Rabbits from ferreters.

Invincible

Hi Lad's,
did anyone ever get rabbits from someone ferretting?

I was sea fishing with a group a few years back,one of the fellas was on about ferreting,I asked him what he did with the rabbits,he said he released them where they were scarce,I was to get his no.,but forgot afterwards,would be a nice way of reintroducing them to areas where they're gone from,used to have a good population here over 20 years ago.

triggerpull

one of the lads in the gun club I am in has done this before.
I will ask him if you like. How many would you want and when.:D

bunny shooter

Lads down my way let them go too...........but generally have a greyhound in hot pursuit :mad:

whitser

bunny shooter wrote: »

Lads down my way let them go too...........but generally have a greyhound in hot pursuit :mad:

i've only read 2 of your replies so far and already i smell a rat. are you an anti? this is forum for hunters.

Witcher

whitser wrote: »

i've only read 2 of your replies so far and already i smell a rat. are you an anti? this is forum for hunters.

do you really think he anti with the name bunny shooter?

the mind boggles.......:rolleyes:




:cool::cool::cool:

Invincible

whitser wrote: »

i've only read 2 of your replies so far and already i smell a rat. are you an anti? this is forum for hunters.

No "bunnyshooter" is far from being,an anti,you're fairly new "whitser" so you'll be excused this time, I think.

whitser

names mean nothing, read his posts. if he's not an anti he's a fcuking hypocrit. he's no problem shooting rabits and foxes but doesnt like lads getting them with dogs,

Witcher

whitser wrote: »

names mean nothing, read his posts. if he's not an anti he's a fcuking hypocrit. he's no problem shooting rabits and foxes but doesnt like lads getting them with dogs,

I think your a bit new to this forum to be calling people names dont you think?

He's entitled to his opinion on dogs chasing rabbits, his obvious method is

shooting, but every man to his own. bunnyshooter is a regular on this forum

from what iv seen lurking on this forum and far from anti



:cool::cool::cool:

Invincible

whitser wrote: »

names mean nothing, read his posts. if he's not an anti he's a fcuking hypocrit. he's no problem shooting rabits and foxes but doesnt like lads getting them with dogs,

I think he made the statement in jest,every man to his sport.:)

whitser

every man to his sport is right but lads shouldn't be making smart comments about other lads' chosen form of hunting. hunting is hunting wether its with dog or gun.

Witcher

whitser wrote: »

every man to his sport is right but lads shouldn't be making smart comments about other lads' chosen form of hunting. hunting is hunting wether its with dog or gun.

your right there, maybe he had a bad day

bunnyshooter is a nice enough guy from what iv seen.




:cool::cool::cool:

bitemybanger

C'mon lads enough of the sh!te
Ive let a few rabbits go that ive caught with the ferrets,

Invincible

bitemybanger wrote: »

C'mon lads enough of the sh!te
Ive let a few rabbits go that ive caught with the ferrets,

+1

bunny shooter

Thanks to the lads who have spoke up for me

Whitser, you are a bad advertisement for hunting as far as I'm concerned from what you've written here. :mad:


I have been involved in legal hunting for a long time. For the record I never break the rules either written or unwritten.

I begrude no man his sport as long as it's legal and sporting for the quarry.

I am an anti as far as using rabbits and fox cubs used as "training" aids for greyhounds with no muzzles on, shooting or catching birds of prey, badger baiting, dog fighting, snaring of any animal etc, etc in the name of sport is concerned.

I shoot rabbits, foxes and game in season. I treat my quarry with respect and always shoot as humanely as possible. I never leave anything to suffer longer or more than I have to. If this makes me a hypocrite, well I suppose I am to some extent.

Vermin has to be controlled but it has to be done in as humane a way as possible, not as an excuse to use them for live bait etc.

Shooting as far as I'm concerned is the most humane way

whitser

so your tarring me with the badger-baiting dog fighting brush now! the future of hunting in ireland is in bad shape when hunters are turning on each other. maybe its a kind of shooters snobbery but one thing is certain if my sports goes yours is next.

bunny shooter

whitser wrote: »

so your tarring me with the badger-baiting dog fighting brush now! the future of hunting in ireland is in bad shape when hunters are turning on each other. maybe its a kind of shooters snobbery but one thing is certain if my sports goes yours is next.

Read the post. I don't agree with digging out foxes or other so called sporting activities. Where did I say you did those ?

Matter finished as far as I'm concerned.

flanum

btw back to original topic,

me and me dad used to make a point of going out early spring the odd sunday with muzzled ferrets, solely to net a dozen healthy rabbits, hopefully with a few pregnant does and release them in various un rabbited locations by request.
used to put them in hessian sacks (can ye still get them?) for some reason they really calmed down and didnt wriggle much once they were sacked.
we'd then drive off to designated townland and release 3 in this field, 2 another field etc, usually as close to gorse as possible, i presume theyd be freaked out for a day or two and sought the gorse shelter until they got their diggin shoes on!!!
we often went back weeks/months later to check, some places feckin thrived some didnt.
funnily enough, we never ferreted the places where we released them, even years after. suppose it was a bit of "they were caught once, no need to catch them again"!

Invincible

Hi "flanum", are you still ferreting or is it all in the past?

stevoman

its a bad time of yer for ferreting at the moment if your looking a rabbits to re-introduce. Its spring now and a lot of very young are about. By introducing ferrets into the warrens around this time of year they are just going to kill the young and lie up beside them. I go ferreting and have a pair but i wont be going again until around late mid to late june.

Invincible

Hi "stevoman",I was'nt aware of the ferreting season,last thing I'd want is for the young ones to be slaughtered.Maybe later on in the year,I'll be able to get rabbits from some ferreter!

Rosahane

I was up in the Inishowen area of Donegal last Summer and was talking to somebody who told me of the commercial rabbiting operation that used to take place there many years ago. The rabbits were caught using ferrets and sold for the Belfast and maybe the British market!

Interestingly, they periodically introduced rabbits from another locality to improve the local population bloodlines and deal with the inevitable consequences of interbreeding, which otherwise leads to a decline in the population over a number of generations:eek:

foxshooter243

Rosahane wrote: »

I was up in the Inishowen area of Donegal last Summer and was talking to somebody who told me of the commercial rabbiting operation that used to take place there many years ago. The rabbits were caught using ferrets and sold for the Belfast and maybe the British market!

Interestingly, they periodically introduced rabbits from another locality to improve the local population bloodlines and deal with the inevitable consequences of interbreeding, which otherwise leads to a decline in the population over a number of generations:eek:

yeah thats correct, inishowen being my home turf--theres was an oul fella
who actually bought a substantial farm from catching and selling rabbits, i
remember watching him ferret rabbits one day back in the early seventies when he was in his late seventies, and his skill was amazing, you knew that it was acquired from pure practise, when we went back to his house to look at his ferrets he had rows upon rows of rabbits skins being cured,
my father who was also a ferreting man used to tell me that he made more money from rabbits than he did working and when i said why didnt you catch rabbits full time he said ,that he didnt want people thinking he was too lazy too work..strange but true. the rabbit population in inishowen is making a comeback now after a decline for the last couple of decades.