I wuz robbed!!!!

[fishfish 17]

went out for a couple of hours this afternoon with matt the rat who lives no too far away from me,we took the ferrets out with us to work some hedgerow opposite my cottage.

we initially set our nets on a sub-warren,me with my scats cheapy purse nets and matt with his home made very posh hemp ones. we put the jills down the holes nd initially things were slow,then one nice doe bolted into a fine hemp net,well this got both me and the jills excited! with tails like bottle brushes they were popping up here and there,eagerly looking for more conie.then suddenly another bolted this time from an un netted hole,it shot off into the field and into another bury furthur down the field.after another 20 minutes another this time a big buck made a bid for freedom ,another hidden hole!

matt made quick work of the doe gutted it in seconds,it was hung on a tree branch to pick up later as we waned to proceed furthur down the field.

This is where things picked up a bit.the bank of what was untill 100 years ago the county boarder of wilts and somerset was well over grown but some of the work i did last year was still in evidence as some holed were easily accessed.within a few minutes we had netted up and in went the jills.almost streight away we could here activity below ground with conie thumping out their warning .and within a few minutes the jills had bolted 2 nice conie....out of holes without nets that we just couldnt get to! around this point Matt and i noticed some old dear walking her dog in the next field,she was shouting at her mutt,we thaught nothing of it and carried on.

After a short while we had bagged 3 mor conie ane of which was back netted,i was feeling well chuffed it had been a nice afternoons ferreting,so we packed up and made our way back to my cottage,en-route we stopped to pick up the other conie from its tree,and the bloody thing was gone!!!!!! just a tuft of blue hair on the stick where it had been!!! assuming the old womans dog had grabbed it we looked all around but with no sign of our hard got conie,the old girl had made off with our dinner!!

we were soon home and enjoyed a hot cup of tea,my 3 boys full of joy at the rabbits we braught home,busy pokeing them with sticks and screaching that they were alive!(they werent!)

Matt gave me some hemp twine and gave me an hours lesson on making nets,some thing i have realy enjoyed,i look forwards to making enough for my next foray into the field.

All in all a damn good afternoons sport,thanks matt.

[Matt 160]

went out for a couple of hours this afternoon with matt the rat who lives no too far away from me,we took the ferrets out with us to work some hedgerow opposite my cottage.

we initially set our nets on a sub-warren,me with my scats cheapy purse nets and matt with his home made very posh hemp ones. we put the jills down the holes nd initially things were slow,then one nice doe bolted into a fine hemp net,well this got both me and the jills excited! with tails like bottle brushes they were popping up here and there,eagerly looking for more conie.then suddenly another bolted this time from an un netted hole,it shot off into the field and into another bury furthur down the field.after another 20 minutes another this time a big buck made a bid for freedom ,another hidden hole!

matt made quick work of the doe gutted it in seconds,it was hung on a tree branch to pick up later as we waned to proceed furthur down the field.

This is where things picked up a bit.the bank of what was untill 100 years ago the county boarder of wilts and somerset was well over grown but some of the work i did last year was still in evidence as some holed were easily accessed.within a few minutes we had netted up and in went the jills.almost streight away we could here activity below ground with conie thumping out their warning .and within a few minutes the jills had bolted 2 nice conie....out of holes without nets that we just couldnt get to! around this point Matt and i noticed some old dear walking her dog in the next field,she was shouting at her mutt,we thaught nothing of it and carried on.

After a short while we had bagged 3 mor conie ane of which was back netted,i was feeling well chuffed it had been a nice afternoons ferreting,so we packed up and made our way back to my cottage,en-route we stopped to pick up the other conie from its tree,and the bloody thing was gone!!!!!! just a tuft of blue hair on the stick where it had been!!! assuming the old womans dog had grabbed it we looked all around but with no sign of our hard got conie,the old girl had made off with our dinner!!

we were soon home and enjoyed a hot cup of tea,my 3 boys full of joy at the rabbits we braught home,busy pokeing them with sticks and screaching that they were alive!(they werent!)

Matt gave me some hemp twine and gave me an hours lesson on making nets,some thing i have realy enjoyed,i look forwards to making enough for my next foray into the field.

All in all a damn good afternoons sport,thanks matt.

 

You are more than welcome mate!

 

A pleasant couple of hours, with pleasant company. I only wish I could have dragged meself out earlier, and we might have had some really good sport.

 

Has there ever been a poll on here on the favourite net material? Its been a long time since I did any serious ferretting, and I'd forgotten just how shitty those nylon nets are!

 

I rate the spun nylon for purse nets (the orange stuff). Its nice to knit, and doesn't tangle. The colour also helps old duffers like me to find the nets when picking up. I have to admit though, there's nothing like hemp to knit.

 

My old ferretting partner and I started out together at about 14 years of age; its suprising how quickly you learn to understand each other - we got to the stage where we didn't need to talk at all: we both knew exactly what the other was doing, and how they were doing it!

 

As I told fishfish yesterday; generally speaking, when it comes to ferretting, there are not right ways and wrong ways; just easy ways and hard ways! My methods work for me, but may not work for others. Thats the beauty of a forum like this.

 

Good sport. Regards to one and all, Matt