First Time Ferret!

[beany01 223]

Well after a day long netting with dogs and ferrets with Simon Whitehead, I had learned the basics, I thought I better give the two jills a go!

I had brought these two jills, mother and daughter 'pet' ferrets just over a month ago, they had never been worked, so it was a bit of a gamble, but hey ho, isnt everything? After buying all the gear, I thought it was time to use it!

After waking up to light sleet, I had a cuppa, and luckily the sleet eased off. Time to put the ferrets collars on. Well whatever I seem to do, the daughter always seems to get the bloody thing off in seconds, and this morning was no different! Not wanting to leave a nice new mk3m collar in the ground, the mother got put in the box, but the daughter was left in the hutch!

I got to the permission ten mins later, excited like a small kid. The box and game bag carrying all the essentials was soon over my shoulder, and off I trudged spade in hand! The first hedge row looked bleak apart from a couple of single holes. As it was my 1st time on my own (second time ever) and my ferrets first time, I thought I better take it easy and soon found a small, 4 holer. I soon put the purse nets down, and got a couple extra out of the bag as back up. The ferret box was opened, and she soon wanted to get out. I then carried her over to the first hole, lifted up the net, put her on the ground, two sniffs and she cautiously entered. The net was put back over the hole and the waiting game commenced. Around 5 mins later, a rabbit shot in to the net. After I dispatched it, and straightened the net, the ferret then poked its head out of the netting. Wondering how she would react, I stayed back, and after a little tussle, she soon eased herself through. I lifted her up, then placed her in another hole. After a few minutes, she surfaced again at another hole. She was then put down the final hole, and surfaced again a couple of minutes later. She had a little walk over to the rabbit and gave it a good ragging, while I picked up, then wrapped the nets and put back in the bag.

A couple of minute walk revealed a 12 holer, thinking maybe this is a little big for 1 beginner ferret, I questioned whether to put her down, but she had done well on her first try, so the nets were soon placed on the 9 open holes, but there were a further 3 under a large bush, which I had no chance of getting a net over, but the had to move through a small section to get to them, so I just hung the nets around the base of the bush, the edges of the net balanced on a few small twigs 12 inches off the floor. The ferret was soon entered, and she scurried off down the hole. Ten minutes later, I flicked on the locator, and she was 20 feet from where I had put her in, around 12 foot down. After another ten minutes had passed, a rabbit shot out from under the bush and wrapped up in the high flying purse net. It thrashed around a couple of times and disturbed the other 2 high flying nets, but was quickly dispatched. The nets were soon back in position again. She then came up 10ft further along, a few sniffs of fresh air, turned around and went back down. 20 minutes later, I still hadnt seen the ferret, so the locator was used and she was 10 foot in to the field, 8 foot down, but was moving. Another 10 minutes went by, she was back under the hedgerow. Nothing happened for a further 10 minutes, and she hadn't moved, so I went and got the spade. Luckily the locator said 4ft, but as I started to dig she had moved off. It was only a 3 foot dig, I soon found the tunnel with the probe, and broke through. I couln't see a rabbit, so stuck a small branch both ways. I wasn't sure if a felt something to one side, so soon put another hole in a foot to the right. Unfortunately I didn't find anything, but was worth a go. 20 mins later, the ferret popped its head up again covered with blood, there was obviously a kill. Ok, she didnt stay with it, but I'm glad she didn't, because in these deep sandy warrens, if she completely stayed with a kill, it would be dangerous to try and dig down some of the depths found. I popped her back in another hole, for one more go. Nothing bolted and she popped her head up. All the nets were then stowed away again, and I made the short walk to the end of the hedgerow. At the far end, there was mounds of sand at the front of the holes, and they were between 12" and 18" round. It was virtually pure sand. I could also see in to some of them 6 ft, and they were large. As a beginner, seeing 15 of these big holes, I questioned was this the work of a fox? There were lots of other normal, large rabbit holes a few feet above these in the mud, but I saw one hind foot print of a fox further along the hedgerow. I thought its not worth the hassle, I wouldnt have enough nets anyway, and one ferret would just get the run a round, which I believed happened in the last warren. I walked back along the hedgerow and found a 2 hole, and two singles. I put the ferret down these, she went down for 5-10 minutes and came up again. All the gear was put away and I trudged back to the car.

All in all, I learned a fair bit, I had never used a purse net or locator before, and this was the first time she had ever been worked, so I think she done well. So a nice little 2 1/2 hour jolly on a new bit of land ended up with 2 rabbits in the bag. I think I would have done better using the two ferrets on the 12 holer, so I will have to try again with keeping the collar on the other ferret.

Edited February 9, 2017 by beany01

[jok 3,211]

Well well. Nice one pal. Good intro and nicely described. Glad your ferret went for you and a couple is always better than a blank. Those big wide open earths are generally Brock so in my opinion you did right. Here's to the next one.Jok.

[beany01 223]

Cheers. I did also think could they have been a badger. There were a few scrapes that had defined claw marks. Shame, as there must be 30-40 rabbit holes just above and to the side of them.

[talt 878]

Well done mate. Sounds like the ferrets instincts kicked in. A good write up and i hope you have many more good days out with the stinkers.

[Sirblessed 2,511]

Enjoyed that. Well done A.T.B

[TOMO 26,035]

great stuff,,easy aint it,,,lol,,,somtimes the best way to learn is by your mistakes....wich you will make over the coming years,,i still do today after 37 years....

 

with regard to the getting the collar on,,,,,best way is to allready have the strap through the buckle,,,then put the ferrets head in,,,then tighten,,,,also make sure you have enough holes,,if its a slender jill you will have to make extra holes,,,and not as far apart as those fitted to a standard deben collar....

 

another good tip is once the ferrets head is in the collar,,,pinch the skin at the back of her head,,,like picking a terrier up by the scuff,,,,they become still when you do this and you can slide the collar down the neck a bit,,rather than it siting right behind the base of the scull,,,once you have slid it down,,tighten up,,i usualy make sure i can spin it round the ferrets neck afterwards

[The one 8,463]

Nice read mate and im glad you got value for your money and now feel able enough to give it a go yourself and with every outing your gaining more confidence

[beany01 223]

I'm gagging to go again! That small Jill is going to have that collar on even if I have to staple it there! It seems very tight, I can barely spin it, but the little sod gets if off in seconds

[Arry 21,393]

Nice write up mate. You've got it mate you used your instinct you new those large holes weren't right as Jok said sounds like Badgers. Try putting the collar on when she's not being worked leave her in her run with it on. As Tomo said try the collar close to her shoulders. Well done and happy hunting.

 

Cheers Arry

[stealthy1 3,964]

The first time is the hardest with a ferret that's not worn a collar before, but after it's first trip out, the ferrets will nearly put their own collars on.

[The one 8,463]

What we do is my son collars up the ferrets while i load the car they get a quick run about the garage floor to see they can still breathe then they got the journey to the permission to see if they can slip the collar off