Out Ferreting Today

[Levs]

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The day started at about 8am I thought I'd try Bullett out with the ferrets.

She was never introduced to ferrets as a pup so I've been really apprehensive about taking her out. I did try her once last year but she seemed a bit to intrested in what was going on in other fields.

Although she doesn't know ferrets as " a friend " she does understand the " NO " command so I decided to give her a try today. I was hoping that she would just get an idea of what is going on ie: this little white furry thing goes in this hole and loads of fluffy bunnies run out of the others.

Well I couldn't have been more impressed with her she really did me proud. She was marking well and was in the right place about 50% of the time.As you can see from the pictures they were mostly quite easy open buries so I decided against netting all the holes as the sole purpose of the day was just to try my bitch out and not to clear the land of bunnies.

She anticipated this one perfectly it bolted out straight into her open mouth.

Roll on the next outing.

 

[Mike from Hereford]

Hi Levs,

must admit I love the ferret & dog relationship.I only have to get the ferret out the cage and my 3 dogs go mental.I just love watching the dogs stood silent waiting for a bolted rabbit, with their ears pricked up and in a stand-by stance ready to pounce onto any white tail.

I,ve enjoyed your pictures, I,ll have to take my camera out with me next time,

Mike

 

[peony]

Great pics Levs and cracking looking bitch :wub: especially good seeing a dog doing what its meant for.

 

[wunwin]

Hi great pics, good to see we are all starting the season off well. Just one point, something that happened to my bitch today. We were ferreting in an old hedge, all tall bushes and elder, when a rabbit bolted and maeve set off, only to get hung up by her collar. She yelped, backed out of it and set off after the bunnie, catching it in the middle of the field. What if she had done this unnoticed to me, and not had the sence to back out of her collar? would i be still looking for her, calling and calling to no avail? In all my years ferreting and lamping, i have always worked the dogs with collars on.Never again. What do you all do, collars on your lurchers, or off?

 

[bappit]

Good pictures Levs :thumbsup: You have reason to be proud of her.

I dont hunt as such wunwin, but never now let hound/s off with collars on (always use slip leads) since a very similar incident too many years ago to admit to :b , luckily i did see him do it, or unluckily as it was horrific to watch as he got caught at alarming speed, did proceeded to break the branch off to free himself, and no real harm done...but it was enough to convince me never to have a repeat incident where luck may not have been on our side. Really so pleased your bitches incident did'nt end nastily either. :luck:

 

[~Helen~]

Interesting, I've often wondered about collars.

 

[»Tina«]

great pic's, makes me wonder though, have you ever lost a ferret? or have been waiting hours for them to appear again? or are they trained in some way?

silly questions I know but I'm a noob at this :b

 

[wunwin]

Hi tina, not a silly question at all!! Yes ferrets do stop down for a long time if they have a rabbit cornered, or if they have killed one.In the dark ages, you had to wait for the little buggers to come back up, but now we have the ferret finder, a collar on the ferret and a reciever to track where he is. Then, when you find out where he is, you dig down and rescue the ferret and retrieve the rabbit. As simple as that!

 

[Mike from Hereford]

Hi Tina,

no Qs silly,

I,ve had to leave ferrets underground after several hours wait, ( They have either killed a rabbit and gone to sleep or are stuck at a dead end of a tunnel) Has to be the worse part of hunting with ferrets.Modern methods are to have a locator fitted to the ferret.Its a beacon attached to the ferret by means of a collar for a simple "Radar" to detect the location of the ferret/beacon underground.

I,ve covered holes with soil and returned the next morning , coaxing the ferret out with whistles and a dead rabbit as a lure.Even used my wellies to block holes, honest.

I swear the ferrets will run towards me if I whistle, its something to see !!!

Ferrets are thought to be very intelligent, with a higher IQ than a cat ?

Hope this information has helped.

Think collars are a matter of terrain used and the discipline/control of a dog.A simple slip lead seems to work ok.

So far the Blues Brothers have been very steady when a ferret has been introduced to a rabbit bury, so I don,t have them collared. But will if its a large group of holes with 1 dog loose and the other on slip, so they both don,t chase the same rabbit.

I,m sure other K9ers who use ferrets have different ideas.I look forward to reading them.

Mike

 

[»Tina«]

very interesting subject :thumbsup: Thanks for the answers :cheers:

waiting and digging hmmm don't think I'll be ferreting then as these are the least of my fav subjects (w00t)

 

[Miss Madam]

Hi, i lost my ferret down a rabbit burrow for 2 days once, i thought i had lost her for good because i kept going down to the burrow everyday since i lost her and there was no sign of her! i was getting worried at that stage as i was panicking incase i never seen her again but then i thought about what really got her awake when she was in her hutch at home! then it clicked! o every time i went to feed my ferrets i would shake the bucket about to wake them up and it really got them moving! so i fillled a smallish container with a bit of ferret kibble in it, then i went back down to the burrow and started to shake it outside all of the holes! and it wasnt long before a wee mucky ferret head popped out from one of the holes! i was so relieved to get her back! :wacko: :sweating:

 

[doris]

very interesting subject  :thumbsup: Thanks for the answers  :cheers:
waiting and digging hmmm don't think I'll be ferreting then as these are the least of my fav subjects  (w00t)

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I agree with your first comment :thumbsup:

IPML at your second comment :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[giveitsome]

i used to always av my bunch of keys on me when i fed my ferrets and if i got a ferret that stayed in a set i used to shake the keys,also i never feed my ferrets the night before useing them