Before locators

[ferretgirl79 200]

Give them a squeak or whistle when feeding them will always help if you don't use locaters. x

[foxtails 272]

one day you will lose your ferret if you dont have a locator.,but hunter1995 is still young probally not working and havent got the money for one,,save up my man because youl need one,,,people who have been hunting for 20-30 years plus is trying to give you advise and your nocking it back (youl learn the hard way) atb with it though.

[sam007 34]

I have been rabbiting for 59 years before locators we used patience

but sometimes it came down to a line ferret and that was bloody hard work

digging a hole about every yard or however,long your stick was.

I can honestly say I have never lost a ferret .The only time I nearly

lost one it had a collar on .It came out of a hole about 10 yards away

but I found it sleeping under a stump 6 hours later still have her

(a great worker)

Sam

[Guest cookiemonsterandmerlin]

Nowt wrong with sqeeking the ferts espeically useful if the fert is loose on topside and you want to call them to you but sqeeking is fecking useless is if the poor little mite cant get to you or hear you eg 10 foot down in clay or chalk.

 

Still I feel we so happy hunting to all

 

ATB Cookie

[AndyKelly 251]

here we go again........................................................same story different day

[Marvin 193]

Could some one explain the liner thing to me please, is it simply tie a string to a ferret? how would you know where about to dig as we all know sets can shoot off in any direction and depth

 

Sorry for causing a row Andy but the only way to find out is to ask

[Tug 168]

Could some one explain the liner thing to me please, is it simply tie a string to a ferret? how would you know where about to dig as we all know sets can shoot off in any direction and depth

 

Sorry for causing a row Andy but the only way to find out is to ask

 

You follow the string, so it means a lot of digging.

[Tug 168]

no need to try be a smart erse you wee prick eh! cause when i worked small warren heard the rabbit getting killed close to the borrow waited 15 mins ferret popped out cut into warren with the spade put my hand down dead rabbit there with dirt pile at back of it and wee small frshly dug shelf dug round it and well i dont give a shit i you havent mate mines does when comes out warren whistle it to me or if been under ground can whistle it out if its killed

 

[Sirius 1,391]

When we work deep warrens I often wonder if a locator is needed although I always do. Many of these warrens go off the box in places and many layups are 8ft so I very very rarely ever dig these just wait for the ferret to get bored with the arsed up rabbit. I suppose at least the locator shows me the ferrets still in the warren but that's it.

 

[sam007 34]

Could some one explain the liner thing to me please, is it simply tie a string to a ferret? how would you know where about to dig as we all know sets can shoot off in any direction and depth

 

Sorry for causing a row Andy but the only way to find out is to ask

Marvin

You tie a line to normally a large hob he has to be strong enough to

drag a line which is marked in yard lengths.You pay out the line counting the

marks until it stops for some time.This normally means he has found the rabbit.

You then put a stick (about a yard long) in the hole to find the direction.

Pull it out lay it on the ground in the direction and dig to find the line in the tube

and so it goes on until you reach the ferret (you feel like a bloody mole)

If you find a block end and you intend to do the bury again just cover the hole

with a flat stone to save you work next time.

Sam

[tegater 789]

Nice one sam, we use stone wall toppers to keep the tubes as a tube, even after we have dug the rabbits out of a stop end.

[pmatty77 26]

I think some people jump on the locators too quick,i hardly ever use mine,but then again if there is nothing at home my two jills dont stay down too long,the locators are good back up if the ferret has been down a while...which i know wasnt the question but i do tend to ramble a bit in my old age

[Brimmer 220]

Nice one sam, we use stone wall toppers to keep the tubes as a tube, even after we have dug the rabbits out of a stop end.

Tegater i'm ashamed of you pulling the topstones off the walls!, next thing you'll be telling me you pull stones out of walls to get at the rabbits!

Matty 77, a lot of folk use the line that folks are too eager use the locater, if you know your animals well, you know sometimes its pointless sitting around waiting to leave corpses below the sod whilst the ferret moves on to the next victim.

You could wait, and eventually the animal will come back on top when all is dead, and the worker is knackered, or face facts, and get on with it.

(i do understand in some regions you may have to dig a bit deeper than a few of us.) but at least knowing where the culprit is gives a reference to where it last was, and understanding what the animal is doing.

[Ideation 8,216]

Ive done a lot of ferreting and been out with a few folk. Done a lot without collars once upon a time, and just remember having to really be quiet and sneaky, and wait sometimes on the box with a cup of tea, the odd logical dig. Gutted rabbit down the hole, or banging a stick in the hole etc. Or a good dog.

 

But that kind of stuff only works if 1 . Its a small ish warren and 2. The ferret can actually come out.

 

Nowadays i wouldnt ferret without a locator and collar. ferreting big warrens, a long way from home, it gives you the confidence to just get on with it and tackle anything.

 

Also, you can be more productive, dig out and move on. You might have waited a half hour for a ferret you could dig out in 5-10 mins and get the rabbit as well.

 

Lastly, i couple of weeks ago we ended up with a ferret, 20 yards away from a small set of holes, down a stone drainage tube, half submerged in water, blocked the wrong side of a dead rabbit that filled the tube.

 

Without the box we'd have been fecked.

 

At the end of the day they can go wrong and be a pain, and digging to a lost collar is really shit but they make ferreting a lot easier and more efficient, and its interesting and gives you confidence, to know whats going on down there.

[tegater 789]

Nice one sam, we use stone wall toppers to keep the tubes as a tube, even after we have dug the rabbits out of a stop end.

Tegater i'm ashamed of you pulling the topstones off the walls!, next thing you'll be telling me you pull stones out of walls to get at the rabbits!

Matty 77, a lot of folk use the line that folks are too eager use the locater, if you know your animals well, you know sometimes its pointless sitting around waiting to leave corpses below the sod whilst the ferret moves on to the next victim.

You could wait, and eventually the animal will come back on top when all is dead, and the worker is knackered, or face facts, and get on with it.

(i do understand in some regions you may have to dig a bit deeper than a few of us.) but at least knowing where the culprit is gives a reference to where it last was, and understanding what the animal is doing.

Brimmer. The toppers are used at the landowners request. I am not talking about working walls, but the miles of wall that are nothing more than overgrown lines of stone. As you know though, the toppers are large and flat and are better at the job than the wall stones.

For your info, although we ferret the working walls, we never remove stones to get to the rabbits. Not all areas of England have nice pristine maintained walls, because the landowners don't have the will, the need or the grants to repair them.

Walls even get taken down and used for other things by one landowner in particular, I work for.