****** Ferret Locators

[FERRETBOY]

I think this topic has been discussed on the forum before,more than once!.My opinion for what its worth is whatever works for you and your happy with it then stick to it.I personaly dont use locaters although i have in the past,i dont have a problem with other people using them like i said if you feel confident with them so be it,but it all come down to in my experience anyway that correct handling and training will be more effective than any locators.The key to it is make your ferts want to be with you through regular handling and training and just been with them,pipe training is ideal way to make your ferts come back on call and a good tool to use on young stock to give confidence.Yes i have waited on the top of warrens more times than i care to remember,but i have always come back with what i set out with, like a lot of country sports patience is the name of the game.

Andy

[Ferret Master]

I agree with Alex. I only know the bloodline of one of my jills as 2 are rescue ferrets and the sandy who's bloodline I know of had a monster of a polecat as a father and a small albino as the mother which were both workers. She has been slow starting as she was just playing at first however she has become alot more game lately and serious about her work and bolted a rabbit on Saturday in a tricky hedgerow warren. She is from prime working stock but was slow starting. My other 2 ferrets which are rescues are quite good. One of them is quite nervous though as she was obviously treated appaulingly in a previous home and was eventually found dumped in a small box half starved with other ferrets outside West Hatch animal shelter. For the first year that we had her she was a nervous wreck who was scared of lots of things including men. :( Me and my brother have managed to give her lots more confidence through play and I took her ferreting last season when I thought she was confident enough to come to hand without skulking. I was wrong. She was game on the rabbits but would skulk in the entrance of the holes and back skuttle if anyone tried picking her up. This season we were worried about working her as we were worried she would skulk but she had become even more confident since then and was regularly playing with people of all sizes when she was in the house so we thought this season would be better. We were right, she no longer skulks and bolted a rabbit on Saturday however the ferreters had missed a leaf filled bolt hole in the thickest part of the hedge... My other poley, Grace is also a rescue ferret. She is very confident and we never had any problems with her as she is a real softy... unless you are a rabbit or a cat. Mum was concerned about me working her as she was worried that sweet little Grace was too pretty for ferreting (these words were said as Grace cuddled down and went to sleep on her) and that she might get her little pink nose dirty. :unsure: On her first ferreting trip she got 4 rabbits and another escaped from the net just before Dad got there. I imagine she was from a working background as she was found wandering around in a pub beer garden and had probably been given up on as she does lay up occasionally. On Saturday Dad was exlaiming that she was too soft for ferreting moments before a rabbit tried bolting by his feet and she dragged it back under and killed it.

 

I think that this shows that no matter where a ferret comes from; given time it will make a good worker. Unless it is a seriously inbred show ferret bred entirely for looks and that has lost many normal features. Very few are like this.

 

FM

[wambamboo]

Slightly off subject ,I lost the screw cap and batteries on the collar the weekend :unsure:

 

 

Does anyone sell spares ??

[tiercel]

Slightly off subject ,I lost the screw cap and batteries on the collar the weekend :unsure:

 

 

Does anyone sell spares ??

 

With that my Lord, I rest my case

 

Tiercel

[henry d]

Slightly off subject ,I lost the screw cap and batteries on the collar the weekend :unsure:

 

 

Does anyone sell spares ??

Did you tape them down ?

[Cranfield]

Slightly off subject ,I lost the screw cap and batteries on the collar the weekend :unsure:

 

 

Does anyone sell spares ??

 

Deben do.

Its always best to tape them down, with a turn of insulating tape.

[old rooster]

Funny old world innit ;-)). Seems this one is building up a good head of steam. Few abstract thoughts on ferrets past and present. I've lost two ferrets in the field; one badly maimed by a fox in a bury you'd never have thought big enough for one to crawl down, the other was what I refer to as a "hedge hunter". That is one that comes out of a bury and is off like a greyhound for the next bury. He was given to me by someone who had found him left on his doorstep in a cardboard box in the knowledge that he kept ferrets. Stayed till dark looking fo him and left a box overnight to see if he turned up. No luck but that isn't too bad a score in well over 30 years of ferreting IMHO.

 

I've used locators for years but you don't always have to dig to them. Often useful to put a ferret down with a collar on to find one that has laid up, you'll sometimes get both back by rattling a dead rabbit in the mouth of the nearest hole to where the locator says they are. Sometimes you just have to face up to a dig, it's part of ferreting if you go at it for long enough. Use a good narrow spade or "chad" and fill it in behind you when you've done, shouldn't cause too much damage and by the time you return next season the rabbits will have sorted it out again, unless you've wiped out the lot (very unlikely).

 

I'm not in favour of going over the same ground several times in a season, if somebody else ferrets the ground I'm not interested in following them a month later unless they've done a cr*p job and the farmer has called us in to do a good un.

[tosspot]

 

Deben do.

Its always best to tape them down, with a turn of insulating tape.

 

 

 

this is good advice