Ferreting about near Thomas Austin

[Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter 16]

A mere 50 min drive from Melbourne & then just a handful of klm's from Geelong,

Victoria is an area that is very famous/infamous regarding Australian rabbit history.

It is the grounds & land area of none other than Thomas Austin.

 

Back in October 1859 Thomas was amongst some others,

very keen on establishing some sporting rabbits for the grounds,

however things didn't quite stay within the boundaries they had imagined.

Within a few short years the whole bottom corner of Sthn Aust was alive/plagued by millions & millions of rabbits.

Many industrys were born out of this humble little underground dweller.

Some are still in practice today, albeit on a smaller scale.

 

Times have changed however and they're back on a fairly active road to recovery at the moment.

Although we probably won't ever see the sheer numbers of rabbits our parents & grandfathers did as these days man is a far more formidable opponent to rabbits in numbers.

The advent of readily available baiting style poisons for farmers has seen far less rabbits overall, but as we know they are great survivors & are about in healthy numbers for recreational & professional hunters alike.

 

Well last weekend I finally got out for a few hours Ferreting & was within 15 mins travel of this historic area.

The land we were on was, you could say 'hallowed turf' as we were behind a very old Church from the 1800's.

This didn't seem to phase the local bunnys one bit, racing about all over a hill just a hundred metres away from the Landcruiser...

I'm pretty excited at this stage as I've not been out for too long now!!

The Whippet & Jack Russell are super keen & we let them race about working off a bit of that car fever from the trip up....they soon settle....

Matt says, mate where's the nets ?...

'Yeah they're right in ..... ....I've left them at home...(in 30 years I've never done this).....

'dah shit.....ok...whats next '

 

Matt's straight onto his Iphone,

We'll go back into Geelong in 30 mins when they open & go to Aussie Disposals,

used to work there years ago, they'll have em...

Sure enough they had stock, so we grabbed 30 & some light tent pegs raced back to the Church grounds & quickly attached the tent pegs to the nets

 

Off we go finally, still plenty bunnys running about here & there.

First set of around 16/18 nets is a classic set, but with no action at all, despite 3 Ferrets being down.

Patiently waiting....& waiting...

 

Moving on we find the next set is similar & I make the remark to Matt that this warren has been ripped mechanically at some stage with an excavator, results soon bear this as again its quiet.

Down to the flatlands amongst the tussocks we find another large warren, so large we are looking at each other while surveying it & quietly saying, may need more nets

We set what we can on the busiest looking holes & send down 4 Ferrets.

Classic Molly, I'll be back in a jiffy pause while working.

 

Around 5 or 6 mins later we have our 1st pair come out within a few seconds of each other.

Soon we have a few more in our bag.

This continues on over an hour or so with 5 making it to safety from un-netted holes.

Yes some of them slipped the Whippet in the chase as they always seemed to be way up the other end when the Whippet was at the other

Still we did account for some great catches with the Whippets help after nailing bunnys from nets being kicked open

 

We left this warren with an even 10 & were more than happy with the outcome.

I had spied a small 4 hole set just past the end holes on the warren were working earlier.

We had this covered in a few seconds & sent down a pair of Ferrets.

 

2 mins later we had another pair & once again Coco the Whippet was on to it in a glint of an eye.

Matt with his hands full at both sides.

 

In all a great days sport with a good mate

& a top team of keen field workers & a nice dozen bunnys for the table.

 

These plump fresh bunnys were soon converted into a selection of 'Game Pastries'

of which you can read about here if your interested in how to make great pastries from the humble bunny.

 

Cheers,

 

Shaun

Edited June 30, 2012 by Downunder_Sthn_Ferreter

[wyeman 1,201]

Great write up - thanks

[Ferret mad Dave 65]

Cracking write up mate

[Magwitch 687]

Nice to see ferreting from different locations around the world, My sister lives in wollongong and what amazed me when we visited was how green and lush the countryside was..............well done mate keep at them.

[bryson 562]

nice read that mate

[max abell 196]

Enjoyable read mate

[BEARINATOR 2,871]

Excellent write up

[storm323 191]

Good read that !

[terryd 8,522]

Great report enjoyed reading that. Lovely looking land there too. Unlucky forgetting the nets I tend too do that with bait for fishing

Edited July 1, 2012 by terryd

[Moe 108]

good report there mate,good to be out.

[ferretville 69]

A good read , keep up the good work

[irish stevie 32]

Well done mate,great write up a.t.b.stevie.

[Stevo ferretboy 20]

Good read that mate good pics an looks nice land your on there noticed your ferret has no location collar on do u use them keep up the good work atb stevo

[Stevo ferretboy 20]

Good read that mate good pics an looks nice land your on there noticed your ferret has no location collar on do u use them keep up the good work atb stevo

[Guest vin]

great stuff lads...keep em coming.