managed to get out for a bit.................

December 22, 2008

I was very lucky Sunday to have a chap from another forum come all the way from Portland to take me out ferreting as I still am not allowed to drive.He also brought a 50yd quickset longnet for me to try,as I have never used longnets before.I have ferreted for nearly 40yrs,and yet never even picked up a longnet let alone used one,so,I was really looking forward to a lesson from an expert,that also makes the nets,and,very nice they are too.

We(myself a young friend,and,the chap from Portland)went to a bit of permission that I have fairly local to me,it was a bit windy,but,it was dry and overcast and,we were hopeful of a decent foray.The river was close by,and,has been well up the banks recently so the water table was obviously higher than normal.This meant that the buries were not going to be anywhere as deep as normal,and,the first small bury we did which would normally hold 4-5 bunnies held just the one,but,I had the opportunity to set my first longnet,and,I was amazed at just how easy they are to lay out,ok we didn't need it on that bury,but,it was all experience gained.While we were ferreting that bury we noticed a dead dog fox led out in the field(a big one too)I had a quick look,and I think it may of been shot with a rimfire or peppered with shot as there didn't seem to be any obvious entry/exit wound,so,I will be keeping an eye open for an interloper.

We were doing a hedge line in fields that usually hold sheep,so the hawthorn/blackthorn hedge has been breeched at regular intervals making it a bit easier to net up,and,for the whippet to swap sides easily.We did a 3 holer next with nothing at home,and,then a 5-6 holer that did look a bit more likely to hold,and,I re-set the longnet right through the hedge to cut off the obvious escape route.As it turned out this was a good move as the first to exit made straight for a very big Oak tree that has holes all around it,and,was very neatly wrapped up in the longnet,and,for extra security was firmly clamped there by ULA ready for me to remove it.As I was removing that one with ULA watching me instead of what else was going on,a bunny rushed the longnet and although it seemed to be well enmeshed it somehow then managed to escape under the net???? Well that bury done and 2 in the bag we headed off to what would turn out to be the last of the day.The longnet was set around 3/4's of the bury and we set purse nets over most of the holes,a couple were just a bit awkward to net properly,so,Ula and the longnet would have to cover the rest.I used the 2 Jills from this years litter,and,although it was their very first time they worked their socks off,and,bunnies soon started to exit,most of which were pursed well and then hocked and hung on the hedge.Ula has only been out with the ferts once before and that was last year,she hasn't exactly been very lucky with injuries keeping her off the fields through virtually all of last seasons ferreting season,so,I was very happy to see how eager she was and how she followed the underground action from above ground,almost being at the nets before the rabbits,and,she caught one just as it escaped from the net,and,after a bit of a crazy start she settled into her work well.Unfortunately I only have the one picture as the batteries went,bloody typical aint it,well here is the pic,it is just before we entered the ferts..................

Well I say one pic,there was actually another just after that one where Ula tested the kill in the longnet..........

She just got her paw caught...............lol.She did show a healthy resepct for the net apart from that incident.

We ended the day with 9 rabbits,not a record,but,for me just getting out doing a bit was everything,and,I also came away very happy with how Ula had handled herself,so,onward and upward...............martin.