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Should be fun!


Scully
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They look fantastic, Scully.

Looking at them bring back some memories. I bred and worked my own line of polecats and whites for well over 20 years and bred quite a few litters keeping the line going. My children were young then, and they would climb into 'ferretropolis' (the shed which I had converted as a ferret sanctuary) and curl up with them. Wonderful times.

Nothing like ferreting with nets and bolting rabbits with the shotty, that rumbling underfoot certainly gets the heart racing but sadly the lack of 'Bunters' and time pressures eventually made me let the line go.  

@old'un "Hear, hear!"

They will be some fun them Scully, socialize them well. A good working ferret is worth it's weight in gold, and you will be hard to come by one. Do you remember the ads in Exchange and Mart in the late 70's-80's? Ferrets would be two a penny at breeding time and people could not give them away, but come the early winter the 'wanted' section would be stuffed with wanted working ferret ads. Put in the work yourself, and they will repay you a million times over.

I have been held up by my legs and lowered into a dark space coming face 2 face with my ferret when on a stop end and would happily put my arm down at shoulder length such was my bond with them.

The pic below is from the early 80s and that is me ferreting rats along an old ditch with my terrier and a sturdy hob. Ahh, those were the days!

Had several occasions over the years when a rat has run up me arm making a very 'expeditious exit' from a warm rabbit warren, making me move very quickly. 

20210602_144202_opt.jpg

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5 hours ago, old'un said:

Used to love working my ferrets, great fun on a still frosty morning when a rabbit hits the net, hope you have plenty fun days with them, do you have many rabbits in your area?

Thankyou indeed old’un.

Yes, we have oodles of rabbits in the Eden Valley, and it can be hard work getting round to each place at times to be honest. 
Most farms are ok, except those which have caravan or campsites, and for these the usual plan is to hit them hard out of the tourist season.

It’s a tad warm for ferrets at the moment as you’ll know, but these will be ready for the cooler weather at the back end and onwards hopefully. 👍

 

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5 hours ago, 7daysinaweek said:

They look fantastic, Scully.

Looking at them bring back some memories. I bred and worked my own line of polecats and whites for well over 20 years and bred quite a few litters keeping the line going. My children were young then, and they would climb into 'ferretropolis' (the shed which I had converted as a ferret sanctuary) and curl up with them. Wonderful times.

Nothing like ferreting with nets and bolting rabbits with the shotty, that rumbling underfoot certainly gets the heart racing but sadly the lack of 'Bunters' and time pressures eventually made me let the line go.  

@old'un "Hear, hear!"

They will be some fun them Scully, socialize them well. A good working ferret is worth it's weight in gold, and you will be hard to come by one. Do you remember the ads in Exchange and Mart in the late 70's-80's? Ferrets would be two a penny at breeding time and people could not give them away, but come the early winter the 'wanted' section would be stuffed with wanted working ferret ads. Put in the work yourself, and they will repay you a million times over.

I have been held up by my legs and lowered into a dark space coming face 2 face with my ferret when on a stop end and would happily put my arm down at shoulder length such was my bond with them.

The pic below is from the early 80s and that is me ferreting rats along an old ditch with my terrier and a sturdy hob. Ahh, those were the days!

Had several occasions over the years when a rat has run up me arm making a very 'expeditious exit' from a warm rabbit warren, making me move very quickly. 

20210602_144202_opt.jpg

😀Youre a braver man than me! I hate shoving my arm down a hole! I’ll do it, but very reluctantly and only as a last resort! An old ferreting mate couldn’t wait to start digging and shoving his arm into a stop! 
When the kids were very young I had over 20 ferrets at one time, running around in a court in the back garden, they used to get one each and get on the trampoline with them! Talk about bog brush tails; poor things must have been terrified! 😀I can’t recall the E& M ads to be honest, but I often gave kits away to local kids, which used to annoy some Mothers, their reasoning being that their kids couldn’t afford them! 😀

I totally agree about bolting bunnies to guns, it really is a buzz and we will do it at every opportunity. A couple of mates and me had a very productive few weekends at it earlier in the year, and farmer was well chuffed. 
Cheers, will look after them. 👍

 

 

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2 minutes ago, 7daysinaweek said:

Bloomin Heck!

More than 20, that must have been a handful. Sounds like you got plenty of experience.

All the best with them and post up your forays.

Ha! Yeah it was, too many, ( a lot of poop to clean up! )and I couldn’t keep them all for long, so ended up giving most of them away. 
I had two Hobs and two Jill’s, and both had eight kits each, all of which surprisingly survived! OH wasn’t too happy ( the kids were ecstatic!😂) so they had to go. 
Thankyou. Will do. 🙂👍

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've said it a few times now , but , using a ferret to bolt rabbits to the gun , is some of the best shooting  you'll ever get 👍.

I miss the days when my lad was young , and we'd head off with the ferrets , on a frosty morning. 

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Thankyou. It will be good not to have to be dependant on others, and being able to go whenever I want and not only when others can do it. 
It’s a bit annoying and embarrassing to have to continually have to call landowners because I’ve been let down again!  Now and again is fine, but it grew to be a regular occurrence, so am looking forward to having my own. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

image.jpeg.a9610df2e20d012a1e798a1a8538c751.jpegBrother and sister having a wrestle! Not the two I was expecting ( they died apparently ) but these two will do fine and are settling in nicely. Loads of kids wanting to play with them so should be well and truly handled! 🙂

Just a couple of hammocks to make, or one big one, then build an extension for playtime! 😀

Edited by Scully
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