Hedgerow Clearance

[GreyRake 108]

Working on another farm now. Thick thorn hedgerows with two fences, one either side, seven foot apart or so. Had a go at these last year with purse nets, but now being armed with long nets life was much easier. Started with the jills, one almost two years old and a kit born this year.

 

First set... Sorry, Warren* at the bottom of the field bolted two. They ran one at a time in to the longer grass down the hedge. Was impressed with the ferrets, using their noses they tracked them down the hedge into the long grass then bolted them out the hedge into the long net. Good start.

Next warren looked unused but we netted up anyway as we wanted to give this hedge the all clear. Was tricky with only one long net. Would run it 40 yards or so up one side, then pass it through a clearing in the hedge and do the same the other side. Then put my two stop nets in the hedge, between the fences at either side. In-between all that we had some 7 foot bits of card to counter hole hoppers. Didnt get to see any rabbits encounter these, was hoping to learn from it, would the sight of it turn them? Would they jump it? Crash into it? But nothing bolted.

Next set up a rabbit bolted without a ferret in the hole! Ran out from the hedge and into a long net in the field. After entering the ferrets another bolted down the hedge into the stop net. Well tangled, 6z with loooads of bagging, will be what i look for in future purchases. Then a stubborn rabbit, maybe a kill in, don't know, the hedge was just to low at that point to dig, was a half hour wait or so.

The jill kit is getting the hang of things now, fairly likes a tussle with the bunnies. But she doesnt search very hard nor puts in the effort with the rabbits that don't want to budge. If I didn't have my older jill who sticks at them for a while it would bother me, but to be honest she fits in with my arsenal quite well, if I can't dig it, Enyo gets the job, no waiting.

 

Next lot we purse netted, holes were clear of the hedge, about six. Put my experienced jill in and without a big wait a rabbit bolted out the same hole we entered the ferret, seen me and ran back in. Half in the net and face to face with the ferret, I managed to pull it out easily but only after a tumble over the fence and a branch in the eye!

 

Happy with the five



Went back to the car and had lunch. Swapped the two jills for the hob to do the last warren at the top the hedge. Bolted a few from it a few months ago when having a mooch and that must have been enough to clear it. So packed up and headed down the road to another field to scout out for next weekend. Looks a bit tricky, one fence in the middle of the hedge and no spaces to pass the long net through. Plus theres loads of holes but they are so close together its impossible to tell where one warren ends and another starts. Anyway, there was one little six holer away from the rest and the holes were accessible. So fired down the purse nets and popped the hob in. Typically, he had one pinned down, two foot, so started to dig, nice soft ground! About a foot down the rabbit bolted, but got out the net and away. Cheeky tame robin was hanging around and made the most of our dig by hoovering up the worms. My friend got a few nice photos.



Hob had another pinned, b*****d, he always catches them, puts me off using him. Couldn't dig because it was once again under the hedge. So we made use of the wait to gut the rabbits. He came out happily covered in blood and we headed home. Nice to see them all passed out with full bellies.... sure that robin's in the same situation

GR

Edited November 17, 2013 by GreyRake

[Rake aboot 4,935]

Nice write up bud, and crackin pics

 

Looking forward to getting the long net out. I bought it for a specific hedgerow, so cannae wait.

 

Stuck at work though, so no play for 2 weeks.

[Jimmy30 1]

Well done and a nice wrote up, been a long time since I used long nets

[The one 8,477]

Nice read and pics mate and you got a few

[ArchieHood 3,692]

Nice write up Grey, Hope to get a few tomorrow........

[GreyRake 108]

Nice write up bud, and crackin pics

 

Looking forward to getting the long net out. I bought it for a specific hedgerow, so cannae wait.

 

Stuck at work though, so no play for 2 weeks.

Hope it was worth the wait

 

Bought these long nets for this land also, but they've already came in handy for other permissions, don't know how i ferreted without them ....Still came out in scratches and nettle stings though

 

 

Nice read and pics mate and you got a few

 

Cheers. As long as it wasn't for nothing and the ferrets get a meat feed, im happy. But even better when there isnt a dull moment, good fun!

 

 

Nice write up Grey, Hope to get a few tomorrow........

 

Good luck! Look forward to the write up

 

[GreyRake 108]

Caught another five today on the same land. Third warren took ages, rabbits were giving the ferrets the run around and towards the end we were too quick to run at them as they bolted and this resulted in us spooking them back down the hole. Kits a ditzy wee jill but still plays her part I suppose, once shes bolted a rabbit and finds out where we have it theres no chance of her going to ground again until shes cooled off.

 

Robin was back again to clean up the worms, must have been the same one, very tame.

[hw100ferret 2]

did you find a lot off the rabbits wasn't bolting into the net straight away but up and down the hedge , I just invested in some stop/gate nets should help . great right up . well done

[GreyRake 108]

A mix of things, often they hopped out the hole and just sat listening/looking around then went back in the same or another hole. Some general hole hopping but they never travelled far above ground. We should have put more purse nets down looking back.

 

Stop nets are great at intervals in the hedge. But after getting my long/stop nets I thought it would mean I wouldn't need to purse net much/anything anymore but I was wrong. In future I'll still be purse netting most of what I can as well as long netting it.

Edited November 26, 2013 by GreyRake

[GreyRake 108]

Scouted another hedge out the weekend before, completely covered in holes. Don't know why the farmer didn't point me in that direction on the first day, I guess he didn't want to put me off as theres an old fence inside the hedge with a new fence on each side Looked challenging but I was sure we would catch a few.

Did my best to decide where one warren ended and another would start. We did three big set ups during the day, about forty yards of hedge in each go. Long nets either side and twenty purse nets on the holes we could reach. Because of the three fences we couldn't get the stop nets through so we put card at either end of out sections to stop them running past our boundaries. One bolted from a hole beside the card and pushed past it without even thinking. Another was running towards the card from far back and the sight must have spooked him, he changed direction into the long net outside the hedge. So ill take from that It can work but Its best to have it far enough away from holes the rabbit sees it early.

 

Had good luck overall, the rabbits were bolting from the holes we purse netted mostly with only two making it into the long nets. At one point we were about to pack up when i noticed the a draw cord pulled tightly down a hole, pulled out another rabbit which must have been sitting in there a while But ended with ten and theres still at least one more set up to be done on that hedge before I tick it off.

 

 

 

 

[markja 51]

some nice ground you have got there bud

[NEWKID 27,152]

Well done mate looks nice hedges there, a little tip that may help is to save netting lots of holes, put large purse nets in the runs in the hedge, cut off there runs and you'll catch we'll also if you have rabbits running the hedge bottom and not out into the long net, try zig zagging the long net so it cuts off the run along the hedge...it'll save you buying gate nets for a while anyway..

 

Great write ups and pics mate, keep at em..

[Jamie m 668]

Top stuff need to get at em hard myself over Xmas new year .

[123 it bolts 2]

Excellent write up and a cracking bit of sport atb