- Messages
- 461
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Had a great day out today with Pennymeadow . We aquired some prime rabbiting land up in the Dales a while back, but we have been unable to get onto the best parts due to partridges being released on the moor for the shooting season.
With the partridge settled and in some cases shot and eaten ;D we have now been given access to this huge expanse of land . It is high moorland above the farm , and there is acre after acre of it
The weather forecast was favourable today after a weekend of heavy rain . We set off bright and early having arranged to meet the farmer who was going to show us where the largest populations and warrens were.
As we drove up through the Dales, we were amazed at the amount of water lying on the fields and on the roads, there had certainly been a lot of rain here
We arrived at the farm and the farmer told us to meet him up on the moor, we could get up there via a green lane . The lane twisted and turned up the moorside and we got near to where we had arranged to meet the farmer. The surface of the track was really slippy and slimy to drive on even though I had the low box selected on the Disco. To get up onto the part of moor where we needed to go meant climbing a slope, but due to the road biased tyres I have on the disco , the wheels were spinning and we were getting nowhere. I reversed back a bit , but I started to slide and ended up well and truly stuck . No problem, the farmer found us and said he would get his son on the tractor to pull us out. While we aited for our recovery we had a quick look around, there was certainly a lot of evidence of rabbits around. The weather was dry , but absolutely bitter cols with a raw wind blowing .
The tractor arrived and we were soon out of the hole and safely parked on the edge of the moor. We loaded up our gear and we got a lift on the quad over the moor to where the first warren was, Suzie and Missy followed behind the quad. We were shown the location of several warrens . We got dropped off near a largish warren and the farmer left us to get on with the job in hand. The dogs marked well , so we netted up as we wanted a good bag of rabbits today.
Almost instantly we had a bolter into the net and another behind it which made a run for it only to be smartly taken by Suzie and Missy.
We walked on over the moor , the sun was out now, and rabbits were sitting out nicely in the moorland grass. Suzie and Missy were working well , putting up rabbits and caught several, including one that bolted and ran like a hare , twisting and turning , Suzie caught it well striking like a cobra. Another similar run followed , the rabbit must have run about a 1/4 of a mile but had speed and stamina enough to evade the 2 whippets after a great course.
We had great sucess at one warren, the whippets ran a rabbit in and marked really strongly. After leaving the rabbit to settle for 10 mins or so, we netted up . Straight away a rabbit bolted from an unseen bob-hole . The whippets were on it and it was caught well.
We got bolter after bolter out of this warren , 8 in total.
We carried on over the moor , there were a lot of rabbits sat out on the moor , Jeff got a great pic of a rabbit we almost walked right over sat in it`s seat.
We ended the day with 21 rabbits , a good bag . The whippets worked like trojans for us today . We really did have some great sport today, there is nothing I like better than working the rabbits on the open fells, it is a great test for a whippet and our 2 workers passed with flying colours. I`ve said it before and I`ll repeat myself again, The Lord Of the Knight bloodlines both Missy and Suzie possess give an absolutely fantastic working whippet, pace, stamina nose strike and brains make a complete working package .
The farmer was well impressed and we`ll be making another visit in a week or so. On our way back, in a afield on our permission we saw a very large rabbit sat out in the parture field, unfortunately amongst some sheep. One for next time... I think we`ll be having some great sport on this farm over the coming months ;D ;D
Stuck
Waiting
A good catch
With the partridge settled and in some cases shot and eaten ;D we have now been given access to this huge expanse of land . It is high moorland above the farm , and there is acre after acre of it
The weather forecast was favourable today after a weekend of heavy rain . We set off bright and early having arranged to meet the farmer who was going to show us where the largest populations and warrens were.
As we drove up through the Dales, we were amazed at the amount of water lying on the fields and on the roads, there had certainly been a lot of rain here
We arrived at the farm and the farmer told us to meet him up on the moor, we could get up there via a green lane . The lane twisted and turned up the moorside and we got near to where we had arranged to meet the farmer. The surface of the track was really slippy and slimy to drive on even though I had the low box selected on the Disco. To get up onto the part of moor where we needed to go meant climbing a slope, but due to the road biased tyres I have on the disco , the wheels were spinning and we were getting nowhere. I reversed back a bit , but I started to slide and ended up well and truly stuck . No problem, the farmer found us and said he would get his son on the tractor to pull us out. While we aited for our recovery we had a quick look around, there was certainly a lot of evidence of rabbits around. The weather was dry , but absolutely bitter cols with a raw wind blowing .
The tractor arrived and we were soon out of the hole and safely parked on the edge of the moor. We loaded up our gear and we got a lift on the quad over the moor to where the first warren was, Suzie and Missy followed behind the quad. We were shown the location of several warrens . We got dropped off near a largish warren and the farmer left us to get on with the job in hand. The dogs marked well , so we netted up as we wanted a good bag of rabbits today.
Almost instantly we had a bolter into the net and another behind it which made a run for it only to be smartly taken by Suzie and Missy.
We walked on over the moor , the sun was out now, and rabbits were sitting out nicely in the moorland grass. Suzie and Missy were working well , putting up rabbits and caught several, including one that bolted and ran like a hare , twisting and turning , Suzie caught it well striking like a cobra. Another similar run followed , the rabbit must have run about a 1/4 of a mile but had speed and stamina enough to evade the 2 whippets after a great course.
We had great sucess at one warren, the whippets ran a rabbit in and marked really strongly. After leaving the rabbit to settle for 10 mins or so, we netted up . Straight away a rabbit bolted from an unseen bob-hole . The whippets were on it and it was caught well.
We got bolter after bolter out of this warren , 8 in total.
We carried on over the moor , there were a lot of rabbits sat out on the moor , Jeff got a great pic of a rabbit we almost walked right over sat in it`s seat.
We ended the day with 21 rabbits , a good bag . The whippets worked like trojans for us today . We really did have some great sport today, there is nothing I like better than working the rabbits on the open fells, it is a great test for a whippet and our 2 workers passed with flying colours. I`ve said it before and I`ll repeat myself again, The Lord Of the Knight bloodlines both Missy and Suzie possess give an absolutely fantastic working whippet, pace, stamina nose strike and brains make a complete working package .
The farmer was well impressed and we`ll be making another visit in a week or so. On our way back, in a afield on our permission we saw a very large rabbit sat out in the parture field, unfortunately amongst some sheep. One for next time... I think we`ll be having some great sport on this farm over the coming months ;D ;D
Stuck
Waiting
A good catch
