Crestliner has kindly repaired my ferret finder, my son is home from school for half term and there’s only one thing he wants to do, go ferreting.
That means after years of not going ferreting and loosing contacts I’ve got to find him some rabbits, not easy in these parts.First call was the chap who got me my first ferret some 45 years ago, he hasn’t enjoyed the best of health since he passed 75 but was very keen on the idea of taking me and my 11 year old on some of the spots we used to go to many years back.
First day out in the Yorkshire dales on land that used to be full of rabbits was almost void of life but my sons till now pet ferrets did bolt 4 big healthy rabbits all of which escaped due to the fact our mentor wanted my son to shoot them instead of netting the holes, each rabbit seemed to instinctively run between us so he couldn’t get a shot off. Two of us went home happy that we had a day out in the fresh air but my son was very disappointed and felt he was to blame for the lack of a good catch, we were very happy with him for not trying to take a risky shot and assured him they are there for another day.
Second day out. I had a ring round some local farmers but kept getting the same story, you’re welcome to come down and have a look but we haven’t seen many rabbits for ages. I decided to got to one of the farms I metal detecting on and have a walk along the side of a beck, no shortage of big warrens there but they were all quite obviously run by badgers, no good here but we did put up a big fox on the way back to the car.
Third day out. I went to another farm I detect on and tried walking up the side of beck, bingo a warren showing promise. I showed my son how to put nets down, put the collars on the ferrets, checked they were working and put the ferrets down the biggest hole. 5 minutes passed by and the Jill returned but no sign of the hob, we turned the locator on and found he was about 6 feet from the entrance at about 2 feet deep. I left the box on, nocking away on the ground above where he was for another 5 minutes but he wasn’t moving in the hole at all, I couldn’t believe It the ferret must have run the rabbit up just about the only blind hole there could be in a warren this size. Anyway we dug down and there he was with his kill looking very pleased with himself. We returned the ferret to the box and I showed my son how to clean a rabbit in the field and explained why I would prefer to do so. Before we left I stopped at the farm to speak to the farmer, he wast in so I asked his wife to ask him to ring me if he knew where there were any rabbits.
He rang this evening to say he had loads of rabbits on some other land I didn’t know about and they were making a right bl+++y mess of his hedge and there was a warren in the field causing him some concern as well. Guess where me and my boy are going tomorrow!
That means after years of not going ferreting and loosing contacts I’ve got to find him some rabbits, not easy in these parts.First call was the chap who got me my first ferret some 45 years ago, he hasn’t enjoyed the best of health since he passed 75 but was very keen on the idea of taking me and my 11 year old on some of the spots we used to go to many years back.
First day out in the Yorkshire dales on land that used to be full of rabbits was almost void of life but my sons till now pet ferrets did bolt 4 big healthy rabbits all of which escaped due to the fact our mentor wanted my son to shoot them instead of netting the holes, each rabbit seemed to instinctively run between us so he couldn’t get a shot off. Two of us went home happy that we had a day out in the fresh air but my son was very disappointed and felt he was to blame for the lack of a good catch, we were very happy with him for not trying to take a risky shot and assured him they are there for another day.
Second day out. I had a ring round some local farmers but kept getting the same story, you’re welcome to come down and have a look but we haven’t seen many rabbits for ages. I decided to got to one of the farms I metal detecting on and have a walk along the side of a beck, no shortage of big warrens there but they were all quite obviously run by badgers, no good here but we did put up a big fox on the way back to the car.
Third day out. I went to another farm I detect on and tried walking up the side of beck, bingo a warren showing promise. I showed my son how to put nets down, put the collars on the ferrets, checked they were working and put the ferrets down the biggest hole. 5 minutes passed by and the Jill returned but no sign of the hob, we turned the locator on and found he was about 6 feet from the entrance at about 2 feet deep. I left the box on, nocking away on the ground above where he was for another 5 minutes but he wasn’t moving in the hole at all, I couldn’t believe It the ferret must have run the rabbit up just about the only blind hole there could be in a warren this size. Anyway we dug down and there he was with his kill looking very pleased with himself. We returned the ferret to the box and I showed my son how to clean a rabbit in the field and explained why I would prefer to do so. Before we left I stopped at the farm to speak to the farmer, he wast in so I asked his wife to ask him to ring me if he knew where there were any rabbits.
He rang this evening to say he had loads of rabbits on some other land I didn’t know about and they were making a right bl+++y mess of his hedge and there was a warren in the field causing him some concern as well. Guess where me and my boy are going tomorrow!
