First time ferreting

[Mark_mjs93 164]

Today I was lucky enough (and daft enough to do it before a night shift) to go ferreting for the first time. Never been out and done this before so I was ultra keen to get out and learn as much as I could. Rabid  kindly showed me how to set nets properly and explained the various things to remember. We took his 2 ferrets out with us, they’ve not been worked before so I was told not to expect too much from them. I was just excited to try, didn’t mind if we didn’t get anything. The holes Rabid originally wanted to run the ferrets through turned out to be a little to foxy for the ferrets so a rethink was in order. We headed over to some other holes That seemed likely and set the nets over all the holes we could see. Of course in the time it took me to set 1, Rob had the rest set and ready to rock but I was expecting this haha. I felt honoured to get to put the ferret in first especially seen as they’re still so young and new to things. I sent her in and then we waited, and waited, and waited, just like fishing. Then Rob pointed to the ferret poking its head out of a hole and a so moved to get her he motioned for me to stop and told me a rabbit was sitting in the tunnel staring out of the hole at him. It hadn’t bolted yet and quickly disappeared back into the tunnel. A few seconds later all hell broke loose, sort of like fishing, and the first rabbit was in the net. I was shocked and buzzing at the same time. I was told to get a new net for the hole and was then shown how to properly neck a rabbit. This was an odd experience as it’s not something I’ve had to do up to now, it’s kind of nerve wracking the first time and then I won’t lie, it was sitting kind of weird with me, I guess because it’s a very personal thing and it’s not like shooting where you pull a trigger and x amount of yards away something dies so it was a bit of a wave of different emotions. Thrilled we had got one, unsure how I felt about the necking process and I guess a bit guilty. HOWEVER, the overwhelming emotion was determination to do it all over again. 

 

We walked up the field and found another couple of holes. Only very inconspicuous and only spotted one of them thanks to Bruno the dog who drew my attention to it in a load of tree roots. We set some nets, slipped the ferret in... nothing. She didn’t come back up. She was down there for ages, we sent the second in to see if she would flush the first in when we hear it going down underground. I looked into the hole and saw a Rabbit looking right at me. I told Rob who Told me to shift so it would bolt, which was a fair point. A few seconds later put it bolts and I was on it. I got the net up, rabbit out and did the deed. It didn’t bother me nearly as much although Rob gave me some advice and an education tale of why to make sure you properly neck em. I legged it and then we got back to work. The first ferret was still nowhere to be seen so we had to start digging. As we got down lower and lower we ended up coming across the ferret in full fight with a rabbit. The rabbit was looking a bit worse for where... it looked like it had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. I was handed it by Rob and without even thinking I looked at it and said ‘oo, sorry mate’ then I did the deed. I suddenly heard ‘did you just say sorry to A f***ing rabbit’ and it was this point I realised I’d have been better rolling in another cow pat, I would have had the odd taken out of me as much ?

 

we worked our way through another hedge to no avail and then onto another set of holes. So far we had 3 rabbits. The ferrets were working hard, if a little boisterous, but they are young so that was to be expected. We set up at some new holes and netted them up. Slipped the ferret in and afternno more than 30 seconds a rabbit bolted right at my feet. I hoisted the net up and tried to get a hold of him, he was squirming like mad and suddenly he manages to slip the net. I dived through the air to catch it and shouted ‘noooo’ but it was long gone! He had the taste of freedom on his lips and he wasn’t looking back! 

As I jumped through the air I heard ‘you’re not supposed to f***ing drop em’ from behind me, but I had no time to feel sorry for myself as one of the other holes had gone and a rabbit was in the net. This one was NOT getting away. After sorting that one out and resetting the nets I noticed Rob had another rabbit in the net and we were trying for one last rabbit. We knew it’s holed up in there and we were waiting for it. The ferrets were down there for a while but luckily we didn’t need to dig them or this time.  On the other side of bushes and trees we heard a kerfuffle and Rob was round there and promptly came back with a good sized rabbit. 

 

We went on to try a ray a couple more holes and despite one rabbit that managed to find an un-netted hole and made no hesitation in gettting the hell out of dodge. (No doubt I was probably the one I’d dropped earlier too haha). We decided to call it a day as I had work so we wrapped up at 6 rabbits. 

 

However, I had an awesome time and learned a hell of a lot. I was filthy dirty, caked in mud, scratched to hell (thanks to the ferrets and to the bushes, thorns and brambles) I’m covered in stinging nettle stings and burns... and I would have it no other way! I absolutely freaking love it! 

 

To Rabid I say thankyou for sharing your knowledge and time and thanks for taking me out and showing me the ropes! I loved every second of it, even when it started snowing. 

 

Cheers all. 

Smithy 

[ollieollie 766]

Hooked

[Rabid 1,936]

All things considered it wasn't a bad couple of hours, I wasn't expecting much from the few we done so was a nice result.

They didn't really bolt that well, and too late in the season for me normally, but seen as we was out it made sense to try a few holes.

For new stinkers they did real well, and the first time out for the dog, we were up against it from the start.

You did good even though you never laid in a cow pat or got nipped ? It's not very often a gh gets let loose on his own side of a set, take it as a compliment, just don't drop the f***ing things.??

your name is now bfm,  butter fingers mark ?

[Mark_mjs93 164]

15 minutes ago, Rabid said:

All things considered it wasn't a bad couple of hours, I wasn't expecting much from the few we done so was a nice result.

They didn't really bolt that well, and too late in the season for me normally, but seen as we was out it made sense to try a few holes.

For new stinkers they did real well, and the first time out for the dog, we were up against it from the start.

You did good even though you never laid in a cow pat or got nipped ? It's not very often a gh gets let loose on his own side of a set, take it as a compliment, just don't drop the f***ing things.??

your name is now bfm,  butter fingers mark ?

It was good fun and as I said, very informative. Cheers for letting me get involved. I appreciate the fact you let me get hands on from the get go. So many people wouldn’t let newbies get so involved so quickly, but it was nice to be able to get hands on and do a bit of everything. And I do take it as a compliment. It was definitely a bit daunting but again, thoroughly enjoyed myself! 

[Rabid 1,936]

13 minutes ago, Mark_mjs93 said:

It was good fun and as I said, very informative. Cheers for letting me get involved. I appreciate the fact you let me get hands on from the get go. So many people wouldn’t let newbies get so involved so quickly, but it was nice to be able to get hands on and do a bit of everything. And I do take it as a compliment. It was definitely a bit daunting but again, thoroughly enjoyed myself! 

Best way to learn is get stuck in, you make a few mistakes, so what, no big deal, and you will learn from them quicker by making them.

one thing I learnt many years ago, you never stop learning, no matter how much you do or know, you never know it all.

 

ps, we all drop the odd one now and then, leaves a few to breed for next season ?

[Sirblessed 2,511]

Fantastic read. Well done, and thanks for sharing!

[Aussie Whip 4,092]

I remember as a kid breaking the neck of my first ferreted rabbit,sort of like your first root,you never forget.40 years later still doing both but never as memorable.Good hunting for the future,good to see young blokes getting into ferreting.

[s.e.s.k.u 1,893]

Great stuff ??

[The one 8,467]

Nice read mate , it contagious  you will be getting more ferrets and gear now 

[Blackdog92 2,047]

Great stuff, was a good write up ?. 

 

Keep at it.

[max abell 196]

Nice post mate your now hooked like the rest of us!!

loved it from the 1st time I went whilst bunking off school I might add to the present day 39 yrs later it's a great way to enjoy a few hours out

[Arry 21,550]

Well done Mark very nice in depth write up mate. Nice to see a youngster going out no youngster's are interested here. Well done to Rabid for taking you and sharing his knowledge i've a sneaky feeling he enjoyed it as much as you. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Arry

[Mark_mjs93 164]

13 hours ago, Arry said:

Well done Mark very nice in depth write up mate. Nice to see a youngster going out no youngster's are interested here. Well done to Rabid for taking you and sharing his knowledge i've a sneaky feeling he enjoyed it as much as you. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Arry

Cheers Arry, 

definitely enjoyed it. I would love to introduce to my nephews when they are little older and get them into the country sports scene as I never had anyone to do it for me. Definitely hooked. Thoroughly enjoyed myself!  Thanks to everyone for your comments! 

[Rabid 1,936]

On 13/02/2018 at 08:40, Arry said:

Well done Mark very nice in depth write up mate. Nice to see a youngster going out no youngster's are interested here. Well done to Rabid for taking you and sharing his knowledge i've a sneaky feeling he enjoyed it as much as you. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers Arry

You bet your backside I enjoyed it, I have a lot of love for working ferrets, and generally been out amongst it all, mark is a pleasure to be around, nice lad who isn't afraid to get stuck in, and he learns quick, so yeah, it was a pleasure, and a few unexpected bunnies to boot.

[Mark_mjs93 164]

30 minutes ago, Rabid said:

You bet your backside I enjoyed it, I have a lot of love for working ferrets, and generally been out amongst it all, mark is a pleasure to be around, nice lad who isn't afraid to get stuck in, and he learns quick, so yeah, it was a pleasure, and a few unexpected bunnies to boot.

Cheers dude, means a lot