First trip out

[beany01 223]

Well I thought I would dust off the gear and have a go Friday morning. The local golf course gives me an extra couple of months ferreting, as everywhere else is still horrendous with growth. Thursday night, I checked all the collars and mad sure everything was working fine. 

I decided to just take my two older Jill’s, as it would only be a short session. I have had a good look round over the summer, as they had most of the gorse dig out by a jcb,  so most of the usual warrens had disappeared. So I walked half a mile to a good looking Warren I spied in the summer.  The long net was soon around it, and the ferrets down. Over the next 10 mins, 3 bunnies popped their heads into the Longnets and were quickly dispatched. Before picking out the bits of gorse from the longnet, I had a quick look over a ridge, and could see a few bunnies had dug out the old warrens and were laying in the sun. The net was soon back in the basket, and it only took a few minutes to get to the far ridge. Well the warrens here were a good size, so I’m glad I brought plenty of longnet, I just wish I had brought more ferrets. I didn’t have enough longnet to do the lot, so the west end was soon covered with the 200 yards I had with me. There was 170 yards around the external, with 3 x 10 yarders in the middle to divide it up a little. There were roughly 4 warrens, so with only two ferrets, I worked each one at a time. The first warren wasn’t that big, only 5/6 holes, but produced 4 rabbits pretty quickly, but the middle two warrens that were close together, had around a dozen holes each didn’t produce a thing, which I though was strange, maybe they were just getting the run around. Well after 20 mins, they were soon out, but the youngest Jill minus its collar! Well they were soon both back in the box, and search for the collar then started! On this sandy golf course, it’s common for the pipes to be 12ft deep, and regularly go off the mk3 at 16ft, so this could be interesting! Luckily, I soon found the collar at 5 ft, so the digging commenced! This sand is so loose, it had to be a good sized hole, but I was happy to get the collar back in my hand! 

Well back to the jills, I put the collar back on and it was a little loose, she wasn’t quite up to her usual winter weight, but there wasn’t anymore holes left. I then got another collar from the bag that I usually use for my small jills, and this wasn’t coming off! I then put both ferrets back in the last Warren, and soon three more bunnies were quickly dispatched. Well now was then fun part of picking up 200 yards of longnet full of twigs and bits of gorse, but it’s part and parcel of the job. I then had 10 rabbits in the bag, so I decided to head back towards the car park, and save the other side of the ridge for another day, with more ferrets. 

Halfway back, there was a four holer under a patch of gorse, not huge and 50 yards of longnet soon covered it. In went the ferret, and one bunny came out in a few minutes. I then got right near the club house, and put the nets out one more time, the Warren didn’t look that active, but I thought a few bunnies hanging off the barrow where there was a fair few golfers looked good for business, as it gets them talking over a few pints! So no surprise, but there was nothing at home! 

As I walked back to the car, a few golfers gave me the thumbs up, and said good job etc. I then text the groundskeeper to tell him what I had, which he asks me to do, and he was happy. So only a 3 hour session, and a good walk topped up the freezer nicely. I will never get numbers like they do up north, but 11 is a nice number for around here. 

Next time I go up there, I will bring 5 ferrets to clear out that whole ridge properly! 

After gutting and skinning them, I found a .177 pellet in the back of one rabbit. I know they let all and sundry shoot here, I have even tried with the nv and air rifle, but because they have been shot at so many times, you can’t get anywhere near them! That explains the pellet in the back, a long range shot decided on excitement and not brains! 

[fred90 3,201]

Good write up and great early season session. 11 would be a bumper day for me as best you do around me is ones and twos but still enjoyable. 

Edited September 8, 2019 by fred90

[smithie 2,443]

9 minutes ago, fred90 said:

Good write up and great early season session. 11 would be a bumper day for me as best you do around me is ones and twos but still enjoyable. 

Will be a slow season for you..

[beany01 223]

28 minutes ago, fred90 said:

Good write up and great early season session. 11 would be a bumper day for me as best you do around me is ones and twos but still enjoyable. 

Thats hard going. I know its not all about numbers, but I couldnt feed my ferrets with that amount. Hopefully they will pick up in numbers sooner rather than later

[fred90 3,201]

13 minutes ago, beany01 said:

Thats hard going. I know its not all about numbers, but I couldnt feed my ferrets with that amount. Hopefully they will pick up in numbers sooner rather than later

it's been like it a few years. I just carry half a dozen nets single Jill inside coat, turn in where dog marks it's mooching more than anything.