How to tell a good ferret

[Dan Newcombe 58]

Really stupid question but .....

 

How do you all tell how good your ferrets are at the job.

Happy to admit that other than ferreting when we were kids with vicious little horrors we have recently got back into the game and have a really nice pair of hobs - friendly as you could ever ask for and seem to work away just fine.

I was just wondering how you guys judge the quality of a working ferret and how good a job they are doing.

Our two go to ground well, stay down and we have decent success bolting to guns mainly BUT we rarely have to dig to them and although i have seen them kill rabbits that have gone back down a hole and they have come out with fur in their claws ive not had to dig to a body many times. 

They do pop up a bit initially but will then go back to ground when you approach (seems that this is usually a reflection that there is something there and you often get a bolt after.

Im wondering if we are not being quick enough to get the locator out and they are coming away from rabbits in stop ends, they haven't come out with blood all over them so im not convinced they are killing underground.

To be fair to them we have killed a good number of rabbits over the last winter in forestry compartments and they have done a decent job but I'm just wondering if we might have done it a bit quicker if a) the ferrets were better (and I'm trying to figure out if that's the case) or b) we were quicker with the locator - we have tended to give them a chance to do their work before getting involved, maybe 15/20 minutes before we start looking.

Any thoughts appreciated, we are happy with them so far with what they have done but going forward we are going to get a couple more to keep ourselves stocked up and able to do the job and i want to make sure we are improving rather than getting average stuff. I suspect that we have decent but not world beating stuff.

Thanks
Dan 

 

[Busher100 739]

Some like a ferret that will kill and stay with them so you can dig them out I only keep ferrets that will bolt them and if they won't bolt kill them and move on 

[fred90 3,210]

it's a bit like do you prefer blondes or brunettes. like busher 100 I require ferrets to bolt rabbits or leave them and move on. to some they see this as rabbits missed. I see it as left for another day. other people require ferrets to back up and stay till dug to. like dogs it comes down to the individual. you don't need to be quicker with the locator give them time to bolt that's the ferrets job. I would say your ferrets are doing fine. 

Edited April 11, 2019 by fred90

[TOMO 26,100]

if the ferrets coming up with fur in its claws....and provided a rabbit hasn't just bolted you will be leaving a few to ground....

but like the guys above have said...its horses for courses...and there are loads of variables...no animals are perfect...some might come close from time to time ....but nothing is perfect....

I rate my two hobs very highly...one kills more than he bolts...the other bolts more than he kills....both will stay with a balled up rabbit they cant kill....but will eventualy come away sometimes this can be after just 10 mins....but usualy longer.....

but like I say nothing is infalable and provided your happy .theres no problem....but for me I would have that locator out quiker....if my dogs marked a hole...and my ferret aint bolted anything in 5 mins...ive got the carrot out for a quick look to see if its an easy dig....

[Bobtheferret 1,248]

I would be getting the locator out quicker personally, especially working hobs. It’s surprising how quick they kill a rabbit and how little blood they have on them when they’ve killed with a sharp bite to the back of the neck. One hob I own would’ve killed and moved on in 20 minutes no problem, I had to give him a few months off when he was younger as he had got to sharp and killed so quickly then just moved on. An impressive animal but not really what I wanted! He is a bit older and not so quick now and bolts a lot more. Sounds like your ferrets are doing just fine though, don’t overthink it be happy with what you’ve got  

[Dan Newcombe 58]

I am happy with how they are working and we have cleared quite a lot of ground but i just cant help but think in the back of my mind that we are leaving odd ones behind. I know that they cant get every single one every single time but i like to have good stuff so was trying to see how people judge them.

They are coming with fur in their claws but usually they have bolted stuff before hand BUT there have been times when something has 'hole hopped' and then we haven't seen it again so there is something being missed down there sometimes.

They are working probably 2/3 days a week so they are seeing work and they are getting the job done, I'm just not sure if we could be getting it done quicker/better and if there is something that we are doing / not doing that could improve things!

To be fair, id rather a bolter over a killer because the main bit we are working currently has a 3ft pan about 18 inches down and the warrens are all under the pan so digging is a pain but to get the job done id take either obviously.

I think that i will just have to try being a bit quicker on the locator and might well go back to nets a bit to see whats going on with the 'carrot' - problem being that there are very few rabbits about now following a winter of hitting them hard so its a bit of a double edged sword.

Thanks for the replies so far

  

 

 

Edited April 11, 2019 by Dan Newcombe

[Bobtheferret 1,248]

I have found sometimes that rabbits that have bolted and gone back suddenly disappear! Despite putting in fresh ferrets and trying other holes etc and have got pretty frustrated with it but it doesn’t happen often and I put it down to the rabbit going very deep to hide or maybe even digging itself in where it goes down a tunnel and then piles earth behind it so the ferret can't get to it, I have dug down to a ferret basically digging at earth which seemed quite loose and turned out there was a rabbit behind it! No idea how often it happens as generally you wouldn’t know but I am sure they do it...either that or my ferrets are crap!

[cantona 310]

Put a rabbit to ground last season , had hob and Jill with me  thought beet knot to put hob in as we will be digging, put Jill in and broke through to her 31/2 hours later,(concrete) she was still trying to kill the bunny!

[Aussie Whip 4,097]

12 hours ago, cantona said:

Put a rabbit to ground last season , had hob and Jill with me  thought beet knot to put hob in as we will be digging, put Jill in and broke through to her 31/2 hours later,(concrete) she was still trying to kill the bunny!

That's a good point,why not many dig here and why I prefer hobs that kill and move on.A lot better for pest control jobs imo.

[Dan Newcombe 58]

Agreed, ideally i would like to think that mine are doing this because that's what we are after, clear warrens but you just never know unless you manage to get a fix and dog to a dead rabbit that the ferret has been at and left.

Like i say, they seem to be doing a good job but i was wondering how people tend to decide how good a ferret is as once they are underground you struggle to know whats going on. 

Thanks

[Daniel cain 45,238]

1 hour ago, Dan Newcombe said:

Agreed, ideally i would like to think that mine are doing this because that's what we are after, clear warrens but you just never know unless you manage to get a fix and dog to a dead rabbit that the ferret has been at and left.

Like i say, they seem to be doing a good job but i was wondering how people tend to decide how good a ferret is as once they are underground you struggle to know whats going on. 

Thanks

I like them to stay with the rabbit until I've dug down and retrieved it....no matter how deep

[fred90 3,210]

9 minutes ago, Daniel cain said:

I like them to stay with the rabbit until I've dug down and retrieved it....no matter how deep

I believe British gas are looking for fine young men like you my friend. 

[Sirblessed 2,511]

I don’t use Bucks, shovels or locaters much, won’t keep or breed a ferret that stays with the kill, haven’t lost more than 4 ferrets in over 45 years and put away more in a year than anyone I know, so must be doing something right. Proof is always in the pudding.

It isn’t rocket science, a big buck will kill more underground and get stuck behind more than a Jill, each to their own but the digging game isn’t really an option here, so you learn fast to avoid it at all costs, yes a buck will kill them fast and move on ( If you keep a line with this trait. I do)  trouble with that is they have a tendency to drag them backward into stop ends and get caught behind them sometimes. I have tried both and found the way I do it now seems to be the most time efficient method for this country anyway, thats my two bobs worth a bit different here than UK, wish we had soft ground to ferret and run dogs on.

[Daniel cain 45,238]

2 hours ago, fred90 said:

I believe British gas are looking for fine young men like you my friend. 

lol,I work in utilities

[garbs 90]

Just my opinion but I can’t have ferrets that kill and sit on a dead rabbit I mostly hunt with gills cause most off my properties are either hard as rock or sandy warrens and I find my gills work better than my bucks and much like most Aus properties there’s little to no chance of digging them out unless you have a excavator near by as long as there bolting rabbits and not staying down to long seems to me like you’ve got some sound ferrets mate