33 should have been 60

[stevethefish 80]

We had a session on Nelstrop farm today, the landowner had told me he was having problems with the rabbits burrowing under the track down the hedgerow and tractors were collapsing the road. We set off full of spirit as usual, Stevo was struggling to get the full crew out however, holidays/beer etc you know how it goes.

He managed to get Danny and his younger brother Charlie to tag along for the ride, its great to see the young uns interested in the sport, not many can drag themselves from the old xbox and the like.

Well we soon got them into the swing of things, the first 6 holer produced 4 rabbits within 5 minutes and all clean bolters. That was the easiest part of the day though and the grafter soon got sparks flying as we had some digs under the track. The surface of the track was heavily compacted crusher run with chippings and then 18 inches of very heavily compacted limestone that seemed like solid concrete, wish we had the wrecking bar. We didnt faulter though the job had to be done and it did, albeit slow we eventually got there in the end even though it was 3 and a half foot of hell

The trouble is when they take some time the ferrets like a chomp

We managed about another 5 or 6 rabbits in the next couple of hours due to the bottle enders all being under the road and well laid road at that, we had 4 of these in total but time wasted when we should have been bagging rabbits. We needed to do these as it was a request from the landowner, hard graft but quite enjoyable but it made all the rest of the digs seem like childsplay

After we had done these we moved on to another hedgerow that was hard going due to the thick hawthorn, my fingers and knees are telling the tale now, ouch! The twigs and sticks that laid on the ground were difficult to clear from the holes due to the amount from the hedgecutting, these caused a few net snags that resulted in about 6 or 7 escapees, we ribbed the young un that it was his fault for not setting the nets right, only kidding though. We then moved onto another hedgerow that was heaving, the dog marked just about every hole so plenty to plunder there. As it happens we decided to leave this until the next journey and moved into a small spinney where we had seen a few run to.

We walked it up and started at the other end where I have had good bags previously, I remembered that I missed a crafty bolt hole last time and lost a couple of rabbits to it, it was very well covered but couldn't find it this time. The bottom holes stunk of charlie, and they had been excavated well but the dog marked for rabbits so we decided to risk it.

We soon bagged 2 and heard the rabbits pounding and running about, that was just before 4 bolted straight out of this crafty bolt hole I couldn't find......I put my hand up for that one.

On to the next one and again snags on a chopped up tree with branches all over cost us a couple more bunnies, these things are sometimes unavoidable and to clear every hole thoroughly would just take too long.

We had a good day, as always we really enjoyed it and so did Tilly the collie, she has only a couple of weeks before the litter drops so she will be getting a rest from now on.

A walk back to the van picking up the bunnies resulted in a tally of 33, we lost over 10 from missed holes and snags, over 2 hours of digging that would have put many more in the bag but they will save for another day.

Edited January 3, 2011 by stevethefish

[JoeD 24]

Nice bag that!

Lucky to get 3 or 4 here lol

 

Joe

[jimster68 123]

like the pictures and a good write up ,good to see somebodys getting good numbers .

[ferretman89 68]

good write up mate, keep them coming

[tubba 38]

Awesome Big hand for steve and the lads. :clapping:

[auld salmon 28]

i well done lads 3ft hard dig i thought i had a hard dig 1ft good read too keep at them

[pikeypaul 11]

Well done lads, the guy in the stripey hoodie looks f-ing freezing, think he needs to chase the rabbits

[stevethefish 80]

We have it sorted, if they say they are cold we pick the shovel up and pass it them, amazing how quick people warm up!

[KittleRox 2,147]

Aye Ye certainly get yerself aboot good stuff

[stevethefish 80]

You can see just how hard it was to dig on this short vidhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGKvcrPLgMc

[caterpiller 10]

Another good do Steve The Collie looks like she has a belly full.......what did you put over her????

[stevethefish 80]

The collie is Stevos, it is awesome at marking and never gets it wrong, he put another collie over her with good working background so the pups should be fantastic.

[redeye jedi 39]

Cracking post there steve mate, good to see the shovel out to keep the cold at bay. always the same bloody rabbits backed up just where you dont want them. another good bag though guys well done.

 

ATB

 

Dom

[redeye jedi 39]

PS i can vouch for that dog, awsome marking and a hell of a grafter. if i wasnt working away all week i'd be first in line to buy a pup

 

ATB

 

REDEYE

[blackstaff 488]

Nice write up, bag and pics

Edited January 3, 2011 by blackstaff