Are you rabbit infested

[SteveJohno]

I've sen a few comments from people who said they are rabbit infested, if anyone needs them clearing kent/east sussex I would be happy to help (ferrets )

 

[Paddy1000111]

Been out with the air rifle this year in Dorset and backed it up with snares. Been a busy year for the rabbits! They've been at it like, urr, rabbits! I used to have ferrets and I miss going ferreting! 

[Guest Gimlet]

Shoot mine with .22, HMRs and night vision. Ten years ago I was shooting at least 500 a year on a 900 acre farm. Then we had a population collapse from VHD. Numbers have recovered but not to where they were before. Still shoot a few but not like I used to.

An "infestation" rather depends on where they are. A dozen rabbits in a hundred acre field of young barley will do little measurable damage but one rabbit getting into your garden every night in early summer can be devastating. An half a dozen within hopping distance of a hedge you've just planted without tree guards will seem like a biblical plague.

 

What I have noticed round here is there are fewer rabbits on farmland, partly because of control and partly because of disease, but more turning up in people's gardens, on the roadside and the periphery of the village.  

 

I know that if you over-shoot a colony by hitting it too regularly instead of a gradual war of attrition, the survivors will up sticks and migrate, usually to somewhere like a roadside where you can't shoot them. 

[gary112]

Don,t see many rabbits around here any more,but seem to have a hell of a lot of mole trouble this year

[Guest Gimlet]

Mild wet winters are a nightmare for moles.

There's professional mole catchers advertising services again round here. Tricky job that.

 

I shot one once. Hugely satisfying. Spotted a fresh mole hill on the lawn that hadn't been there a few minutes earlier. Knowing the mole wouldn't be far away I got a stick and prodded the mound so it collapsed the tunnel and then went and got a shotgun. The mole detected the cave-in and came back to fix it. As soon as the hill started to heave I gave it a 42g SG from four feet away. Didn't do the lawn any favours but did the mole more good than a day at the seaside.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Gimlet

[Mick Dempsey]

Was a ferreter myself in my youth.

 

Snares are unpleasant, used them once, never again.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Mick Dempsey

[AHPP]

Mild wet winters are a nightmare for moles.
There's professional mole catchers advertising services again round here. Tricky job that.
 
I shot one once. Hugely satisfying. Spotted a fresh mole hill on the lawn that hadn't been there a few minutes earlier. Knowing the mole wouldn't be far away I got a stick and prodded the mound so it collapsed the tunnel and then went and got a shotgun. The mole detected the cave-in and came back to fix it. As soon as the hill started to heave I gave it a 42g SG from four feet away. Didn't do the lawn any favours but did the mole more good than a day at the seaside.

I once watched a friend smoke an entire box of cigarettes standing over a molehill with an auto 5. He was there for hours. Dedication. Fruitless but dedication nonetheless.

[Doug Tait]

Do ferrets work as a team or on their own, what are the tactics used?

[Stubby]

7 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

Do ferrets work as a team or on their own, what are the tactics used?

Yea . Usually have 3 on the subs bench also .

[Mick Dempsey]

15 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

Do ferrets work as a team or on their own, what are the tactics used?

Mine always worked on their own.