Bolting To The Dogs

[TOMO 26,222]

Saturday morning sore me heading north to meet up with vin for a days bolting as usual,,,but we had two guests from the south,,,who we were meeting ,Mike and Phil ..

 

First let me discribe the weather,,,,atrocious ,,,wind that you couldn't stand up in,,and rain blowing sideways that got in to every stitch and seam in our clothing,,,a good night to be lamping but not a ferreting day...

 

The plan was to split up a bit,,,Phil went off on his own with his little merl bitch,,,vin went on his own,,with his two dogs and Mike tagged on with me ,,we had a dog each...Mike didn't have any ferrets and was keen to get his dog on a few rabbits above ground sat in hiding,,so after an hour with me,,he went for a wander round...

 

Considering the foul conditions,,,we were all getting in to the rabbits,,don't get me wrong I was digging a good few,,but the dogs were catching,,despite not being able to use there scences,,,rather than anticipating a bolt,,,the bolts were catching them off guard ,,usually resulting in a longer run,,cos of the ground they had to make up...

 

A few of the sets I did resulted in getting 5 and 6,,wich has been unusual for this year,,,just small numbers in most of our places,,,,two noticible catches Bonnie did was when rabbits went through a wall with Bonnie going over,,,this particular wall being almost 6 foot,,,with a foot of that stupid sheep netting on top,,,,a proper obstacle ,,,,mind she couldn't get back over with the rabbits cos of the wire...but not to worry...

 

We kept meeting up during the day,,whilst we were ferrying rabbits back to the motor,,,a quick chat,,and move back out

 

For the last hour me and Phil teamed up ,,,wich gave us a chance to watch each other's dogs work,,,,apart from being very difrent colours ,,,they could have been sisters,,,both exactly the same M.O...

 

Apart from the weather we had a cracking day with good company,,and a good laugh at times,,,especially when vin got his 4x4 stuck in a bog and Mike had to tow him out,,,

 

We ended the day on 79 rabbits,,all bolted to the dogs,,,no nets Jim ,,,lol,,,mind I say all bolted,,,a lot were dug out..cheers gents...pics on in a mo

 

 

 

Muggins here doing all the gutting,,lol

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by TOMO

[mad4it 694]

nice one tomo a great write up, sounds like you had a good day desprite the weather.

[gwalchmai4110 1,757]

sounds like a cracking day mate! you boys always make me jealous seeing you boys up there! but good on you

 

atb

[frankel 2,123]

Good day there lads. Well done

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

Just returned from a wee jaunt,..up North...

 

To say that the weather was bad,..would be an understatement....

I've been hunting the rabbits for many years,..but I've never ferreted in such a cold , relentless high wind...a face stinging, force of nature,..accompanied by constant icy rain....

For a pair of elderly soft Southerners,...it was emotional...

However,..it was great to be in the company of such determined and committed hunting men. Tomo and Vin realy do know their land, and are both (in my opinion)...at the top of their game.. Their dogs worked well and considering the howling gale force wind, that prevented them being able to predict a bolt,..they still managed some fabulous catches...

I apologize that there are no action photos,.but my ancient camera died a death,.. and quickly became waterlogged,.. it just gave up the ghost,...absolutely fecked,...and I do mean, proper fecked...!

 

Anyway,..we had a good few hours rabbit hunting and hopefully cemented, a long lasting friendship twixt fellow hunters......and for me,...that is what its all about..

 

All the best, Phil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tomo's Bonnie....

 

 

Vin's Dorris..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2016 by Phil Lloyd

[Trev70 5,185]

Well done men and dogs

[lurchers 2,836]

You cant beat the northern weather lads welldone

[nottzhunter08 898]

Well done guys looks a great day and worth being out in the weather for, sounds like dogs were on form

[neil cooney 10,416]

Good reading and photos there, nice.

[C.green 3,231]

Good stuff and some cracking photos fellas good way to end the season.

[Guest vin]

The weather was quite breezy down the bottom of the Dale when we went to pick Phil and Mike up... Mike was stood there with a big grin on his face saying " nice day for it chaps ". . I said I hope you've got a big coat and he came out with the classic line whilst stood there in his woolly jumper... " I'll be fine,I don't like to get too warm I overheat " .

He had his coat on as soon as he got out the truck up top,he even put his wax trousers on. . it was Bleak up there..at one point in the day he came over and did a few warrens with me and he said he hadn't felt the cold in his hands as much in his life and couldn't believe how strong the wind was blowing a big fella like him about.. All this from a man who works outside for living sort of tells you how rough it really was.

 

I brought 2 ferrets and Phil worked one of them.. So not bad going for a single ferret working warrens solo on both our teams.. they really are good grafters that don't mess about.

I had some great sport and not too much digging,unlike Tomo who seemed to be digging every time I saw him...heheeee

 

My old dog caught a couple of belters from under the young dogs nose and showed her that it really is age before beauty,,hehee. I got one little video clip that is so quick,it looks like the young blue bitch catches it,but when I slowed it down the old dog is the master strike like a snake dispatcher of death with a head shot.

 

Great day in the good company of gentlemen. .

[Flacko 1,747]

Well a great bit of sport and a good hospitality from Tomo & Vin dogs & ferrets all coming up to scratch a proper way to sign your season off, atb Flacko

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

Cracking read that. Nice one lads ??

[dytkos 17,801]

Great posts and pics lads, well done to all, two and four-legged

 

Cheers, D.

[trigger2 3,145]

great stuff lads. Tomo you must be slacking gutting the rabbits when you have vin there to do it for you