it.

[max abell 196]

Well done stealthy good result considering the rough condition of the ground you were working

[The one 8,511]

NICE READ AND PICTS MATE 8'S A GOOD BAGFULL

[peeser 1]

great pics and read stealthy atb peeser

[theferreter 311]

well done stealthy mate sounded like an enjoyable day out keep at them

[para1 11]

Hope the farmer was impressed with your report,

 

not knowing the difference between a Badger set and a rabbit Berry.

[Brimmer 220]

Nice one Stealthy. The dog is turning out to look a lot like our dogs. Hows she working?

[wilson4347 5]

Good read and great pics