Best Day Ferreting In Years

[Fergus 18]

It had been about 5 years since I had kept ferrets. I had only just bought a couple- mostly as pets for the kids but hopefully to be good working ferrets also. I'd been told of a property 30 mins from home with a lot of burrows and getting the permission to ferret was no problem. Burrowing rabbits are really tough to find in this neck of the woods, most opt to live life above the ground in the bush or thickets where ferreting is nigh on impossible. So finding this place was a real treat. When we arrived at 10am quite a few rabbits were running about which was promising. Myxo or Calicivirus normally goes through most areas by now but it obviously hadn't here. It was good to see a few bunnies getting about in Autumn.

 

We took along our little polecat jill- Fiona and black eyed white hob- Fergus. I had a mate who had never been ferreting before to help me out and my 6 year old son tagged along. I had given the ferrets a couple of easy runs in some small warrens previous to this and had a bit of success, so they knew the job. Still I was a little concerned that the 18 week old ferrets might just play and I guess I had high expectations of them and was prepared for some disapointment but I need not have worried-they worked like champions.

 

We arrived and netted up a dam wall with about 30 holes. The first bolt was perfect but there was another two rabbits that were lost the instant the first hit the net. It was fast and furious action after that with another 4 hitting the nets simultaneously. Anyway the dam wall yielded 12 nice bunnies, many 3/4 grown, perfect for the pot. The next set was a shallow 4 holer except I missed netting one pop hole that was no bigger than a jam jar . Of course that was where the two rabbits we missed bolted from. Another few warrens yielded regular bolting rabbits and Fiona caught her first rabbit which I was able to reach down the burrow and retreive from her. The last warren was on another steep bank. Here Fergus bailed one up. Out came the old Mk 1 locator and an easy 2 ft dig and retrieval of both the bunny and him.

 

We could have kept going for longer but I had some other permission to get to for some long netting with the ferrets. Here we found a large low lying shrub that the rabbits had burrowed under and my 26m longnet would only reach around 1 side. Unfortunately of all the 7 rabbits that bolted only 1 ran through the side we netted. Well that was unsucessful and the day was getting late. Packed up the gear and the ferrets, I don't like working the youngsters too hard even thought they are fit from all the excercise we give them at home. I could see they were tiring. All up one of the best days ferrting I have had- 32 was the final tally. But there is plenty more there for next time. Looking forward to the next trip. Love reading all you guys reports here. Sorry no photos to post up. Cheers

[artful212 394]

well done mate

[takman511 42]

well done mate bet you have a good season next 1

[fatasafool 216]

Well done mate