If This Dont Improve Going To Give It Up

[oakey 57]

Well off out tomorrow to have a hour on 6 or 7 holes where the farmer is going to dig a reservoir so if i dont take the few that are there they will be buried . The last few years if i look back on my posts all of the rabbits round here have gone i had hundreds of acres of permission that now doesn't have any rabbits on it . I said to my wife the other night that when my current ferrets die off i shant be replacing them . What as gone on we talk about it in the pub and the only thing that we can think of is that they have drown because all of my permission is in the vale of Evesham which is low land ?

[Hot Meat 3,109]

Take a drive up this way and on your way home accidentally drop the 50 live bunnys onto your permission whilst your checking a trap or Summat....

[The one 8,522]

Six and half a dozen here as well ground that had loads two years ago hardly see a rabbit , just over the road or next farm up is heaving , dont think i would restock as there no there for a reason disease , poaching etc

[Bosun11 537]

The glass ain't always half empty Oakey... Thing is, it's swings and roundabouts with some land, now if what you think is true then time will sort it and it will re-stock again naturally, flood plane land is usually good land, some of the best, rabbits and other grazers will gradually make their way back.

You could always do as HM says and speed up the process, or maybe you simply travel father afield to ferret, enough other folk have to.

Maybe you could simply adapt your style to suit your ground at the min, ferret specks you wouldn't normally bother with, which, if they are tough specks, makes one or two feel like a good bag.... Loads of options really..!!

Anyways, who am I to tell someone they should keep on going, because if your heart is really in it, you'll weather every storm...

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

True words...

 

I've lived through several decades of rabbit deprivation,.

often due to the ravages of myxy, constant night shooting, and plain old,...'lack of rabbits'....

I've lost my dogs, my ferrets,.and of late,.my physical strength....

But,..if your heart is in the game,.you just keep on,.keepin on....

Genuine rabbiters will always survive,...just like the rabbit....

Edited November 30, 2013 by Phil Lloyd

[thenetter 37]

Hi there, I think Phil lloyd has got it spot on.,The new generation of hunters are more

than likely to spend three or four hours with their rimmi, or 17hmr,getting 50 or more

rabbits,than spending all day ferreting for a dozen or so.[[alot less time and effort]].

It would be interesting to see if the terrier lads are finding the same.[[more lamping

foxes with their guns,instead of digging etc]]

[Mick C. 229]

Theres one or two hunters about who get even keener as the years roll on.

 

Numbers arnt that important to this type.Its all about the challenge of finding something for the pot.

 

The excitement of catching a single rabbit is still there after decades of good times in the field.

 

Mates, dogs , woman and rabbits have come and gone.

 

These types were born to hunt and will no doubt carry on in exactly the same way

[cookiemonsterandmerlin 145]

There is little that is pure a sport than ferreting like Phil says I have only hunted during the time that really rabbits have been increasing in numbers but in the july 2007 floods it all but wiped out the thames basin rabbit population .

 

For 5 years you would struggle to catch 6 or 7 2012/13 brought bags of 40/50 so its swings and roundabout its the same with pigeon shooting the mid 90s was peak in our area with slow decine over 10.15 years that peak will come around again.

 

But as with all hunting there is no gurantee bag which is what so alluring about it

 

Keep at Cookie

[Neal 1,874]

I'm in a similar position. I only have the one small piece of permission...it's never held a lot of rabbits but enough to keep myself and the dogs and ferrets happy. However, both my ferrets died at the tail end of last season and while umming and arring about replacements I discovered that the farms are due to be under concrete within the next couple of years so, for the time being, I've not replaced the ferrets.

[stealthy1 3,964]

Numbers don't bother me, I just like to see my team at work, some plagues I get phone calls about amount to one, but others may be proper plagues of 5 or more What are you going to do with all your spare time if you pack up?

[Jamie m 668]

I'm in a similar position. I only have the one small piece of permission...it's never held a lot of rabbits but enough to keep myself and the dogs and ferrets happy. However, both my ferrets died at the tail end of last season and while umming and arring about replacements I discovered that the farms are due to be under concrete within the next couple of years so, for the time being, I've not replaced the ferrets.

Jeez that is bad . The country sides shrinking . To many folk being let in still . They said on the news half the new planned houses are for people who aren't even in the country yet ,

[The one 8,522]

The same happened to me all my permissions round the door where bought up and 60,000 houses built on them but all the farmers got that good money they bought bigger farms and i still get to do the shooting so dont give in and never give up hope

[oakey 57]

The glass ain't always half empty Oakey... Thing is, it's swings and roundabouts with some land, now if what you think is true then time will sort it and it will re-stock again naturally, flood plane land is usually good land, some of the best, rabbits and other grazers will gradually make their way back.

You could always do as HM says and speed up the process, or maybe you simply travel father afield to ferret, enough other folk have to.

Maybe you could simply adapt your style to suit your ground at the min, ferret specks you wouldn't normally bother with, which, if they are tough specks, makes one or two feel like a good bag.... Loads of options really..!!

Anyways, who am I to tell someone they should keep on going, because if your heart is really in it, you'll weather every storm...

Not going to give up altogether just the ferreting the longnets and the gun and of course the lurcher in my avatar will always be with me . I was dead keen on shooting pheasant but now i couldnt careless if i never shot another pheasant

[The one 8,522]

Its up to you but apart from the ferrets the rest as my old man says dont eat a piece put them buy and when it picks up in a year or so you will have the gear to start again , get rid of them and its going to cost a fortune to kit yourself out again

[Neal 1,874]

I've still got places within walking distance which hold the occasional rabbit etc but, as I don't have permission on them, I'll put off getting any more ferrets unless things pick up...I'm still planning a replacement for the old kelpie in the spring though!