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Some Lurchers n Ferts - brining pup on


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Headed over to Hedgey's to give him a hand on the burrows. It was a warm morning so not the most comfortable of ferreting days and we expected to be plagued by small conies, but i had expressed that it was better than sitting at home, and i was keen to continue Roxy's development.

We set up nets in the normal fashion, and i placed a few purse nets as i have previously to let Roxy experience these tools of the trade.

Ferts went in and straigh off, the rabbits started bolting clear of the hedges. These are clearly the deserters of the coney race... :lol: .....as once they had gone, the ferts were left to chase the small conies around, killing as they went in most cases or providing some mini bolters for the dogs.

It was a frustrating morning for myself. Roxy was fine with the nets as per usual, but certainly first thing, she was very much sitting near me, holding away from the warrens, or staring elsewhere.

The rabbits we initially caught, she would pick up and run off with, only to dump them across the fields or sit next to them.....in a display i have seen alot over recent months. There were spells of good ferreting action from her......short lived, but some spells....then she put the icing on the cake when she stole a baby coney from my rabbit stash and proceeded to eat the dam thing.....every time i tried to get close to her, she would feck off further...wolfing the meat down... :twisted: :twisted: I gave up in the end as i didnt want to make too much noise and was clearly not going to win this one, plus the ferts were still to ground and there was other stuff to focus on. As soon as her belly was full, she trotted over as if nothing had happened and continued to watch the net lines..... :lol: love em or hate em????

 

Hedgey then said his dog was marking an adjacent hedgerow, so we upped nets, re set and got on with the next warren.

Same as before , lots of good size bunnies bolting initially, then the babes, then the lay ups...... Roxy, however, was far more settled. :D We were on the higher side to the hedge, and she had to stand closer to it all to see the bulk of the action on the lower side, the advantage now with regards her experience building was that the rabbits were bolting close to her. :D One large bunny she was able to capture before it got overly tangled in the web, and all the baby rabbits she caught before they hit the nets or holes.

As is normal, she carrys her catch fine, then does the laps of honour and then dumps her kill, however, on the new hedge, she reluctanly, but knowingly, brought in her first live to hand bunny, nice full size (it was almost as if it clicked to her that giving it to me was easier than running around with the wriggling lump of fur)....and then shortly after she caught a babe, that again, the reluctanly brought in :mrgreen: :oops: :mrgreen:

With the nets up, we sorted out the two lie ups, and set for home.

We bagged a nice clean 13 full growns, half a dozen youngsters and probably left more squeekers below ground. Might sound harsh, but then the farmer wants the rabbt numbers dropped, and thats two hedges cleared in a mornings work.....happy days :D

The squeekers were also ideal for roxy's confidence. ;) She caught one randomly in the open field, and three or four on the hedge bottoms...which should have helped accelerate her experience levels......well i hope so.

There is a slide show below of all the images i took, click the link

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v491/delbertio/Feb%2011%20Ferts/?albumview=slideshow

 

 

I managed plenty of pics whilst i lay in wait mid field, basking in the sun with a T-shirt on...these are the ones i liked with some comments.

 

 

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The spot

 

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The double hedges

 

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"the apprintice"..... Lord Sugar

 

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The Rebel......

 

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Without a cause.....

 

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More chinanigoons...

 

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spells of focus.....

 

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Some odd stances......

 

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To stop the deserters.....

 

 

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bagged

 

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steady as they come

 

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mid morning

 

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the next hedge

 

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more in tune..... (full belly)

 

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nabbed from within

 

.....and eventually first retrieve....

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training aids......

 

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Paw up markers....... :D

 

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then the retrieve....eventually

 

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un sung hero

 

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have also established she is not one for the end of day........ :)

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nice one mate looks like a cracking day,, and more experiance for the pup,,,

 

you cetainly took some photos,, must be nice to have the time to sit back and just click away with the camera :tongue2: does that mean hedgy was doing all the work :whistling:

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nice one mate looks like a cracking day,, and more experiance for the pup,,,

 

you cetainly took some photos,, must be nice to have the time to sit back and just click away with the camera :tongue2: does that mean hedgy was doing all the work :whistling:

 

 

TOMO, i spent most of the session lying in the grass snapping away....... and let thedog do the work. old hegey has his own sie to worry about ;)

 

we dont all have a net man or bag carrier ...... so i did have a few sprint moments....i call it rabbit bolt circuit training, almost like a blep test ;)

 

Good pics and write up Rob :thumbs:

If you can scrape a Wednesday off fairly soon, your welcome to come down and

show off your long netting skills and give me another lesson :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

 

Cheers, D.

 

dave.... i just been off all week! back on monady till end of march.

 

might have to book a wednesday

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