Setting Difficult Ground

[Joonsy 38]

Thought I would share an experience I once had. I was asked to catch up some rabbits from a field that presented problems, it had a very thin top layer of soil covering rubble and various waste from landfill/tip use which made normal pegging completely impossible, it was bordered by a road on one side and a housing estate on the other so though a drop net was feasible it would have clearly been seen so was at risk of theft or vandalism if left unattended. I came up with an alternative method. I had some tempered steel pegs made by a blacksmith, during daylight I smashed those steel pegs through the rubble with a hammer on the set to be netted, I then fixed a single line (old drawcord) along the top only of those pegs in exactly the same way as you fix a top line of a longnet in traditional style (if you can imagine just a line of pegs stuck in the ground with just a single cord running along the top of them, no net or anything just a single cord). I then left the area. I returned about midnight with nets to do the set with my partner. My partners job was to locate the first peg, remove that pre-set cord from the top of peg, then using that cord as a guide follow it to the next peg coiling it up as he went, he would then crouch by the second peg with his hand on the top of it and wait there. My job was to run out the nets, I placed the bottom line over the peg and then fixed the top line in exactly the same way as when setting a traditional net, and then proceeded to next peg. It was then just a matter of repeating our actions from peg to peg keeping close to each other until all nets were set, it was simple and quick. We set 200 yards. Off that first set we catched 58 rabbits and on a second set a few days later we catched another 34, so the tactic worked well. A couple of points, it is important to have in place a marker to easily find the first peg, all other pegs just follow on, steel pegs are potentially dangerous if you trip so take care and ensure you don’t. I don’t know if anyone else has tried this or what method others would have used. I have netted numerous hard ground sets that required some fidgeting about to get a peg in but this particular set was so difficult to peg normally it was unworkable. Just improvisation to enable setting a field what at first appeared un-nettable.

[Tiercel 6,986]

Good thinking robin, seriously though there is nearly alway a way if you think about it. The shortest drop I do is in a gateway on compacted hardcore I made a trammel to fit the gateway, then barred two holes 8" deep each side of the gateway. I usually do the drop about once maybe twice a year the hardest part is finding the first hole, never thought about sticking anything in it to make it easier to find The second hole is easy as the net will only stretch that far.

 

TC

[Joonsy 38]

yes those 'unusual' sets give you a certain satisfaction when you find a way round it and you are right there is very often a solution, perseverence is the greatest asset in a longnetters armoury, and perhaps observation is the second. I know of a tiny footbridge over a brook that very often produces a rabbit or two, i couldn't help trying it when i saw a rabbit run across it one day, it highlighted the importance of knowing 'where' to place the net.

[Tiercel 6,986]

More than half the work with using long net or stop nets is placement, get the placement right and you are almost home especially in the day. I see photos of people setting a hundred yard net along a hedge with big fields each side of the hedge and think to myself 'what a waist of effort' when a couple of 5 yard nets would have done a better job. No rabbit is going to run out into a open 20 acre plus field, and by a juditious placement of yourself you can direct the rabbit to run up the hedge into the waiting stop nets.

 

It's not rocket science just good old common sense. Take this field, the field is large at the bottom half of the hedge and narrows towards the top of the hedge. So the nets are set accordingly. bottom half the nets are 5 yard stop net set at 90 degrees to the hedge about every 40 or 50 yard intervals along the hedge.

 

 

If there is a gap in the hedge the take that oppertunity to place a net through the hedge.

 

 

Where the field narrows the rabbits are willing to make a dash over the open field so a net is strung along the hedge, although they will sill run the hedge aswell as going across the field.

 

 

TC

Edited February 4, 2014 by tiercel

[Mr Goodcat 69]

Nice bit of advice Joonsy, thanks! Mr Goodcat.