Two For The Price Of One!

[Ideation 8,216]

I have not been on for a couple of days, as i have been climbing mountains and floating down rivers with a load of fairly disfunctional city kids. But i thought i would write a bit about a couple of trips from before i went away.

 

14.02.12

 

I had a very kind invite from a friend of a friend to pay a visit to his permission and remove a pile of rabbits that had been causing a problem for a while. I decided to take the trip down today, and with it being half term and everyone else having to work, i decided to take a long young tom as my wing man. Up early doors, loaded up the car and made my way to johnnyboys house to pick up Gem, as we had been warned that we would be facing some large warrens and potentially quite a lot of rabbits and felt with only finn, we would be a little under dog'ed. Next stop was toms house, where a bleary aged teenager and a couple of young jillls were added to the ensemble. FInally we were on our way over the bridge, and in fairly rapid fashion, were meeting up with hounddogg, and following him to todays land.

 

After a brief tour and a bit of a chat, hounddogg went off to work and left us to it. We had a wander and checked out the area that we had been asked to clear, which turned out to be a warren of about 200 holes, which ran a long a rough fence line, with lots of fallen trees and piled brash, and out across a field. The damage wa quite extensive and there was a lot of sign that the area was well used by rabbits. However, strangely, there were not many sat out when we arrived. We both took a net bag and started netting up, not having quite enough nets, we opted for purse netting what we could starting from the outside edges of the warren, and leaving some holes in the middle unetted, and then running a stop net at the base of the scrubby hedge/fence line, just before the thick cover started, which was where we knew any escapees would head. ...or so we thought.

 

WIth all the nets finally layed, we sat back and had a cuppa, discussing our plan of attack. We opted for one of us standing either end of the warren, and just letting the two dogs have their head and do what they felt was needed. We collared up the ferrets, and dropped down three of my adult jills with two of toms youngsters. We stood back and waited, and aftera bit of a wait we could hear the faint sounds of banging as rabbits began to make their way up from the lower levels, shortly after the action started, and it looked like we were on for a good session as seven rabbit bolted in rapid style into nets. Both tom and I, and the two dogs were darting back and forth for a few moments, all occupied with different rabbits. It then slowed right down, to a trickle, as the ferrets scoured the underground tunnel network for rabbits. We could tell right away that it didnt hold anywhere near the number of rabbits that we had anticipated, and the ferrets were having to search them out one by one. Once found, these rabbits really didnt want to leave, and every one seemed to need to be forcebly evicted. But one by one they were forced out, mostly hitting the nets, with a couple hole hopping for a bit and three trying to make a run for it, one being run down and caught by finn, one being very neatly pounced on by Gem, and one very lucky rabbit managing to swerve the stop net and make his bid for freedom. With seventeen rabbits in the bag, the ferrets started to show, and one by one were boxed, untill only Ruby, my old jill being left. Out with the disco carrots and both tom and i were soon walking the warren trying to find her, soon enough we had walked it all and found nothing. Next we walked all of the hedgerows, and the adjacent railway, and still no luck. On returning to the warren, we had a chat and decided that she was either deep off the box, which we didnt think was the case, or had slipped out past us andmade her way off into the distance. We decdided on one more walk of the hedge rows before we settled down to wait, and set off. On failing to find her we walked across the middle of the field, and somewhere around the centre, tom was fiddling with his box, when he suddenly got a reading. It was way out in the centre, away from any holes. It read six foot, but i thought it could be some kind of wire or something asit didnt look possiblefor there to be a tunnel there. Anyway, out with the shovel and i decided to give the ground a good bang to see if that would shift her before digging up the field. Cutting the story short, she made her way out without a dig, and eventually we had the ferret back. By the time we'd managed this and picked up all of the nets, we had lost quite a lot of time, however we were rewarded with a bonus bunny that was bundled up in a net, inside a bolt hole, in cover. So eighteen in the bag and one missed.

 

As tom was packing up the net bag, i netted up a small eight holer in the next field that the dogs had been quite interested in earlier. With tom finished, we dropped a jill in and stepped back, after a couple of moments the single occupant was bouncing about in a net and held by Gem.

 

WIth a little bit of time left we decided to let the dogs have a bit of freedom to work themselves and off they went a long the edges of a stream, working the cover and putting the odd rabbit and a couple if ducks up. Soon enough they were marking a warren, and i decided to leave young tom to himself, to ferret it with his ferrets and gave him gem for back up, while i mooched on a bit. Good experiance for him i thought. From where i was i watched him net up, and enter his ferrets, and stand waiting, soon enough the first bolted and Gem pounched on it, unfortunatly the second bunny slipped out of an unetted hole under cover of his mates demise, and dropped down another hole next to the rabbit warren, but not somewhere you wanted to enter a ferret. The lad dispatched the rabbit, and made his way over to where i was netting up another set, which finn had marked, by the time he got to me, ii had my rabbit out and the ferret was saying no more at home. With that we decided to call it a day and make our way back to collect our rabbits and gear, from where we had left them by the first warren. On our way back the dogs ran one to ground and we couldnt resist popping him out, which resulted in me doing a bit of hedge diving to get to a netted rabbit, and getting stuck like a pin cushion haha.

 

With that done, and the nets lifted, we collected our gear and headed for the car, not quite the day we had anticipated, but a good bit of sport and a very pleasant way to spend a day. I even bought the lad some donuts on the way home! A massive thanks goes out to hounddoggs mate calvin for the invite on to his permission, yet another legendary west country gentleman

 

A final tally of 22, but very few pictures as my camera died straight away and i had to wait until we got to the car for some new batterys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As i was tired, and was planning a day with johnnyboy the next morn, i decided to keep gem at mine that night. I made the mistake of telling my mum, who appeared as soon as i got back to my house, to fuss the dogs. When i got back in from sorting out the ferrets, she was curled on on my sofa with the two of them She likes gem

 

 

 

15.02.12

 

I woke up the next morning, still stiff and tired from the day before. Back in the car, complete with ferrets, and off once again to johnnyboys, this time adding the man himself to the team, a long with Luna. Another stop to pick up young tom and we were on our way once again, this time to visit our friend hounddogg once again. Unfortunatly hd had to work,so was not joining us for the morning, but my old man had stepped up to the plate, for his twice yearly day out with the ferrets, since he retired from being my full time partner, and met us there.

 

On arriving at the farm, it was a warm morning, a stark contrast to the weekends chill. We got ourselves kitted up and set off, letting the dogs work the hedges, us following in their wake, soon enough we got to the stretch of hedge that hd had asked us to look at. The dogs were marking well, so we got down to it and netted up, along it's length. Soon enough we were done, with four pairs of hands making light work of it. We dropped three jills down and stood back. Quickly, the rabbits started moving and we were rewarded by our first bolts of the day, followed by some steady action as a half dozen bunnys hit the nets. It went quiet and a look on the box showed where the jills had a rabbit blocked in.I started to dig, and after a while it bolted eyeless.

 

Nets up and we turned around to see the three dogs had dissapeared way down the hill, to run a pile of rabbits into a warren, set into the banking on a bend in a stream. They were furiously marking down there, and there was no chance finn in particular was going to give it up and leave it, as we made our way down and netted it up. It was a difficult set, mostly being on a verticle slope, but we got it done and positioned ourselves and the dogs to cover it as best we could. With nets down, we entered toms two youngsters,a long with one of mine and one of johns experianced jills. It was only once the ferrets were entered that we realised all four were related, with a mother, two daughters from different years, and a jill fathered by one of the old jills offspring. Within moments the action started, and rabbits started popping out. There was one hilarious moment when a rabbit bolted into a net on the bankings edge and johnny dived for it, grabbing the bunny and rolling. The last thing i saw was him teetering on the edge, holding a rabbit to him, as in slow motion Gem plowed into him, tipping him over. The splash came a couple of seconds later We had two escape nets that were set on the verticle bank, when they caught on roots etc, one dissapeared into thin air, and the other made its bid across the fields, with the dogs in pursuit. Finn was my side, and managed to leap the stream, and just cut the rabbit off as it reached the far hedge, snatching it as it hit cover. The best bit though was the retrieve all the way back across the field, down into the water and across the stream, scrambling up the banking to give me the rabbit By the time we were done and the ferrets were showing, we had another ten in the bag

 

At this point we sat down for lunch, and hd appeared, having sacked off work. After a bit to eat, and a bit of banter, we decided to do the last bit of a stretch of hedge that hd and i had done on saturday. Divided our selves, and netted the remaining stretch both sides, a few sepearate warrens of different sizes. At this point i was starting to feel the affects of driving a few hundred miles in the last couple of days, not enough sleep, and too much time out. Basiclly, feeling a mardy c**t lol. Anyway, once done, we started dropping ferrets in, and worked our way a long the hedge,bolting rabbits in ones and twos. I managed to pull one of a hole again, and one stuck with a jill, half way a long, which we left to come back and dig.

 

Once we got to the end we had another eleven healthy rabbits. We went back to de-net, while i started to dig to the sticky bunny. When i got a foot or so down, it bolted across the field, skipping a net. Unfortunatly my dad had leashed finn up and by the time he had unclipped it the gap was too large. At this point i embaressed my self hugely, losing my rag with my old man and flying off the handle. To be honest i was tired, but no excuse really and i made myself look like a c**t. I'm very lucky sometimes to have such understanding mates, as i really can act like a bell end at times After profuse appologies, it was all water under thr bridge, although i'm sure hd is starting to think we are all a bit mad over the border

 

We made our way to one final set, in a very short section of hedge. Laying a few nets, we decided to give chunk, my big poley hob a run. He is the heavy artillary so to speak He provided instant laughs as johnny dropped him down, stood back and told us the ferret was 'digging on'..... poor bugger couldnt fit through the entrance. He made the hole large enough and went down, in his own time. Very understandibly the bunnys started moving quick, and the first went to bolt, i say went to bollt, as it stuck its head out of a hole and then just sat there. Johnny grabbed it and went to lift it, only to realised that cunk was firmly clamped to its back legs, he eventually drew him out and used his break stick to get the fecker off Back to ground her went and the days final bunny hit the net, once again with chunk hanging off his arse He is one of those very handy ferrets, when a rabbit refuses to move and the jills cant get to kill them, chunk will just physiclly drag them to a spot where he has room to destroy them and then sit there latched to the corpse until you retrieve him. Half ferret, half paterdale.

 

With that, we packed up and dragged ourselves and the bunnys to the vehicles, bidding fair well to hd a long the way. On returning to the car, and counting up we realised we had 31 in the bag,another great days sport, with good folk, even if i did act the twat for 5 mins (at least haha) we all have our bad days, i was tired, thats my excuse and im sticking to it! On the whole another cracking day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 19, 2012 by Ideation

[PUP lurcher 32]

Cracking write up buddy, some great pics aswell. Keep up the good work ATB

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Great write up as usual butt.........I look ill in that one pic but I couldn't miss another day.

 

Was a good time apart from your hissy fit next time I'll

 

[Guest vin]

great stuff Jai.

[malc1 544]

well done again boys johnnyboy you do look ill mate hope your ok dont worry ill get somebody else to do the bird roof if your not well and jai your always in a bad mood but we love you and tom looks like he a model for countrywide in that picture well done great write up as useusual alb malc and the mob

[staffyspen 43]

great write up again mate,

good couple of days by the sounds of things!!!

 

the young fella looks the mutts in all his gears!!!

 

thanks

spence

[tote 856]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

Thats Luna she's 22.5 tts and she's bull/whip/grey x beddy grey.

[tote 856]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

Thats Luna she's 22.5 tts and she's bull/whip/grey x beddy grey.

 

Whate age is she Johnny and how do you rate her?

[GazDavison_91 14]

Looks like good stuff mate atb

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

Thats Luna she's 22.5 tts and she's bull/whip/grey x beddy grey.

 

Whate age is she Johnny and how do you rate her?

Only a young bitch 16 months, she's showed some good signs, she's a decent lamping bitch, she's done well all round on the bunnies to be fair. I think she'll make a good un.

 

[Ideation 8,216]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

Thats Luna she's 22.5 tts and she's bull/whip/grey x beddy grey.

 

Whate age is she Johnny and how do you rate her?

Only a young bitch 16 months, she's showed some good signs, she's a decent lamping bitch, she's done well all round on the bunnies to be fair. I think she'll make a good un.

 

 

I would second that, even if she is a wierdo

[frankel 2,123]

great stuff lads

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

Thats Luna she's 22.5 tts and she's bull/whip/grey x beddy grey.

 

Whate age is she Johnny and how do you rate her?

Only a young bitch 16 months, she's showed some good signs, she's a decent lamping bitch, she's done well all round on the bunnies to be fair. I think she'll make a good un.

 

 

I would second that, even if she is a wierdo

Thats character

 

She is a bit of a strange one though, that'll be the whippet in her.

[Ideation 8,216]

Goog write up and pics Jai, you must have some patience to sit and write it all out.

 

The second set of pics, the dog/bitch? in pics 5 and 8 I like the look of, how is she/he bred and what height is it?

Thats Luna she's 22.5 tts and she's bull/whip/grey x beddy grey.

 

Whate age is she Johnny and how do you rate her?

Only a young bitch 16 months, she's showed some good signs, she's a decent lamping bitch, she's done well all round on the bunnies to be fair. I think she'll make a good un.

 

 

I would second that, even if she is a wierdo

Thats character

 

She is a bit of a strange one though, that'll be the whippet in her.

 

Yes mate, them whippets are freaks!