Well most of you folks seem to like read about hunting with ferrets.
 
Towards the end of last years hunting season Jack and I decided to go to a
local farm to do a bit of rabbiting.  I took Kurt and Jack used a poley jill
that he'd got from me.  Also with us were Lucy, an 8 year old whippet, Tommy
a young lurcher and Sophie a miniature poodle!
 
We decided to ferret a bank which the farmer had used to tip odds and ends
of broken farm machinery, fridges and other junk.  As it would have been
near enough impossible to set purse nets we didn't bother with them, we
reckoned Lucy or Tommy would catch anything that bolted.  Lucy had already
indicated that someone was 'at home'.
 
We checked that the ferrets collars were transmitting good signals, I
introduced Kurt at the top of the bank and Jack put the jill in a bit
further along.  We waited about five minutes - Lucy yelped and jumped back
from the hole she'd stuck her nose down, Kurt had nipped her.  Without
wasting any time Kurt disappeared back underground.  A few minutes later a
rabbit bolted from a hole to the right of where Kurt had first appeared,
Lucy set off in pursuit followed by Tommy with Sophie bringing up the rear,
her little legs a blur as she tried to keep up with the 'running dogs'.  The
rabbit doubled back itself - dashed past the 3 dogs - by the time the dogs
had turned to run after the rabbit it had changed direction again and dashed
past them going the other way - the whole thing was beginning to take on the
aspect of a mad-cap silent movie chase - the Keystone Cops wouldn't have
looked out of place:-) The bunny eventually dived down a hole a bit further
along the bank.
 
Kurt had been sort of watching the whole affair from the hole the rabbit had
bolted from - he looked disgusted when the dogs missed the rabbit!  When he
turned and went back below I bet he was muttering some nasty things about
stupid dogs.  Kurt bolted another couple of rabbits (or it could have been
the same one) and we went through the same performance all over again with
the rabbits giving the dogs the run around.
 
After about a half an hour we reckoned that the ferrets, rabbits and dogs
had had enough exercise and moved on to check out some other warrens but
they were empty.
 
So you can see that not every hunting trip produces rabbits for the pot.
 
If any of you want to read more about working ferrets have a look at my web
pages - check out Articles from NFWS Newsletters and the Bolton Ferret
Welfare pages.
 
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare & National Ferret Welfare Society Newsletter Editor
http://www.btinternet.com/~sheila/ferrets.htm (Last Update 3 March 1998)
Waiting at Rainbow Bridge: Jill & Deanna Troi
[Posted in FML issue 2247]