Bog Myrtle & Peat

A week after the muted success of killing a mixy rabbit, the ferrets have struck again.

Having bought a ferret locator, I finally felt confident enough to give the boys another tour of duty on my parents’ farm down on the Solway coast. It was a grim afternoon, with heavy showers blowing out of the west, but Richard had just bought a battered old pump action 12 bore shotgun and was determined to put it to good use.

The first ferret was put in but decided that the entire business was a bit of a joke. He rolled around in the hole, clarting his expensive new detector collar in red mud and lying on his back. When it became obvious that there was nothing in that warren, I came to pick him out and was forced to play a dull game of cat and mouse as he emerged, then scurried back into his hole just before I could catch him. This went on for some time, until he made a slip up and was gently collared and put back in his box. I’m told that this can be quite a common habit, and since my ferrets frequently decide to consciously irritate me, I pretended that it was of no consequence.

A little further down the hill, I tried the other ferret in a second warren and was disappointed to see that it tried the same silliness. It ducked and dived out of two holes for five minutes, then vanished altogether. Keen for a trial with the ferret locator, the illuminated dial quickly told me that the little blighter had disappeared seven feet down into the soil. The ferret had clearly decided that playtime was over and had headed into the bowels of the warren to cause some mischief. Without any warning, a rabbit bolted like lightning from a hole twenty feet away. We were so unprepared for the appearance of a panicking bunny that it almost made it to a stand of gorse bushes before Richard span it to a standstill with the pump action.

Following inches behind the doomed rabbit, the little white faced ferret emerged. It seemed to have been quite an experience for the little thing, and while they are perhaps still too young to be worked properly, every brief excursion we take seems to teach all three of us more and more about hunting rabbits.