The Brambles,

[NEWKID 27,143]

Decided yesterday we would ferret a large groundbury at the top of a sheep field which is covered in thick brambles, we had put it off waiting for the first frost but as we still haven't had one down here we decided to brave the prickles. The plan was to long net between the 2 large buries which around 30 yrds apart and cover what we could with purse nets. 2 terriers would push the rabbits out of the thick stuff and we had 3 lurchers around the edge to mop up (hopefully). We started off by walking a long roadsde hedge up to the top of the hill where the 2 large buries are. The terriers marked along the hedge so we netted a few holes put in a couple of ferrets and bolted 1 straight away, picked up moved on along the hedge and bolted 2 more which were narrowly missed by the dogs.

When we reached the buries we decided the larger of the 2 was still a no no, the brambles were 6ft high and thick as hell, the smaller 1 was more accesible ad we started to cut what we could and lay the nets. The dogs were marking well as we were laying the nets, the warren is spread around a circumfernce of about -90yrds and a lot of holes were under the thickest bramble. we netted what we could set the long net between the 2 buries and entered the 7 ferrets we had with us. The rumbling started quite quickly and bang the first rabbit was chased through the bramble by my Jrt and into the long net, a couple of mins later and another pushed out of the thick stuff by Mickys terrier and was back netted in one of the purse nets.

The lurchers caught a couple of quick bolts and another was back netted. My Jrt was yapping as she frantically chased 1 through some heavy cover and she nailed it before it could get back to ground, as always she was reluctant to let go and the rabbit was tenderised ferret food. It was good action and really enjoyable the dogs had to work hard especially the 2 terriers who spent the day in the real thick stuff. 4 of the ferrets were this years jills and they worked hard they didn't show for a long time with rabbits bolting quite regulary so they were doing their job. Things started to slow and we picked up the ferrets as they showed. after 30 mins or so there were still 4 in and a dig was looming. Then we heard rumbling and another bolted tried to run the width of the bury with the jrt up his ass but was caught in purse net covering 1 of the many runs through the cover.

We picked up another 2 ferrets and ended up digging to 3ft for the last 2 but we couldn't find the rabbit.

The farmer turned up mid dig to see how we were doing and pointed out an arable field in the distance which he asked us to do next time, I suggested we would take a look later with the lurchers and lamp and se what was about, until now I only had erreting permission but he agreed so we had ashine last night and took another 9. I text the farmer this morning to say we had taken 17 altogether 8 to the ferrets in the morning and 9 on the lamp he replied "FANTASTIC". Top day and night

[seanc 201]

Nice write up mate well done

 

Regards

 

Sean

[NEWKID 27,143]

Nice write up mate well done

 

Regards

 

Sean

 

Cheers Sean

 

My hands are battered today the brambles were proper rough.

 

Cheers

Kev