New ferrets, new to ferreting, a few questions for the experts.

[joeshaw08]

I had been thinking of buying a couple of ferrets for a while and after a brilliant days Hawking on New Years eve, I finally decided to go for it. I bought the ferrets, a jill and a hob from Steve, the man in charge of the days hawking so I knew they would be from a good stock. They are settled in to there double decker pad with plenty of straw. (I am getting the Hob snipped). He has a good 40 or so years of ferreting experience behind him, and he swears by never using collars or ferret finders. And in all these years he has never lost a ferret! After doing some research before buying them I thought that the 'ferret finders' were an essential piece of kit, but he has told me not to bother...he does this for a living so I will take his word for it, but i'll be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about sending my new ferrets down a warren with no way of finding out where they are! Any of you out there also not bother with them?

 

So, I have only been ferreting once, but of course we used Hawks and no nets. I have bought 10 Bisly purse nets and pegs from Ebay to get me started (nylon, hemp is far too expensive!). We plan to get them started on some small warrens, with the gun for any that may escape. I understand that if the ferret is down there still, then she will still be working. I will keep them fed as I've been told that starving them could result in lay ups and not being able to resist a free meal. But how long should I give it before I start panicking that she hasn't come up yet. I know if I had a collar I could locate her, and start the dig, but I don't have one.

 

Also, we trap and kill grey squirrels at the country park I work at, so I thought it would be a good idea to take some home as ferret food. Do they like squirrel, does anybody use them as food for ferrets? I gut them first mind, as I've read that you shouldn't feed your ferrets nuts, just to be safe.

 

The big day out is one day this weekend, I would appriciate ANY advice on the above topics, and tips to make the day go as smoothly as possible.

 

Thanks, Joe

[Bleeh]

I had been thinking of buying a couple of ferrets for a while and after a brilliant days Hawking on New Years eve, I finally decided to go for it. I bought the ferrets, a jill and a hob from Steve, the man in charge of the days hawking so I knew they would be from a good stock. They are settled in to there double decker pad with plenty of straw. (I am getting the Hob snipped). He has a good 40 or so years of ferreting experience behind him, and he swears by never using collars or ferret finders. And in all these years he has never lost a ferret! After doing some research before buying them I thought that the 'ferret finders' were an essential piece of kit, but he has told me not to bother...he does this for a living so I will take his word for it, but i'll be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about sending my new ferrets down a warren with no way of finding out where they are! Any of you out there also not bother with them?

 

So, I have only been ferreting once, but of course we used Hawks and no nets. I have bought 10 Bisly purse nets and pegs from Ebay to get me started (nylon, hemp is far too expensive!). We plan to get them started on some small warrens, with the gun for any that may escape. I understand that if the ferret is down there still, then she will still be working. I will keep them fed as I've been told that starving them could result in lay ups and not being able to resist a free meal. But how long should I give it before I start panicking that she hasn't come up yet. I know if I had a collar I could locate her, and start the dig, but I don't have one.

 

Also, we trap and kill grey squirrels at the country park I work at, so I thought it would be a good idea to take some home as ferret food. Do they like squirrel, does anybody use them as food for ferrets? I gut them first mind, as I've read that you shouldn't feed your ferrets nuts, just to be safe.

 

The big day out is one day this weekend, I would appriciate ANY advice on the above topics, and tips to make the day go as smoothly as possible.

 

Thanks, Joe

 

 

 

Ferret Collars: Apart from the obvious of knowing where a ferret is to dig, one of the less thought about bonuses of a ferret collar is quiet simply, you know the ferret is down there!. - When you a working heavy covered sets, and you don't end up seeing your ferret for 40 mintues, you start to worry about the possibility that he managed to escape, and is wondering about somewhere, a ferret finder/collar takes so much worry of your mind it's unmentionable. By all means It is acceptable to work ferrets without collars, but it's a less stressfull experiance to do so.

 

Shooting: Shooting over ferrets is common practice, and good sport. But, it is dangerous, to you, and to the ferrets. Proper care has to be taken not to get over excited and shoot a rabbit sitting at the entrace of a hole about to bolt, (As there is a fair chance a ferret will be behind it) and even more so with proper positioning of the guns who are shooting. Every Close encouter with stupid shots I have ever had has been with ferreting - the most dangerous being when you can't see each other (As in working two sides of a hedgerow), and one of you changes position without informing the other. I can't stress enough that planning on where you are standing has to be taken before entering the ferrets, and good comunication kept throughout.

 

Nets: You bought the most rubbish nets avaiable - sorry. You'll find that those light nets will tangle like you won't believe, they pick up anything from leaves to twigs lying on the floor and are a massive pain in the ****. You'll need to splash out and get some heavy nylon (10z is my personal choice) or some hemp (even better, but have to be dried out not to be rot). If, by some ungodly chance you are only working on grass (like some lucky **** in Yorkshire do) then light nets are better choice, but anywhere else you'll want something heavier, Furthermore you'll start to find that 10 nets is not nearly enough, you'll end up collecting around 50+ for single warrens (Big warrens with 200+ holes are not uncommon)

 

Feeding: My ferrets have been fed tons of stuff, just thrown in whole, including : Pheasants, Partridges (Both English and french, I used rear alot, and any dead'uns of mashed up ones from shoot days my ferrets would get), Pidgeons, Collared doves, squirrels, venison, rabbits. With feeding ferrets, they will really feed themselves, just toss something in and they are pretty good at eating the ideal amount. What I do most ferreting days is put a can of wet cat food in a bowl before working. (They prephere to eat this than something with skin on, and the eat more quicker) and that normaly does them. Lay-ups don't nessercarly mean that they are eating underground, as it is commmon for them to of trapped a rabbit, but not able to kill it, so they won't leave it be.

 

 

Any other questions, just ask.

[Ferretertom]

I agree with above ^ squirell mine like alot but as long as theres no way its ate poisen like one i gutted had, just aswell that wasnt ferrets food!

Locaters i wouldnt work mine with out.

Lay ups/kills can be prevented by being fed before a day out howether if theyve over eaten they may well go to sleep down the warren anyway.

[VERMIN CONTROL]

I agree with the above,

However i Would not work a ferret without a locator just my opionion

As said be cautious when shooting bolting rabbits from warrens , I have seen on occasions a ferret latched onto the backside of a big buck

[stubby]

everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but mine is, always use a locator, Im sorry but I have too much respect for my ferts, I wouldent want one trapped down a stop end or wandering off into the undergrowth,

 

good luck to someone saying they have never lost one, so they are not needed, and they know best

its a good thing we dont use that excuse in everything

like, Ive never had a car crash, Ive been driving 29yrs, so I wont bother with car insurance

[rabbit]

Hi mate,

I went rabbiting for years with out locators,you just get to no with time and experience how your ferrets work,

but now i wouldnt go out with out it,it makes life a lot les stresful.

as for feeding,try dryed food and trimed flesh make sure theres no spent shot in the meet,and feed them the night before

you go out,take some food and water with you if it is going to be a long day.

A healthy ferret is a good ferret,(you cant beat them)

hope you have lots of good luk.

keep your powder dry.

[joeshaw08]

I worked them on Saturday, tried a few warrens but nothing showed! I was suprised as with this cold weather we're having I expected everything to be underground. No idea where they were hiding. The ferrets came up with no problems, but no clues to whether anything were down there. The jill started doing this funny dance when she popped out of the holes, I'm guessing this was just because she was excitable?! It was funny though. I will get finders eventually, but there are so expensive! Poor mans sport? I don't agree with that!!

[Ferretertom]

If the ferrets havent worked before they will need a bit of experiance before they bolt rabbits young ferrets cdont always bolt rabbits straight away.