Losing a ferret whilst out.

[johnny boy68 11,726]

I do like my collars at times, if i'm on my own at a big set, in the woods, especially in the early season with all the cover still about, it's nice to know the ferret is still to ground, and roughly where she might be.

 

But even with locators we always seem to find places where you are f****d for digging, either off the box, or in such a place where digging isnt an option.

 

And johnny is just bitter cos the one time we put the colars on his jiills, we had to dig a man sized hole through rock on the side of a mountain, to two collars stuck on some submerged metal. We dug through a fecking car. And only got one collar back.

 

Not everyone ferrets in fields.

 

However, you cant beat it when knowing you ferret is stuck to ground in a wee bank, you whip out the spade and dig through 2 ft or less of soft soil, to pull out two rabbits in five mins, rather than a 20 min wait and no bunnies.

 

But if you think about it and you were smart, in that situation (and with a good dog), might you have figured out where to dig anyway?

Aye remember that fecker, could've been my fert hanging on that collar we couldn't get out !!

 

Only quarter of the way to the first collar here.

[Brimmer 220]

Wish they were cheaper Johnny.

I am still on the mk 1's, and will be for a good few yars yet. I still am in denial that one day i,ll have to make the mk3 jump.

As i said, if the finder goes off the scale, then there,s nothing really anybody can do about it but wait, but i know on our ground we rarely approach that sort of depth, and knowing nearly every warren on it, you tend to give the bad ones a swerve.

You will never get to the point where everything will be 100 percent , but may give you a fighting chance sometimes.

[Ideation 8,216]

Yes mate, ironicaly you would now be able to say you had lost 1 ferret in your life, due to using a locator

 

For the record we even went back a second day re-dug the hole (it was on / near a foot path) and tried to use cutting equipment to get to the 2nd collar. . . . no joy.

[Brimmer 220]

Like the photo by the way!

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Yes mate, ironicaly you would now be able to say you had lost 1 ferret in your life, due to using a locator

 

For the record we even went back a second day re-dug the hole (it was on / near a foot path) and tried to use cutting equipment to get to the 2nd collar. . . . no joy.

Yes mate irony at its best.

[whin 463]

you ever thought som e places aint worth the hassle for a rabbit , lot of things ive hunted and wayed up the pros and cons of it best left to mad dogs and englishmen lol

[Rake aboot 4,936]

Like the base of a certain Oak tree Whin ??? hahahahaha

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Wish they were cheaper Johnny.

I am still on the mk 1's, and will be for a good few yars yet. I still am in denial that one day i,ll have to make the mk3 jump.

As i said, if the finder goes off the scale, then there,s nothing really anybody can do about it but wait, but i know on our ground we rarely approach that sort of depth, and knowing nearly every warren on it, you tend to give the bad ones a swerve.

You will never get to the point where everything will be 100 percent , but may give you a fighting chance sometimes.

I'm lucky on my local ground that I hunt most I know all the warrens and most run that shallow me or dog can usually pick up the bumping.Usually

 

If I did lose a ferret that hadn't returned the next day I'd borrow Jai's locator put it on my hob and send him down he'd be able to find his girl/girls.

[Ideation 8,216]

you ever thought som e places aint worth the hassle for a rabbit , lot of things ive hunted and wayed up the pros and cons of it best left to mad dogs and englishmen lol

 

Aye, but when we stuck the ferrets to ground, we didn't have any idea what was down there (apart from rabbits), as it was our first time ferreting that set. We still took 13 rabbits or so out of the set and got all the ferrets out. so not all bad.

[Ideation 8,216]

Wish they were cheaper Johnny.

I am still on the mk 1's, and will be for a good few yars yet. I still am in denial that one day i,ll have to make the mk3 jump.

As i said, if the finder goes off the scale, then there,s nothing really anybody can do about it but wait, but i know on our ground we rarely approach that sort of depth, and knowing nearly every warren on it, you tend to give the bad ones a swerve.

You will never get to the point where everything will be 100 percent , but may give you a fighting chance sometimes.

I'm lucky on my local ground that I hunt most I know all the warrens and most run that shallow me or dog can usually pick up the bumping.Usually

 

If I did lose a ferret that hadn't returned the next day I'd borrow Jai's locator put it on my hob and send him down he'd be able to find his girl/girls.

 

S&R Ferret

[johnny boy68 11,726]

you ever thought som e places aint worth the hassle for a rabbit , lot of things ive hunted and wayed up the pros and cons of it best left to mad dogs and englishmen lol

Yeh sometimes whin but this came out of that 1 warren.The warren was a single holer when I was about 10. Its now about 60

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Like the photo by the way!

Cheers Brim.

[Lee C 55]

A mate left his kit abroad so went out with no collars last week ferret did not come up. So borrowed some kit and went back next day put ferret down and dug out where it stopped. When he got down there there was a rabbit stuck in a stop end with the ferret stuck behind it dead. He thinks it suffocated behind rabbit. So there's one reason to use them. I do, but each to their own.

Nice photos

Lee

[Brimmer 220]

A mate left his kit abroad so went out with no collars last week ferret did not come up. So borrowed some kit and went back next day put ferret down and dug out where it stopped. When he got down there there was a rabbit stuck in a stop end with the ferret stuck behind it dead. He thinks it suffocated behind rabbit. So there's one reason to use them. I do, but each to their own.

Nice photos

Lee

had a hob of mine sandwiched between 2 kills a few years back, in a tube no more than a foot apart. It was a big dig, by the time i got to it an hour nd half later, the rabbits were stuck solid in the tubes with rigormortis, i struggled to pull them, think that would have ended the same way mate without the dig.

[Brimmer 220]

heres the photo's, It was 6 foot down and 6 foot in to the bank, i chose to follow the tube sideways into the bank,, hoping i would get the ferret back if i got close, no chance, in the end, when 3 foot in sideways, i had to knock the top in and start again, Got him out though, and put it back something like afterwards, I cannot see where the dig was now.