Rabbits Not Bolting

[bribri988 141]

Due to other work commitments I have only been out a hand full of times this season but how are people getting on with bolters I have noticed this year alone I have had to dig every single rabbit haven't had a single Bolter my warrens arnt open fields there bramble banks and brick pits and just genral rubbish for a good run for the dogs thanks guys

[RTurlough 160]

Have you went out when it's windy or have you someone with you coughing, banging their feet?

 

Maybe your ferret is too good this year and has caught the jist of running in and hanging on to one? But even then you should get another bolting.

 

Frig, this would wreck my head if I had to dig to a ferret everytime when out!

[The one 8,474]

No been a bad year but i think you need to work on your field craft , only other option your rabbits are getting ferreted every other week and have seen ferrets before

[RTurlough 160]

If you hunt with anyone that is talking while walking up to holes, thudding their feet, coughing, smoking or doing anything that is not being a ninja round the rabbit holes.......give them a clip round the ear! This includes leaving the ferret box on top of the warren while setting nets (keep it a good 50yds away) and if you have a spade or spit don't be striking it into the earth once you get to holes you are about to start netting. Set everything down gently, tiptoe, get your nets set, open the box really quietly and put the ferret down. Once is an accident, twice is coincidence and third time is the alarm. An old infantry saying.

Edited February 6, 2017 by RTurlough

[bribri988 141]

Thanks for the advice lol ile take it all on board

[bribri988 141]

No been a bad year but i think you need to work on your field craft , only other option your rabbits are getting ferreted every other week and have seen ferrets before

Would that not make them dead if they had bumped into a other ferret lol??

[cantona 310]

Don't wish to be controversial but I think if they are going to bolt they will anyway regardless of noise, at the start of the season I was doing hedgerows that needed cutting back branches snapping and clearing debris, rabbits still bolted, some had to be dug, snuck up to a burrow downwind no nets dropped ferrets in stood back with lurchers and ended up digging last weekend,

[rabbit demon 302]

I was on a new permission that my mate got a few weeks ago. My good jill got a swelt eye from rabbits that were refusing to bolt and i hate to admit it but she struggled to clear the 2 or 3 holers as the bunnies would rather face her and put up a fight than do one. At one point 3 ferrets were working and still not shiftìng them. Every hole we done was a dig of at least 5 foot. We would get the odd bolt but they were hard got. Funny enough all the rabbits i dug to were the bucks. The odd rabbit that did bolt were doe rabbits. Seemingly the place is full of buzzards and that could have been making them so reluctant to bolt. We were bolting to a harris hawk so it was drop the ferret in and stand way back. We did notice that a couple rabbits that did decide to bolt ran up the fence line and zig zagged through the fence when the hawk was about to strike and lost the hawk as if they had practice. We got some rabbits but we worked hard to get them. I thought maybe it could have been the time of year and the bucks were taking the ferret on to protect his does.

[trigger2 3,141]

Don't wish to be controversial but I think if they are going to bolt they will anyway regardless of noise, at the start of the season I was doing hedgerows that needed cutting back branches snapping and clearing debris, rabbits still bolted, some had to be dug, snuck up to a burrow downwind no nets dropped ferrets in stood back with lurchers and ended up digging last weekend,

i tend to agree with you cantona. i also like a light breeze as i tend to think that theses dead still frosty noises alert the rabbits to your presence easier. been out on meny a dead still morning and had rabbits bolt whilst putting the nets on before the ferret has gone down.

 

i done a fare bit of digging saturday to a hob ferret i got off vin but i know when he goes in they either get the fcuk out of there straight away or he kills them quick.

[coneykenny 98]

I'm all for been super quiet when setting up ,but yes this year ive found theyd rather die below than bolt.yet theres another mate of mine and his buddies shoot to his ferreting .now you cant get more frightening than that !

[RTurlough 160]

Young in the holes, rabbits would be more reluctant to bolt then. I bolted and caught a fox on Saturday, posted it up. First ever!

[The one 8,474]

 

No been a bad year but i think you need to work on your field craft , only other option your rabbits are getting ferreted every other week and have seen ferrets before

 

Would that not make them dead if they had bumped into a other ferret lol??

Nope at the start of last year we took over a permission full of big old burrows that was getting poached every other week you would ferret a fifty hole burrow and pick up four nets folk had left on the burrow ,nearly every rabbit had to be dug out don't know why but I think it was guys no putting enough ferrets in and the rabbits just gave them the run around or no going deep enough , we went up and put in one ferret for every ten holes then if it got slow put a few more in we soon had a few rabbits

[northern lad 2,292]

Most of our permissions we have to clear handfuls of brash etc to get a net on plus snapping many branches etc imo it makes no difference making a noise on top of a warren.We bolted rabbits as the Cheshire Hunt rode past us,including a couple of quads up front,many times on one of our bigger farms the owner rides over to us on his quad or his L200 and stands and chats with us whilst the engine is running literally within a couple of feet from bolting bunnies.....Heard all the different stories,wont bolt in wind,wont bolt in heavy rain and neither stand up to scrutiny,I smoke and natter sometimes whilst netting up and it doesn't make the slightest difference tbh.Some days they will bolt,some days they wont,I,ve yet to find a pattern....The one thing I would agree with is re recently ferreted rabbits,the survivors don't want to bolt.

[terryd 8,409]

I think its pot luck. Impossible with my hedges to not make a nose and the rabbit knows dam well things are not looking good and you can even hear them thumping at times. Some times they even slip out before I get the nets down

I do find as the season ends and they start to breed in earnest they then start sticking and that is my que to pack up

[Arry 21,719]

It's a east wind we don't like an old saying (When the wind is in the East the rabbit's bolt the least) also heard it applied to fishing. Also found some times especially with hobs and large gills in their third year they start to kill more, I think maybe they get smarter and a bit heavier so can hold the rabbits back. Tuesday they would not bolt, same ground we have been doing for about three week with no problems. There was a strong North Easterly but really no difference and we were using long net and run nets instead of cutting in.

 

Cheers Arry