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ferrets nailing rabbits down holes


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ive had my too jills out today for their second time, the first time went great till the last burrow of the day when my poley jill nailed a rabbit down a hole and took some getting out.

 

today the same jill nailed a rabbit in the first burrow, but still came came up within ten minutes and went on to bolt three or four other rabbits until the last burrow of the day again where she decided to stay down the burrow for half an hour i think she was either a sleep or she had caught another rabbit, we alternated the ferrets as they are still young but she is the only one who manages to bolt rabbits .

 

is there any thing i can do to stop her nailing rabbits down holes?

 

can you use a muzzle or is to dangerous for the ferrets

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I definitely would advise against a muzzle, those days are gone, a muzzle just adds to the chance of a ferret getting caught in a tree root etc and if you lose them then they would have no way to eat or drink in the wild,

 

my best advice would be to be as quiet as possible when setting nets and keep out of sight from the borrows when they start to bolt or else the rabbit will see you and go back in and that raise your chances of having a long old dig....

 

atd

Edited by ferretman5
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Three good reply's there Minka I had a hard earned Four yesterday,two dug to and one where I had to reach down and pull out

and only one clean bolt, and im putting down to noise as in the village we were in there was horses carrying on, alot of traffic and general

noise

ATB Seany

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digging is a part of ferreting unfortunately getting the amount of digging to a minimum is what you have to work out there are plenty of methods to reduce digging but it will happen sometimes i have a ferret that will kill and move on and also a number that will stick with a rabbit till they are bored or i get to them all of them have a place in the team.

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If a rabbit Is in a stop end with its back end facing your Jill it could be a long wait , sounds like you have a good ferret that sticks with the bunnys , get your spade out and you will be adding to your bag for the day ; ) no point leaving good rabbits if there digable ,

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Sounds like you have one ferret doing what its supposed to get on the spade get the rabbits in the bag ,if you fill in the burrow properly there's no danger to stock etc and rabbits will move back in and use it again . Maybe im the odd one out but every time i enter a ferret i know if the rabbits no bolting after five minutesish its a spade job and the rabbits in the bag and its only these ferrets that stick to the rabbit i will breed from .

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thank for all the above comments, i have to say i am really impressed with both my jills they are both happy to enter the burrows my sandy jill is yet to bolt a rabbit yet but yesturday was only there second time out so im still hopfull she will be as keen as her sister.

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thank for all the above comments, i have to say i am really impressed with both my jills they are both happy to enter the burrows my sandy jill is yet to bolt a rabbit yet but yesturday was only there second time out so im still hopfull she will be as keen as her sister.

How deep was the Mark you were getting on the locator ,

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most of the time i will dig at least 3 times a day, i like to dig tho :tongue2: i know if i put my white hob in i will dig one out of 3, but it all depends on stop ends in the warrens, today i used 2 'green' jills and dug both! im not the quietest tho, we had 2 dogs and a 9 year old with us and i like to be social:)

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