Andy had never used a locator on his ferrets but as I had a spare collar
with me I suggested that he put it on Bandito.  She wasn't too happy
about the collar but once she set off hunting she soon forgot about it.
We heard more thumping and then a squeal.  I checked when Bandito was and
she was fairly near the entrance, Andy lay down on the ground so he see
into the bury and he could see the rabbit and was able to grab its back
legs and haul it out bringing Bandito out as well as she had hold of it.
We moved on but the next buries were water logged so we went up the hill.
 
The next bury was under an oak tree and on the edge of the land we had
permission on.  It was another bury that was impossible to net so Andy
set a gate net across the gully where any bolting rabbits normally ran.
Kaye and I set nets on the holes on our side of the fence.  Bandito,
Arwen and Flower were sent down.  Once again we heard thumping, Lucy
dived towards the roots of the oak tree, and we heard Andy curse as the
big buck rabbit saw Lucy and shot back into the bury.  Three ferrets were
a better option for him than a lurcher.  After 20 minutes Bandito and
Flower emerged from the bury and we put them back into their boxes.  I
managed to locate Arwen two feet down and fairly close to the tree...
it was going to be a right devil to dig.  I started the dig and got down
to a foot before I broke through to a tube, damn it wasn't the one that
Arwen was in - it was under it :-( Andy came to give a hand with the
dig... I then checked again with the locator only to find that Arwen
had moved, she was now 15 feet away and 10 feet down; she'd now been
underground for 45 minutes.
 
Andy and Kaye both spotted that Todd and Erin had put up a young buck
that must have been in scrape at the top of the hill, the youngster
dashed into to the bury just up from the tree.  We now knew that there
were at least two rabbits in it - after about 15 minutes the youngster
decided to make a run for it only to meet Lucy who caught him just as he
was about to bolt.  She's turning into a useful little bitch, if only
she'd learn to wait until the rabbits got clear of the bury before
springing into action.  She will insist on sticking her head right into
the rabbit holes :-( I guess she just gets so excited with being out
hunting.
 
Whilst all this was going on Arwen was still sticking to the job of
trying to get the buck rabbit to bolt.  We started digging a couple more
times but as soon as we got about a foot down the rabbit moved and so did
Arwen.  I was now beginning to get worried - I don't like it when one of
my ferrets is out of sight for so long.  I decided that if we were in for
a long wait I might as well walk to my van and Andy's car to get our
flasks and sarnies.  I left the locator with Andy so that he could keep
a check on Arwen.  We all had a hot drink and a snack, and Andy climbed
back over the fence to resume his vigil by the tree roots.  The next we
heard Andy say, "she's here", and he held up a very tired looking albino
jill.  I took her from him - she was a bit muddy and had lots of rabbit
fur round her front nails where she'd been in contact with the rabbit.
She'd been underground for two hours.  I put her back into the box with
Flower and we started gathering up our nets, backfilling the holes and
packing stuff away ready to make for home.  We left the big buck rabbit
in peace to fight another day.... he'd earned it.  I wonder about him,
was he the ex-King of the main warren who was now living in exile.  The
3 rabbits we'd bagged were all young ones who had obviously been sent
packing to make their own way in life.
 
Kaye was pleased with her two young lurchers and wants to go ferreting
with us again before the end of the season.  Apart from the worry about
Arwen being underground so long we all enjoyed the day - it was very mild
for January and the sun even broke through the cloud.  It was so nice to
get out into the countryside, out in the fresh air, and so much better
than being stuck in front of a TV set.
 
--
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare - not a registered charity
 
Declaration Day Quote of the day from Vini Faal, "Alun Michael is
to animal welfare what King Herod was to baby sitting".
 
Web Site: http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ferreter/bolton.htm
last update 5 Dec 2002
NFWS web site http://www.nfws.net updated 15th October 2003
[Posted in FML issue 4385]