Post by lorelei0922 on Sept 7, 2008 12:09:28 GMT -5
Hi everyone! I added the warning to this post JUST in case someone finds dead rabbits a bit icky or offensive.. its the last thing i want to do... but i thought some of you might be interested in our UK pursuits with ferrets... Ferrets doing what ferrets were Bred to do! Naturally... Providing themselves and us with good organic, free range food!
"Traditionally" Ferreting season started in September... and the rule of thumb is any month with an R in it!
The idea being that the frosty mornings would kill back some of the cover and make rabbit holes accessible once more and the rabbit breeding season should be near the end, meaning less chance of a layup because a ferret found a nice nest of babies for a snack or a mean, protective mum underground to give it a hard time. This isn't always the case anymore withthe weather changing.. we've had no frost and the breeding season seems to stretch out all year now.. so you just have to pick the right places and be careful!
Well we decided to get out this morning to a field with a cleared hedge that we have permission on down in Cornwall. So we were up with the sun and had the ferrets in their cages and into the car with all the trappings of a ferreters day out...
When we arrived at the field we found the gate padlocked.. VERY strange ... never had been before... Not really a problem but meant we would have to lug everything across the field ....lol... we could always cut the distance by half by driving through the field before
No problem though we got the ferrets settled a bit away from the hedge so that they wouldn't make too much noise and got to work. I have a neat little game bag that fits over my shoulder that i keep my share of the nets in. We keep them folded up and wrapped in their cord with the peg attached. It makes them easier for me to pull them out and unroll a neatly done net ready to cover the holes.
So we work down the hedge about 30 feet covering about 20 holes on each side of the hedge at a time and get the girls out to start on a small 3 hole warren. We put saffie down first and let Bella follow as it is her very first time out loose without a lead.. into a hedge ...
So down they go, Saffie had that look in her eye... she remembered what this was about... down into the dark, damp rabbit hole, following odd scents that she now associates with DINNER!!! about a minute later out she pops... sighs.. INTO the net... Tangling it all around her locator.. UGG... quickly followed by Bella into the next net...again... tangling the locator in the net... grr... Any tips for avoiding THAT one are appriciated lol
Didn't seem to be anyone at home .. we entered the ferrets a couple times but each time they just had a nose about and out they came.. hmms.... ok...
So we moved down the hedge a bit to the next set. And In go the ferrets, twisting and turning under ground here and there.... a nose pokes out now and then but back under they go looking.. searching... they KNOW there is something down there... and WHIEEEST!!! Out pops a rabbit into the net, unfortunately another was on his tail and climbed over his budding in the net to get away!quickly followed by Bella.. well done lil girl.. not bad for 18 weeks!! Rabbit is quickly dispatched by Hubby and the ferret re entered... we waited around another 20 - 30 min with the ferrets both making an appearance now and then.. but nothing else was bolting from that set.
Here's Bella and Saffie havin a sniff over the rabbit they bolted together. We like to let them have a good go at it .. kinda a reward/re enforcement of what we're doing out here!
the Next set was another small one, but it has a big open cavity under a huge tree, so we put the girls back and got Sage out. He's pretty good at shifting stubborn rabbits in a bigger underground area.
We gave him a good sniff of the rabbit that was caught and he got all wiggly lol.. raring to go he was.. Down he went and got to work! within a few minutes a Rabbit bolted!!! INTO..... Ermmm well it wasn't a net LOL... invariably a hole or two gets missed and this time well... that was a lucky rabbit.. it dashed down the hedge and back into an area we hadn't netted up yet... have to keep that lil hole in mind later lol
Another few minutes and i'm standing watching the holes .. keeping my eyes open for rabbits or Sage... and Woosh.. another rabbit smack into the net... Well done Sage! Quickly put another net over the hole... and dispatch the rabbit.
I have to use a priest, one i'm a tiny squeemish, but that isn't the main reason... I'm not confident enough in my technique of wringing a neck to be sure i do a quick humane job.. and i can be sure that a hard smack will do it quick and relatively humanely. This rabbit got so tangled into the net that i had to leave him in it and go back to the game.
The last set of the morning was Directly under a lovely ( NOT!!) bunch of hawthorne.. i hate this stuff..its worse than nettles! It reaches out and grabs not only your sweater or hat or pants .. but it grabs the nets too.. making covering the holes much more of a chore than fun! But we managed alright and decided to give Clover a shot ( another this years kit .. 19 weeks this week ) with Saffie as a guide again ... Down they went and had a toodle around. This must be a pretty deep set because we dont see them for a while... a Rabbit bolted again ... again from a missed bolt hole but only a few feet out into the field where it saw us and dashed back to the hedge to be tangled up ( back netted) into a net waiting on one of the holes.. JUST as Russ got to it.. it wiggled loose.. UGG!! so unfair lol..
another bolt on my side of the hedge and it slipped around the edge of the net.. its an awkward bolt hole...we lost one there last year and i should have been watching it better!! .. tangled the net nicely.. thankyou very much .. that will take a week to untangle lol.. so i set it with a fresh net and waited.. we know there are more down there.. we've seen three come out and go back in while we were walking across the field in JUST this area... Finally POW.. into my freshly set net.. GOT YA THIS TIME...
Another clean dispatch and clover pops out of the burrow... we're pretty much done here but Saffie hasn't made an appearance in a while. So Clover goes back to his box and we wait for Saff.. She was being a bit of a stinker!! she would pop her head out and then Dash back down .. over and over...no bunnies bolting ... but she's not ready to go yet... so we wait a bit... and finally i went and got one of her earlier catches and put it to one of the holes... in a min or two .. out she pops latching onto the rabbit.. hhehe... Gotcha lil missy... back to the box lol
All in all it was a good day... Caught 3.. missed 3... and we had lovely weather .. nice sunshine and a good day out with my OH.. The ferrets have dinner for a couple nights and we had a nice start on the coming season.
Thanks for reading!!
"Traditionally" Ferreting season started in September... and the rule of thumb is any month with an R in it!
The idea being that the frosty mornings would kill back some of the cover and make rabbit holes accessible once more and the rabbit breeding season should be near the end, meaning less chance of a layup because a ferret found a nice nest of babies for a snack or a mean, protective mum underground to give it a hard time. This isn't always the case anymore withthe weather changing.. we've had no frost and the breeding season seems to stretch out all year now.. so you just have to pick the right places and be careful!
Well we decided to get out this morning to a field with a cleared hedge that we have permission on down in Cornwall. So we were up with the sun and had the ferrets in their cages and into the car with all the trappings of a ferreters day out...
When we arrived at the field we found the gate padlocked.. VERY strange ... never had been before... Not really a problem but meant we would have to lug everything across the field ....lol... we could always cut the distance by half by driving through the field before
No problem though we got the ferrets settled a bit away from the hedge so that they wouldn't make too much noise and got to work. I have a neat little game bag that fits over my shoulder that i keep my share of the nets in. We keep them folded up and wrapped in their cord with the peg attached. It makes them easier for me to pull them out and unroll a neatly done net ready to cover the holes.
So we work down the hedge about 30 feet covering about 20 holes on each side of the hedge at a time and get the girls out to start on a small 3 hole warren. We put saffie down first and let Bella follow as it is her very first time out loose without a lead.. into a hedge ...
So down they go, Saffie had that look in her eye... she remembered what this was about... down into the dark, damp rabbit hole, following odd scents that she now associates with DINNER!!! about a minute later out she pops... sighs.. INTO the net... Tangling it all around her locator.. UGG... quickly followed by Bella into the next net...again... tangling the locator in the net... grr... Any tips for avoiding THAT one are appriciated lol
Didn't seem to be anyone at home .. we entered the ferrets a couple times but each time they just had a nose about and out they came.. hmms.... ok...
So we moved down the hedge a bit to the next set. And In go the ferrets, twisting and turning under ground here and there.... a nose pokes out now and then but back under they go looking.. searching... they KNOW there is something down there... and WHIEEEST!!! Out pops a rabbit into the net, unfortunately another was on his tail and climbed over his budding in the net to get away!quickly followed by Bella.. well done lil girl.. not bad for 18 weeks!! Rabbit is quickly dispatched by Hubby and the ferret re entered... we waited around another 20 - 30 min with the ferrets both making an appearance now and then.. but nothing else was bolting from that set.
Here's Bella and Saffie havin a sniff over the rabbit they bolted together. We like to let them have a good go at it .. kinda a reward/re enforcement of what we're doing out here!
the Next set was another small one, but it has a big open cavity under a huge tree, so we put the girls back and got Sage out. He's pretty good at shifting stubborn rabbits in a bigger underground area.
We gave him a good sniff of the rabbit that was caught and he got all wiggly lol.. raring to go he was.. Down he went and got to work! within a few minutes a Rabbit bolted!!! INTO..... Ermmm well it wasn't a net LOL... invariably a hole or two gets missed and this time well... that was a lucky rabbit.. it dashed down the hedge and back into an area we hadn't netted up yet... have to keep that lil hole in mind later lol
Another few minutes and i'm standing watching the holes .. keeping my eyes open for rabbits or Sage... and Woosh.. another rabbit smack into the net... Well done Sage! Quickly put another net over the hole... and dispatch the rabbit.
I have to use a priest, one i'm a tiny squeemish, but that isn't the main reason... I'm not confident enough in my technique of wringing a neck to be sure i do a quick humane job.. and i can be sure that a hard smack will do it quick and relatively humanely. This rabbit got so tangled into the net that i had to leave him in it and go back to the game.
The last set of the morning was Directly under a lovely ( NOT!!) bunch of hawthorne.. i hate this stuff..its worse than nettles! It reaches out and grabs not only your sweater or hat or pants .. but it grabs the nets too.. making covering the holes much more of a chore than fun! But we managed alright and decided to give Clover a shot ( another this years kit .. 19 weeks this week ) with Saffie as a guide again ... Down they went and had a toodle around. This must be a pretty deep set because we dont see them for a while... a Rabbit bolted again ... again from a missed bolt hole but only a few feet out into the field where it saw us and dashed back to the hedge to be tangled up ( back netted) into a net waiting on one of the holes.. JUST as Russ got to it.. it wiggled loose.. UGG!! so unfair lol..
another bolt on my side of the hedge and it slipped around the edge of the net.. its an awkward bolt hole...we lost one there last year and i should have been watching it better!! .. tangled the net nicely.. thankyou very much .. that will take a week to untangle lol.. so i set it with a fresh net and waited.. we know there are more down there.. we've seen three come out and go back in while we were walking across the field in JUST this area... Finally POW.. into my freshly set net.. GOT YA THIS TIME...
Another clean dispatch and clover pops out of the burrow... we're pretty much done here but Saffie hasn't made an appearance in a while. So Clover goes back to his box and we wait for Saff.. She was being a bit of a stinker!! she would pop her head out and then Dash back down .. over and over...no bunnies bolting ... but she's not ready to go yet... so we wait a bit... and finally i went and got one of her earlier catches and put it to one of the holes... in a min or two .. out she pops latching onto the rabbit.. hhehe... Gotcha lil missy... back to the box lol
All in all it was a good day... Caught 3.. missed 3... and we had lovely weather .. nice sunshine and a good day out with my OH.. The ferrets have dinner for a couple nights and we had a nice start on the coming season.
Thanks for reading!!
)
