Jordan 1 Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Well got a text message on thursday from Philg inviting me out ferreting on saturday i jumped at the chance as we always have a laugh and its better than being stuck indoors. Arrived at phil's about 8:30am to find he had loaded up the truck the night before so it was a case of grabbing the ferrets and away we went. Phil had gone out with the lamp and qaud on wendsday night and counted between 50-70 bunnies sitting in the one field. The land we were on is a big plum orchard. we arrived an after a cup of tea and a fag we headed off we were due to have another two lads meet up with us. So we moved down the hedge and started to net up the first burrow about 8 or 9 holes right along the side of a road. First burrow of the day.... The dogs were marking well so we knew we were in. Halfway through netting up a car stopped and an old boy got out to see what we were doing. Turned out he had ferreted the land two weeks earlier with a mate of his and had 50 rabbits in one day After he had gone I was told to subtract 40 rabbits from the total and that would be nearer the actual bag Anyway as we had finished netting Rich and ken the two we were expecting turned up so the whole gang was there now. Entered the ferret and stood back. Rich got abit worried when i got the digi camera out and started snapping away. Quick hide your face its the paparatzi..... After Rich had been assured i wasnt going to send his details to LACS things settled down It wasnt long before a rabbit bolted into a net it was swiftly dispatched and the hole renetted. After 20 minutes without any activity we spotted the ferret further down the hedge we hadnt realised that the small burrow we were doing linked up to hundreds of holes further down. We decided to cut our losses and pick up the nets and ferret and move away from the road over to the other side of the orchard. I think Phil plans to longnet the roadside hedge one night soon and clear them that way. Cant see the ferret lads...... I think its over here..... Anyway loaded up the fourtrak and drove over to the other side straight away i could see these burrows would be easier than the roadside ones mainly because the entire area had been stripped of bramble and any other nasty items which might snag the purse nets or longnets. The first burrow we did in the gully was about 15-20 holes we decided just to longnet it and see what happened as it was two bolted. One escaped through a narrow gap in the nets and the other provided a good run for Phils cattle dog x whippet x greyhound but unfortunately made it to safety. Longnets set and ready.... I left Phil, Rich and Ken to try another burrow while i went and did one with just the purse nets. I netted up all of the holes i could probably about 20 or so and went and got the one ferret that was left in the box. Entered it into the bottom of the bank and waited. After probably what was about 15 minutes i felt bumping then the ferret came up and started showing at all the holes. I realised that the rabbits were just giving one ferret the run around so picked it up left the nets down and headed over to where the others were. Theyd had a couple of rabbits which ahd bolted into the longnets i waited till they had finished then got them to come over to the burrow which i was working earlier. Part of the burrow.... We entered two ferrets this time and stood back and waited after 10 or 20 minutes there had been no sign of activity so out came the knocker box. We got a double reading at about a foot. Dug down removed the ferrets and retrieved a rabbit from the stop end. I couldnt believe there was only one in this burrow so i entered a jill into a hole which fills collie x grey had been marking. Phil and Rich wandered off to do some more burrows while myself and Ken waited and finished the one we were on. After alot of effort i finally got a mark 3 foot down under a hedge. Started digging the first foot or so was nice easy going then i hit a few roots the progress was slow and steady. Phil then came over asking for the spade when he saw i hadnt broke through yet he took over and dug about another inch then broke through. He went off and left me with the open tunnel so i reached down and felt the back end of a rabbit pulled it out much to the relief of Ken who was starting to doubt there was a rabbit there. Dispatched the rabbit and had another check and yes there was another one pulled that out and knecked that one as well. I didnt think there would be another but i was proved wrong as i removed bunny number 3 from the stop end. Me and ken picked up the nets and wandered over to see how Phil and Rich were doing we arrived to find they hadnt had a single bunnie yet. Next thing i knew rich was shouting for help so i picked up a net bag and headed towards the burrow. The reason he had shouted was a rabbit had tried to bolt then stopped and eyeballed him from inside the hole Help what do i do... Well we netted up and got the rabbit from this burrow after a bit of work. Moved further along and once again set out the longnets and relied on them. It is a joy to see a rabbit running full pelt with a dog on its tail then hit a well set longnet. Come on Phil aint got all day.... I think we ended up with 3 or 4 from here i cant remember exactly. While Rich and Phil covered the main burrow and Ken sat in the car to get warm I once again wandered off with some purse nets and ferret to do some smaller burrows. There was a nice little 3 holer which produced one rabbit. I moved further along and found a nice 5 holer under some scrap metal. Netted it up but unfortunately nothing was there. Waste of time.... After we had finished the main bank we found 2 trees with about 20-25 holes around them. Once again we opted just to use the long nets to save time. We got a few more from this burrow. Unfortunately no pictures as we were to busy taking the piss Well Rich and Ken had to head off home leaving me and phil to do one last burrow. The last burrow of the day.... Now this burrow puzzled us the ferrets were down for about 20 minutes and we couldnt get a steady reading. Was very strange that we couldnt find anything in the end we just picked up and called it a day we had a decent sized bag anyway. I dont get this.... Time for home..... Took an end picture when we got back to Phils was a great days sport and brilliant company. Decent bag.... ImgFree.net - Hosting Images Almost forgot im sure phil will explain about the rabbit he "killed" which then proceeded to get up 10 minutes later and run off Quote Link to post
Nipper 0 Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Nice one! I also remember one time when a mate had killed a rabbit and put it in the bag, only for it to make me jump later on when I went to put another one in...... Quote Link to post
philg 0 Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 :whistle: Well about that rabbit. All I can say is at least the dogs managed to catch 1 today!!!!!! I'm going to have to sell them feckers and get some proper lurchers Fair play mate it was a reall laugh today just a pity you have to stretch the truth with the black cat story Absolute pleasure to have you come along mate what a pity about that old boy though bet he's well pissed now Dont fecking lye to me you arm chair hunter should have been my reply but I felt sorry for him to be honest Having to bullshit to make himself look better In my book you are what you are and no fecking amount of lyeing is going to change that See you soon mate. Quote Link to post
Jordan 1 Posted January 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 was a great day out mate if you decide to do that long netting one weekend give us a shout mate. By the way when you next speak to rich tell him its ok its not going to be a cold winter there was hardly any fat in the rabbits Quote Link to post
philg 0 Posted January 7, 2006 Report Share Posted January 7, 2006 Can you see how aggresive and unstable the kelpie x looks What a load of crap It's what you put into a dog that makes it what it is half these dreamers are just buyers and sellers(Arthur Daleys of the dog world) Quote Link to post
IanB 0 Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 Good going Jordo Quote Link to post
Vermin Dropper 2 Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 nice bag jordan, looks like you had cracking day out mate, just thought........it's a good job you had a locator with you ay, Quote Link to post
Vermin Dropper 2 Posted January 8, 2006 Report Share Posted January 8, 2006 Oh Yes, I'm just suprised I got it in first, Quote Link to post
dodger 2,761 Posted January 9, 2006 Report Share Posted January 9, 2006 sounds like a good day Quote Link to post
dodger 2,761 Posted January 9, 2006 Report Share Posted January 9, 2006 good stuff Quote Link to post
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