A little look out.

[Scully]

Had a little look out this morning to a field a farmer plans to sow with barley at the month end. I’d seen a few holes whilst dog walking; a couple of maybes and a couple of definites, although one of the latter I would have to rule out as it’s also a badger sett. 
Anyway, helping hand was a no show which meant it was going to be a bit difficult to ferret on my own, but I said I’d do it so there you go. 
Took five nets, my self loader, a pocket full of SIPE 32grm 5’s, a hob and a jill. It’s less than a mile away so no big deal logistically. 
It was encouraging to see a rabbit sat out enjoying the morning sun when I got there, which turned a maybe into a definite, and it scuttled down its hole as I neared. 
Cleared some debris around the hole and jammed a stone down a hole as best I could by reaching through to the others side of the fence/hedge, and laid a net out on my side over a second, all the time knowing if anything bolted it would do so on the opposite side of the hedge, because Sod’s law is **** law. 
I lifted the net and encouraged the hob on his way, picked up the Benelli……and waited. Then waited a bit more. Then up he popped licking his lips and showing a few streaks of blood in his fur. It was extremely windy and with my ear plugs in all I can hear is the wind blowing over them, so hasn’t heard any thumping, squeals or whatever, but obviously there’d been contact. He managed to get through the net without disturbing it, and repeated it as he went back for more! I like this hob; he’s a grafter and knows what his job is. 🙂

I got back on guard and almost missed the rabbit as it erupted from the hole on the other side of the hedge as predicted, and it took off through a field of fodder beet. I moved to a gap in the hedge and fired a shot and the rabbit disappeared from view. I was pretty sure I’d nailed it but not 100%, but had to wait for the hob to show lest others bolted also. He soon turned up looking quite excited, so I called him and boxed him after clearing his claws, found a gap in the hedge I could climb the fence and did a search in the beet. I was heading back to the hedge, annoyed with myself and disappointed, when I spotted it some way further uphill. It wasn’t milky thankfully, but a pregnant doe all the same. After gutting it I picked up all my gear and headed off to a definite. 
This was going to be awkward as there was a single hole as far as could tell, just out of reach through the fence on the top of a tall hedgerow at least six foot above a single track tarmac lane in the opposite side to me, lightly used by traffic but often used by dog walkers, myself included. 
I laid the rabbit on the ground and let both ferrets sniff about it, ensuring neither snaffled anything and sloped off with it, then hung it in the hedge to cool, picked up the jill to pop her in the hole but she refused to go, meanwhile the job had already disappeared into the hedge but not where the hole was. 
I boxed her and got ready with the gun  and shortly there was a blur through the hedge and I quickly moved in that direction hoping it would appear on my side of the fence….it didn’t. When I caught sight of it, it was bolting across another field on the other side of the road and even though it was a long shot I took it and saw it faulter before stumbling on. I fired again but wasn’t sure whether I’d hit it or not, and it disappeared over the lip of a steep banking about 50 yards away. Anyhow, waited for hob to show, and waited and waited. Nothing doing. It got to the stage where I reckoned he’d killed underground, so walked to the gate, across the lane and across the field, and lo and behold there lay a nice half grown rabbit! 🙂Chuffed! 
I tried to introduce the jill to the hole after what seemed a long wait, hoping she would distract him and they would surface, but she wouldn’t commit, so boxed her. After another long wait I decided he was asleep, so packed up, took jill home then returned and placed the box as near the hole as I could get it, planning to leave it there in the hope he’d eventually return to it and just keep checking it. I took the two rabbits to a friend who wanted some, which took about 20 minutes then returned to find the box still empty. I jumped up and down a few times as near the hole as I could, and up he popped! He came to me and was boxed. It was only when I saw the struggle he had to climb from the hole that I realised why the jill wouldn’t commit; the entrance to the hole was vertical. 
Anyhow, had had enough for now; only two hard fought rabbits to show for a couple of hours, but went home with a big smile on my face. 

No two days are ever the same. 🙂

[wisdom]

Great write up.

I used to love days like that.

[islandgun]

Hard won and worth it

[mossy835]

very nice right up, glad you had a nice day well done.

[Scully]

19 minutes ago, wisdom said:

Great write up.

I used to love days like that.

Thankyou. Yeah, me too. Many moons ago this was what most of my shooting consisted of, but raising a family, work, mates doing the same, differing priorities and it’s easy to get out of it. 
It’s only this last years or so I’ve got back into with ferrets of my own, and it’s something I intend to do more of. 
Left it a bit late this season admittedly, but as usual, getting others to commit is a pain, so I’ll just press on on my Tod. 

9 minutes ago, islandgun said:

Hard won and worth it

Definitely. 🙂Thanks. 

1 minute ago, mossy835 said:

very nice right up, glad you had a nice day well done.

Thankyou. It was good to be out. 

[Walker570]

Don't have chance to do a lot of ferreting these days but nothing beats it. Always enjoyed open holes no nets and shoot, great sport.

[mel b3]

Cracking write up scully .

I miss working ferrets , and using them to bolt rabbits to the gun , is the finest of fieldsports 👍.

[Scully]

2 minutes ago, mel b3 said:

Cracking write up scully .

I miss working ferrets , and using them to bolt rabbits to the gun , is the finest of fieldsports 👍.

Thankyou. 

[Newbie to this]

Have to agree a great read, glad your ferret was found safe and sound.

[London Best]

Well done, Scully.  
Exciting stuff, ferreting. 
Nice write up.

[Scully]

15 minutes ago, Newbie to this said:

Have to agree a great read, glad your ferret was found safe and sound.

Thankyou. 

 

10 minutes ago, London Best said:

Well done, Scully.  
Exciting stuff, ferreting. 
Nice write up.

Thankyou. 

[marsh man]

As per usual Scully , a cracking write up and worthy of a mention in P W dispatches 

Like all forms of field sports there is a lot more to it than meets the eye , I have never been into ferreting but to be any good at it you have got to know what you are doing and be prepared for some hard work .

Not exactly anything to do with ferreting but I did used a electronic collar with the detector , we had a overflow drain pipe that ran across a meadow and ended up into a pond , it was far to long to rod it in one go and we wanted to put a roding eye half way across the field , so we tapped the collar to just behind the wheel on the drain rod and with the help of the bleeper we traced it across the field after joining well over 20 rods together , when we were more or less half way we dug down below the bleeper and low and behold we contacted the pipe , we then cut a segment out and fixed a roding eye with a short length of pipe up to the surface so we could then rod the whole length when we got a blockage , not conventional but it sorted the job out and made life easier.

[Scully]

36 minutes ago, marsh man said:

As per usual Scully , a cracking write up and worthy of a mention in P W dispatches 

Like all forms of field sports there is a lot more to it than meets the eye , I have never been into ferreting but to be any good at it you have got to know what you are doing and be prepared for some hard work .

Not exactly anything to do with ferreting but I did used a electronic collar with the detector , we had a overflow drain pipe that ran across a meadow and ended up into a pond , it was far to long to rod it in one go and we wanted to put a roding eye half way across the field , so we tapped the collar to just behind the wheel on the drain rod and with the help of the bleeper we traced it across the field after joining well over 20 rods together , when we were more or less half way we dug down below the bleeper and low and behold we contacted the pipe , we then cut a segment out and fixed a roding eye with a short length of pipe up to the surface so we could then rod the whole length when we got a blockage , not conventional but it sorted the job out and made life easier.

Thanks MM. A mate who I used to ferret a lot with ( it was he who got me into it ) had all the gear, and his locator was one of the first Deben made ( worth a Bob or two nowadays I believe ) which was a good bit of kit. 
I’m too old and too lazy for digging nowadays though ( and for spending too much time getting my knees wet ) so most of my ferreting includes guns rather than nets, and it would have been impossible to dig where I was today anyhow. 
I’d rather bolt them to guns anyhow as it’s a real buzz. 
Pleased you enjoyed the write up. 
 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Scully

[Dave-G]

I've never done any ferreting but felt drawn in enough to read the whole post. Very well done on the interesting detail. 

[Loki]

Hi

Thank you for sharing your labour - nice read and brought back my own memories........

L

Edited March 20, 2022 by Loki

[Scully]

1 hour ago, Dave-G said:

I've never done any ferreting but felt drawn in enough to read the whole post. Very well done on the interesting detail. 

Thankyou, pleased you enjoyed it. If you ever get the chance, go. 👍

1 hour ago, Loki said:

Hi

Thank you for sharing your labour - nice read and brought back my own memories........

L

Thankyou. 👍