Ferreting for rabbits

[looseplucker]

OK - it's not quite dogging (which I don't like) but has anyone here done any of this?

I am going on Sunday week - but my Dad, who lived in England, kept ferrets and supplemented the family diet. Told some funny stories too.

[longbow steve]

Hi John, Our club president was a ferrettererer, You have to make sure your li'l beast is trained well otherwise you will loose him down the hole for good.
He also advised against getting a male due to the PONG. I will be interested to hear how it goes.
Steve

[looseplucker]

Not mine - belongs to the bloke who I am visiting, who is also a keen hunter with bow and bangstick - so going to scout a few spots for goats and deer

[longbowinfected]

Never try the old dare of a ferret down the trews.......might end up with one less less sanger sandwich for the next bar b que

Kevin

[otis.drum]

i've done limited feret hunts. good fun. they are fearless little tackers. will take on a fox in fox hole no worries. or you dogs or fingers if these get close to there (extremely sharp) teeth.

from what i can remember you must feed your feret before a hunt but not too soon before use. they liked a sleep after dinner from memory. if fed to late they'll go down the hole for a kip, if not fed they'll eat whatever is down the hole and then have a kip.

they are great pets if they don't bite (most of the ones i've had or mates have had were biters) and are very amusing to watch in a good enclosure with lots of toys and tunnels and things to play on etc.

we use to net the opening once the feret was inside. makes it easier to get the feret back if he comes back out and if the right net is used and set up right it didn't seem to spook the rabbits from coming out. not that they take much convincing with a feret up their rear....

[Jacob.Hogan]

Years ago I went Ferreting with a mate. He fed the ferret, but obviously not enough.

The Ferret killed a whole burrow and then went to sleep...

Digging out a burrow for a ferret is not a good way to spend your afternoon...

[matt_d]

I've been on quite a few Ferret hunts over the years... It's good fun, but best enjoyed when you have access to a mini excavator. Spending half my afternoon digging wasn't really my cup of tea We would always end up with lots of rabbits, generally only the little tackers would ever get eaten.. Lost a few ferrets in the process too! The males can be a bit on the nose with their man-musk, but having the scent gland removed from under their tail eliminates most of it. Getting them on the right diet also plays a big part in minimising the smell
They are real characters and great companions as well as great hunters..
Cheers,
Matt

[pommy chris]

not looking for a argument mate but what dont you like about the dogs.
a good lurcher retrieves live to hand.make great companions.and the ones ive had are great house dogs.because they are very chilled out at home but very switched on in the field.yes the ferret are good workers.and good for pest control.but i would sooner bolt the rabbit to a dog than a net.makes it more sporting.the ones that get away are always there for another day..dogs have been used for thousands of years to aid man.the greyhound type dogs have also been around since the ancient greeks and the pharohs.
like i said not looking for a argument just putting my oppinion forward.and i know the doggers pick up alot of bad press.some deserved some not.and i for one treat a dog with upmost respect.

[looseplucker]

Should have clarified Chris - nothing against dogs at all. Just 'doggers' (in the sense discussed below). Can't stand them.

I have nothing against lurchers, whippets, greyhounds etc. In fact I have done a lot of flushing small game in jy time with terriers and my current dog, a kelpie, is a legend on rabbits. Also hunted with pointer breeds (Visla etc) and retrievers - nothing against that - What I object to are the macho types in with their masticff/pitbull/etc crosses (who I think are really to give these 'men' a sense of machismo) who run down game for the purpose of getting their jollies with a vicious dog and a bayonet.

On every property that I have access to doggers after pigs are a damn curse - breaking locks and chains, cutting fences and general trespassing - and introducing ferals - for their 'sport'. And the dogs are known to worry stock. On one property I was caretaker for I shot dogs that had gotten on a trail and the owners abandoned them - these things turned wild and would kill or attack anything. I handed over the collars and id tags (on the rare occasions they had them) to the Police - let them sort it out.

What really makes me laugh are the magazines where they advertise these kevlar dog vests for these WWF Canines. I mean - come on. Is 'it' really THAT small?


Sorry - back to ferrets.....

[hutcho]

I've been out a few times with the Father in law, I love the look on his face when rabbits come out a hole he missed netting.

The most fun I had with ferrets was about 20 years ago, no nets just shotties... they come out at pace and you had to snap shoot them was a blast.

A good ferret makes it a fun thing to do. A bad ferret and you loose hours wating for the little bugger to come out..

[looseplucker]

And Murphy's Law being what it is....the little sods will do that.

When I had a shottie (nice U/O Browning sporter - sold it to buy a double bass) gunning for bunnies was a great day out. But I have not been ferreting for a while - really looking forward to it - and young William will have his bamboo longbow (made last weekend) and arras (getting made this weekend) which he is anxious to have a crack at the bunnies with.

The big thing in England as I recall was putting a ferret down your trousers - records were set for that sort of thing. Go figure.

[Slackshot]

Got a scar from a ferret,had a rabbit in one hand,saw somthing out of the corner of my eye.Bang grabed it and it grabbed me We used to chew on the rabbits ear to make it squeal,usually bought the ferret out for a look......probably cant do that these days also.

[Jacob.Hogan]

Mate of mine bred them.

I was helping him one day and one of the buggers bit my finger. It just wouldn't let go. I had to submerge the little monster in a bucket of water, even then it wouldn't let go.....

[pommy chris]

fair comment lp.ihave no interest in the bull x,s.just the running dogs.

[Brumbies Country]

not looking for a argument mate but what dont you like about the dogs.
a good lurcher retrieves live to hand.make great companions.and the ones ive had are great house dogs.because they are very chilled out at home but very switched on in the field.yes the ferret are good workers.and good for pest control.but i would sooner bolt the rabbit to a dog than a net.makes it more sporting.the ones that get away are always there for another day..dogs have been used for thousands of years to aid man.the greyhound type dogs have also been around since the ancient greeks and the pharohs.

I'm with you there Chris. We don't have lurchers anything like the degree you do. Yes great house dogs but wonderful running down game and historically the classical poacher's dog. I went to a coursing meet in the UK in 1994-quite something but I suspect went out with the UK anti-hunting legislation. I am a real fan of the hounds, foxhounds, beagles, harriers, bassets and bloodhounds, not to mention Irish wolfhounds and Scottish deerhounds, although the latter two breeds are sight hounds rather than your classic scenthounds. You've a great history of hunting with dogs/hounds over there.

Simon

[hellier]

hooweee now yer talkin...lurchers mate...love ,em...I had a beaut brindle whippet cross airedale thingy...what a sight at full tilt doing a 180 with his shoulder touching the grass and huge divots flying...brings tears to the eyes...I had to leave him with a mate when I came out here....probably passed on to the grat paddock in the sky...real characters too them dogs...I once left him behind to go out shooting with a mate...came home to find the bugger had chewed the brim off a favourite baseball cap

As for ferreting...all i can say is buy a few young females and handle them every day, carry them around with you in your coat pockets, make up a good strong box filled with straw for hunting with them and feed them regular in this box...they get used to food being in it and you can leave the box with food in it when you lose them down a hole ( which is pretty much a major part of ferreting )...they'll smell it eventually and when you come back an hour or two after losing them they're often curled up in it sleeping ( beats digging )

[bps]

my mates brother was trying to coach a ferret out of a warren , he was looking down the hole tapping his hand and making a kissing sound when BANG !! ...... a big buck rabbit hit him doing warp speed, busting one of the blokes teeth and his nose

[bps]

ive seen blokes that were ferreting in areas where there were too many holes to place purse nets over. These blokes were running nets around the whole warren ( supported on fiberglass droppers ) The nets looked like gill nets that are used for fishing and stood about 1m off the ground.

The rabbit would get clear of the warren and then hit the net, it proved to be very effective when multiple rabbits were leaving the holes at one time.

[Brumbies Country]

hooweee now yer talkin...lurchers mate...love ,em...I had a beaut brindle whippet cross airedale thingy...what a sight at full tilt doing a 180 with his shoulder touching the grass and huge divots flying...brings tears to the eyes...I had to leave him with a mate when I came out here....probably passed on to the grat paddock in the sky...real characters too them dogs...I once left him behind to go out shooting with a mate...came home to find the bugger had chewed the brim off a favourite baseball cap

Re your whippet cross, Hellier, a few years ago I had a brace of whippets. Watch them hunting a hare was really something. Tremendous team work and real athleticism.

Simon

[jamie]

a little coffee in some milk stops them from sleeping,when you feed them each day whistle too them, when you want them to come out of the burrow just whistle when they appear give them a little treat ,saves alot of digging.

[hellier]

Yeah mate a great dog the old lurcher...I remember a poem ...not word for word but goes something like this " Backed like a beam, sided like a bream, footed as a cat and tailed as a rat " I forget the rest but it's a pretty good description.
As a kid I spent many hours witt he old fellas in the fields, mornings were given over to wandering the hedgerows around the crops stirring up bunnies with the old beagle ( she was slow and noisy but perfect for scaring the bunnies into the snares laid at the burrow mouthsthe evening before)... then we'd lay out nets and have a spot of mushroom picking on the cow pastures...or pick up chestnuts or blackberries depending on the season. We'd get the ferrets out mid morning and pick off whatever had missed a snare earlier...then a cold beer shandy down the pub damn I wish i was a kid again....My old man made all his own snares from stripped copper wire with holly pegs cut from a few shrubby trees that we'd use over the years for walking sticks and other things.
With the ferrets though I think a quit set up is the most important ( having missed out on a few shandy's for stepping on twigs and coughing ) the ferrets are basically shock troops...they've gotta be introduced quietly and quickly...the least stomping around near the burrows the better, it's those vibrations below ground that's what makes the rabbits stay down and not bolt...then if the ferret can latch on to one... get out the spade ( I remember a spade with along thin blade was used for this, not a shovel or garden type...) and the old fellas would cut a briar or bramle and keep sticking it down the hole and twist it, if it came back up with bunny fur on it we'd gee up and dig all the faster

[Longclaw]

Sorry to revive a relatively old topic, but if anyone in the Canberra/Cooma NSW area is looking for a place to go ferreting, send me a PM! Good ferreters are worth their weight in gold I reckon, and a swiftly snapped neck is a much more humane death for the bunnies than the options offered by the rangers.

Gotta love a good tracker or retriever, and it's great to see dogs doing what they were born and bred for. My love is for the greyhound, although in my opinion Aussie greys are really unsuitable for any role in hunting - for a few reasons.

My grey is a sight to behold when he chases a rabbit in the house yard, but we don't let him loose to chase in the paddocks. Too dangerous for him. He accelerates faster than a motorbike and corners like an office chair. Not a good combination. Thankfully he's also perfectly happy inside on the lounge!

The Greyhound (Loungus lizardus)

[otis.drum]

looks like my lap dog. far more at home on the couch than in the field although that could be because i've been warned of the consequences if he comes home with a damage

[looseplucker]

I dont have a ferret but if you do would love to come. I'll bring the home brew.

I think your Grey and my Kelpie have a lot in common.......with the acceleration and steering...

[Longclaw]

Hey looseplucker, we don't have ferrets unfortunately but if we can arrange something I'll keep you posted