stevethefish 80 Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) It has to be done sometimes but we never look forward to it much, heavy thick brambles I refer to. I had promised the farmer that I would have a butchers at it and see if we could manage it, when we got there it was much worse than expected and almost impossible to do but we gave it a shot. The farmer came down and said we should leave it if it was too much and he would get it flailed out, but seeing as we were already there we thought it would be a good PR exercise. It was very cold and frosty so we got stuck into it straight away, hoping to keep warm grafting away. There were quite a few holes in the ground in front of the brambles, these led up a steep slope which flattened out at about 12 foot of so with a 15 foot flat top then dropped back down to a pond all really dense. We knew we would struggle but I had the 12g so any bolters I could see (not much chance with the thickness of the brambles) I would have a bosh at. We netted up 30 odd holes around the bottom where we could manage to squeeze our way in, painfully I should add. In went 3 ferrets, we would normally use about 6 with so many holes but with a chance of them nipping out and disappearing forever we kept the numbers low. It was just about 10 seconds and one bolted out from under some irrigation pipes, luckily this was netted, a good start that would not last long. Another quick one and then I could hear them running all over inside the cover, you would not believe the sheer size of this warren. I reckon this will hold about 50 or 60 rabbits at least and if you saw the devastation they are causing you would agree. After about 10 minutes without a trace of anything we got the boxes out and started searching. Stevo found one straight away close to the bottom a relatively easy dig with not too much cover and only 2 foot deep. While he was digging I found another one right in the thick of the cover about 40 yards away from where we introduced them, I gritted my teeth and ploughed in. If it wasn't for my Barbour Northumberland Jacket (rhino skin) I don't think I would have got through it, the thorns were digging in straight through my wax leggings though. OUCH! I pin pointed it and cleared the area the best I could and started to dig, it was 3 foot so not too bad. As I broke through the ferret moved, it had killed and moved on to another rabbit but I got the other rabbit. Stevo had recovered the other rabbit and he had the same problem, the ferret had left it when he broke and was onto another a few feet away. They were stubborn rabbits and refused to bolt but it sounded like an earthquake underground there were so many bumping and running around. I got another and so did Stevo, then Ray made a disturbing discovery, 8 foot on the top of the hill in really heavy shit. This time 2 ferrets had nailed 2 rabbits in the same area, as we discovered later, much much later. This dig was to become a real nightmare, top 2 foot not that bad then it was heavy shingle/pebble that was like rock. It took about just over an hour to reach the depth to find they just moved in the last minute, but only 6 feet away, feck sake!!!! Well to cut a long story short, this dig took 2 hours 40 minutes to recover the ferrets and pile of rabbits they had killed, they just kept working their tits off and killing, While we were taking a short break waiting for the last ferret to appear from the abyss (it was off the 8 foot boxes for 20 minutes) Stevo plucked one of the geese I shot the day before and a pigeon that flew over at the wrong time. That was an amazing shot even though I say it myself, very high and fast. Eventually the ferret was back on the box, we could still hear the thunder underground as it was chasing rabbits all over until it nailed one. 4 foot this time so not as bad as the last one bit in this cover it was just a struggle but we needed to get this last ferret out. As we broke we found another 2 dead rabbits and a ferret that must have been thinking "happy days" but enough was enough, we had been on this for over 4 hours and were all knackered. We did manage to collect a total of 15 rabbits out of this labyrinth so we were relatively pleased but took the farmer up on his offer to flail it out before we tried it again, if we could face it. I might just leave if for shooting with the rimmy when it's cleared, the thought of those digs make me sweat and reach for the cider. All in all a hard day with little to show for the time we put in but these days do happen, not too often we hope. Edited January 17, 2012 by stevethefish Quote Link to post
tomano1 80 Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 Like it mate very well described good read im thinking off getting a half good digital camera and catching some nice recordings nice to read bit I've been looking at some good clips at the mo and would be nice if we took some one else along while we did the work and look it and we can good points and ?. Quote Link to post
stevethefish 80 Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 (edited) Yeah wish someone else would do ours I might get in the frame more often. I have a canon D500 its great for stills and video in HD Edited January 17, 2012 by stevethefish Quote Link to post
manaboutdog 3 Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 good day though and really enjoyed , Quote Link to post
tomano1 80 Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 SOS mate should have put on this section god right up got right into it I'm thinking of asking some one to come with a digital camera to let us see how we go about when we get home see if ther was any thing we would change or do differently but see how we do it thanks toma Quote Link to post
Guest cookiemonsterandmerlin Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 One of the things I like about your gang is there zest for having a crack at places other ferreter would baulk at and being wise enough to give things a miss. ATB Cookie Quote Link to post
stevethefish 80 Posted January 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 Cheers Cookie Quote Link to post
Guest vin Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 that's hardcore Steve..hats off to you lads. Quote Link to post
jambay5 191 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 sounds like a hard day at the office but as made a good read. Quote Link to post
max abell 196 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Great read well done steve Quote Link to post
simonrocco 175 Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 really good read pal atb Quote Link to post
jayhawk 41 Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Top stuff mate Quote Link to post
coco 261 Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 well done lads you really geared up for the job atb for the rest of the season dai Quote Link to post
Moe 108 Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 good report there steve,still picking thorns@spikes out after a jaunt we had 5 weeks back. Quote Link to post
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