Selby Game and Country Fair 2011

It was a cloudy morning but the weather was to warm up nicely, lets hope so cos it was bloody freezing!!

As we walked around the show it was becoming apparent that the show was more car boot than game! Rides and cheep tack stalls were scattered everywhere, the food prices again were extortionate! This seems to be the way of game fairs though these days, no longer are they just a way for like minded people to meet up but a way of squeezing every penny that you are carrying out of your wallet!!

In the main ring was a motorcycle show?? but it was enjoyable, the guy with the mike and the riders bouncing of each other with banter. Here we see the biker ramping over him!!

 and then jumping up onto the vehicle!

Whilst walking round me and David decided to get a bit competitive, well, as competitive as you can get with an ex champ clay shooter!!!!

Davids first shot was as I was expecting....a hit.....but his eye wasn't there and he got 8 out of 10

My first time ever at clay shooting, I'm being shown the basics and how to keep ones eye looking down the bead below the dropping clay

 My first shot was a hit, but this my second was a miss.....beginners luck maybe!!

My total score was 7 out of 10

We walked round again later and couldn't resist a second turn......David scoring 10/10 and me getting 9/10......I was well pleased!!

Carlton Towers, the siting of the show is a very grand place,  a 19th century Victorian Gothic Revival house, located in the village of Carlton. The original part of the house dates back to the 17th century, with 200 acres of parkland to explore it is one big area!

Here we see Mr Pearson tieing a purse net in the net making competition on the East Coast Ferret Rescue stand. This was were many members of the Rabbiters site met up for tea, coffee and a bloody good chat!!!

At the end of the day a charity auction in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust was held, items that had been donated of the rabbiters site and from some of the stalls that were attending the show!!

It was a really good end with a large amount of money being raised, one of the prized items a Hand Made Knife from J.E.S!!






All in all a good show for catching up and if you take all the crap away that shouldn't be allowed there in the first place, then a good country fair..........now lets see where the next one is!!

Happy Hunting

End of the season

Well it came sooner than expected, I've had a few days out for a mooch but way to many pregnant Doe's to warrant any control.
It doesn't seem right spoiling next years rabbiting stock, so the next few months will be spent catching up with friends at all the shows happening around the country.

So this week was Kelmarsh Fair, a cracking show and it meant a trip over to a friends in Lincolnshire. Which also meant a mooch and BEER!!!!!!

As can be seen in this picture the local Crow problem is huge, with a large amount of crops in this area the amount of wood pigeon was phenomonal aswell!!

So like I said, a bit of a mooch and a quick look round to see if we could find anything of interest.

Then one of the terriers disapeared.........barking like mad!!

and then the Lurchers went running off very sharpish

Could we find them.....No!!!

Could we find what they had chased.......No!!!!


Eventually they came back, out of breath and stinking of fox.........never mind....Next time!!

And to end the weekend just a few drinks and the usual drunken chat!!

The show was fantastic, and with a great bunch of lads the Craik was even better.......Heres to the next Show!!



Happy Hunting

Wet Wet Wet.......not the band!!!!

As can be seen from the title, today was damp, rain was falling heavily at some points, the trees were dripping down our backs......and both of us managed to slip into a small dyke!!!

The new permission we have obtained (as mentioned in 'Just a quick one') was finally ferreted today, not the best day weather wise, but the season is coming to an end, so we had to show willing and make sure our faces and nets were seen to be making an effort on this new land before it was too late.

Our mind set was probably wrong, knowing the land well around these parts, we have seen a lot of Myxi wiping the local rabbit population out, and after a quick mooch of the surrounding land with not a rabbit seen our hopes weren't high!!

We grabbed a couple of long nets, a bag of purse nets and two boxes of ferrets, two males and three females. A brief description of this warren is that it stretches for 100+ yards (very big!) a barbed wire fence runs the length of it with holes to both sides of it, and running parallel is a small dyke

We weren't going to let the weather stop us catching a few though.....we hoped!!

So we started laying the long nets, one either side of the fence, and a few purse nets under the holly trees, awkward and prickly.....luckily not on my side of the fence, ahem.....!        ;-)

You can see the extent of thewarren in this photo, we are just over halfway down looking up to the gate we arrived at, this side having the open holes appearing at random in the field.

This shows Davids side, complete with prickly bushes and dyke!!

Sorry Mate.....Honest!!

As can be seen here the trees are all being used by the rabbits and prove an awful dig to the ferrets if they killed in!

This huge hole to the side of a tree absolutely stunk of rabbit and had plenty of droppings around it, roots were clearly visible see below....

.....this is a close up of the hole above, the root system entwined into the rabbits runs, creating a secure environment from any wouldbe predators!

Looking up towards the gate from the dyke side.

David just resetting the net after a rabbit bolted and pulled the peg right out, the pursed net and rabbit falling straight into the water, luckily the net holding till David got to it!

Another end of the warren, and another tree that they have housed themselves in, at one point the ferret finder was saying a four foot dig in this area was imminent, thankfully the ferret reappeared out of a hole without any sign of rabbit fur or blood on it!

A cracking bolt from a hole, straight over the dyke and into the waiting long net.....excellent catch!

The second one in the bag, lets hope theres a few more











A nice open hole, lots of droppings and a familiar smell......very welcoming, and the ferret didn't need to be asked twice to get in!

End of the day, three rabbits in the bag, truck loaded and two very wet but happy ferreters are on there way home wondering.......maybe one more week to go ;-)





Happy Hunting to you all

Joe's Permission

David and myself were very lucky to be invited to a little permission Joe has on the outskirts of Skipton. I was picked up from mine at 6 and reached Joes at around 6.30.
Once we had made the short drive to the land it was still dark, so we had a quick mooch round and decided that we would find a butty shop and waste a bit of time till we could see better. A few breakfast barms later and we were setting up at the first warren.

 As we looked down the hillside we could see rabbits running around and feeding near the warrens

The team were well up for a bit of bunny catching, and with the frost on the hills we could tell it was gonna be cold!

Some cracking warrens with a lot of walls to search, the rabbits round here feel a lot safer in the walls, but in this situation we use the small females and let them run between the joints. The tip tapping of the paws when a rabbit is about to bolt can't be described!!

This was the main warren on the far side of the above wall, you can see below how big it was!

We were setting a long net up all around the warren, any escapees from purse nets could still be caught then.

The holes went right under the stone walls and came out on the other side, at one point we thought we might have to dig under here!!

As you can see from this picture a lot of walkers frequent the pathway at the bottom of this hill, and with two of the warrens being right next to it, I imagined we were going to get a lot of grief, but not today, they were all really friendly and most stopped to chat, some even applauding as the rabbits hit the nets!
Our main problem came from a woman on the far bank of the river who permenently kept coming out and shouting abuse at us, telling me that the RSPCA had outlawed the use of ferrets in the catching of rabbits!!!!! Ho Hum, never mind!!

As with all good rabbiting forays a dig is usually expected, and today was to be no different, luckily we had nothing deeeper than four foot in the day, this one a mere two feet!......which was why I chose to dig mooha ha !!

And here was my prize, a nice fat rabbit with a nippy ferret at the other end!!

David had decided that all this rabbit catching was proving toooo much!!! and a lie down was in order.........oh wait a minute, he's moving stones under the fence!?!?!

Ahhhh, so he wasn't sleeping, he had located a ferret who had decided to opt for a take away!!

David was using his refined skills as a Jedi Master to calm this rabbit, he does get quite attached to them and I feel this may cause problems in the future........some people are just tooooo soppy when it comes to wild animals!!

 The end of the day shot, with 33 rabbits and a smile on my face I had had a cracking day, I think David had too but sometimes its hard to tell with that rugged look he portrays!!

Whilst gutting the rabbits we found a lot of fat encasing the offal, so I feel this winter hasn't finished yet, as Mother Nature has obviosly told the rabbits to build up ready for when its icy fingers take hold again!!








Thanks once again to Joe for letting us accompany him on his permission, and with a load of land signed over today when the farmer saw us doing what we do best, Joe has a nice little stock of rabbiting land!

Happy Hunting.

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.