First session of 2011

First off a big Happy New Year to anyone who reads this, I hope this year has a much happier feel to it than the last one!!

My father has had his operation now and is hopefully on a full mend, so thats the first bit of good news, and secondly I finally made it out on a rabbiting foray, the first in 2 months!!

It was 5.45am when David turned up, I was fully dressed for a change and rearing to go,I think the ferrets would have walked there they were that highly strung!

We arrived around 8.30am and had a quick look round, the first thing we noticed was the strong smell of fox, the next thing we saw was the said fox making a run for cover.....what I would have done for my shotgun at that point!!!!

The first warren is all around this tree, with the rabbits usually hiding under the roots of it.....lets hope we don't end up with a dig in these roots!!

A lovely sunset with the castle in the background, the day got steadily colder as it went on

The second warren is in the middle of a field, there seems to be an area where boulders and rocks have been dropped and left, the nettles and thistles have flourished in this area where the tractor can't disturb.....and so have the rabbits!!

David praying that what his ferret finder had picked up wasn't going to result in a dig

His prayers hadn't been answerred and a 3 foot dig commenced, but look on the bright side, we rescued the ferret and the rabbit was holed up in the stop end!

Our next warren and another dig, the smell of fox was all around every warren we visited, the snow had obviously kept  the fox hungry and with his scent the rabbits weren't for bolting. Every rabbit was a dig nearly, thankfully 4 foot was our deepest.

This one producing a nice fat rabbit, that's gonna make a fine stew very soon ;-)

This stretch has 3 warrens side by side, all seperate and all showing fresh scrapings and droppings. The rabbits were actie, they just didn't seem to be at home!

Then all went quiet and the ferrets stopped popping there heads up, ferret finder out and 2 ferrets, one either side of the tube, had managed to keep a rabbit in one place.....so another dig ensued!!

 End of Day shot with seven rabbits, not the amount we were expecting but a cracking return to the sport.
Remember that its not about the catching, the craik David and myself had that day will be remembered for a long time, the rabbits were just a bonus to a fantastic day, as can be seen by the time we had finished and cleaned our boots it was getting dark! 

We popped to see the landowner to let him know we were off, we were introduced to another rabbit catcher, this one doesn't need a shovel he told us!!








Thanks to Dave for a fantastic start to 2011, I hope that the next session isn't too far away.....in fact what are you up to this weekend mate?!?!?

Happy Hunting.