Maggies 3rd trip out

[stroller 341]

 

I had been looking forward to doing a couple of big hedge sets today with the help of my son, but he cried off cos he is a lazy ferreting companion if the set isnt in the middle of a field he doesnt want to know, the hedge set might have a hundred rabbits in it and it stil wont matter. its led to some bonny rows between us

 

never mind a fathers frustration with bone idle kids.

 

This morning didnt start well the ground was as hard as bel metal but i got kitted out and maggie and me was off on our way. About halfway through the journey the snow fell with a vengance and fifteen minutes later when we arrived it was a whiteout. I parked up and made an executive decision not to bother with the nets or to do the big hedge sets but try the smaller sets i knew and have a mooch around some different bits.

 

Well maggie was a little cow (She may be coming into season as my other bitch is) this morning she went deaf a couple of times and charged the big hedgerow with about 20 rabbits sat outside the holes laughing at her. I got her into heel and i must admit i gave her a clip when she looked like taking of again. I know its not ideal and she is very easily upset dog but id been f****d about enough this morning it was just being bad tempered so no excuses i shouldnt have done it.

 

 

walking down the field with her in heel off lead we fell over a sitter and the game was on, she took off but i noticed her head wasnt down and she wasnt stretched out trying. but she still got up to it and the rabbit did a back flip and turned 180 degrees. she over shot by a mile and by the time she had turned bugs had dissapeared into a set.

 

its runs like this even when the pups a complete novice that you start to wonder will she be fast enough ? is she too young. its al bollocks i know but its human nature i guess

 

i tried a couple of sets but a few rabbits slipped out of unseen bolt holes (Covered in Snow)that were in hedgerows so nothing doing we wandered through a couple of fields i havent been over befre and this was the revelation of the morning she marked like a god un real strong marking with her bat lugs pricked and that one front foot up she was definately telling me rabbits at home.

 

In went the little silver jill into what looked like a deep six holer and sure enough a beautiful bolt and mags saw it before me. Different story now head down full stretch up on it within twenty yards and struck just as it hit the hedge she missed but i whistled her in well pleased with the silent effort.I mention silent as i have always thought she might be noisy when coursing as she opens up sometimes when running with the big dogs, but so far she has been realy quiet and even waits patiently for the bolt.

 

we moved further on and i thought she had overlooked a set so i made the decision to try this one and low and behold bugger all!! i could have sworn the dog was smiling shaking her head at me for not beleiving me.

 

She trotted on and once more a solid mark i was liking this big time in went the two ferrets this time as it was a bit bigger and straight away the rumbling started rabbit popped out and straight back in after seeing me, then popped out again mags made a dive for it and it went back in again. so now we settled for the wait would it bolt or would it be a dig??

 

Mags started tip toeing around the set but kept going back to a certain hole, then she made a lunge and i heard the ferret hiss i thought bollocks she has the ferret but what i think ahd happened was she had seen the rabbit made a play and bumped the ferret by mistake, anyway time went on and this time she went nuts at this hole head in head out so i nipped over and there has a rabit with the ferret attached. what she was doing was respectig the ferret by not grabbing the raabbit which is better than her lunging at the rabbit and kiling the ferret so 1 rabbit in the bag we moved on.

 

it had been snowing steadily for about an hour now when the farmer came into the field muck spreading we had a bit chat then he said he was slipping on the road with the tractor so i had better watch driving out. well that made the decision to call it a day right there so a bit of a frustrating morning but hey thats how its is sometimes

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

Very good...

[Flamin'Nora! 50]

great post!

[stroller 341]

thanks lads pissed off with ths snow will the b*****d never end!!!!!

 

 

one good thing is i havent seen any young rabbits about so i think the bad weather is slowing the start of breeding. Im of work next and im going to have a day or two out with the ferrets

[whin 463]

at least you were out i went for a juant ground to hard on open land , 5 belo this morning ,, would be alrite for ferreting tho,had a few bad days with the dogs geting to wound up when pups and as for ferreting partners well youll have to tune him in no rabbits if he cant do the difficult sets , we spent out early teens on knees going through buckthorn to get to the holes feching sore but once you got in u were well away from prying eyes , never massive bags 4 5 6ses but good catches ,you cant beat rabbiting with good jukels for peace and quitness

[snorker 2]

good read.

[stroller 341]

f**k me whin when i was his age i would have crawled over broken glass to get 1 or 2 rabbits!!

 

i think we spoil our kids too much, my lad would deny that i ever spoiled him compared to his mates parents but these days kids want it all handed on a plate its always the quickest and easiest route, he even said to me tday that someone should give him a job when he finishes college not that he should go out and try to get a job!!

 

im at my wits end with hm soe days

[lamping rabbit 11]

good post mate ......

[farmerkev09 105]

nice dog pal