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Jaf calls it rabbitopia - and that's why we're here. Mark 'Jaf' Jafferson is a leading light
in the South Somerset Ferreters, a group of families and friends who get together at weekends
not to do anything dull like play football or go shopping, but to go ferreting. So he
is always on the lookout for the new Watership Down. And there is no doubt, as we set out
the nets, this place looks perfect.
Nets are in a bit of a mess here . Yeah don't know who packed them up last time, but, well
I do but I can't mention any names on camera really.
Jefferson... Paul Jefferson my brother, I'll blame him because he's not here.
What's the plan?
Catch as many rabbits as we can really. Yeah. And then we always like to try and do a good
job for the farmer. But these rabbits they're pretty clever, been here for two thousand
years haven't they.
You are about to be out smarted by a rodent you know that.
Yeah, I blame the Romans for bringing them over. Yeah, I mean when we pulled up this
morning, there's rabbits everywhere. Plenty of action so hopefully if we don't get a bag
of 50 today, I'll be quite surprised. Hopefully, fingers crossed. You know
The long nets, the gate nets and the purse nets out, it's now a question of standing
around to wait... and wait... and wait. The first action is not what we want. One ferret
comes out of the bury looking like it's been in a nasty fight.
Whether he's come across a stoat or, don't know, I'll put him back in the box I think.
One anti-septic spray later and the ferret is retired from the action today and put in
a nice warm box in a vehicle. Back to the Western Front, and it's still all quiet. Then
a rabbit comes out.
Jaf is a bit depressed. Today has not gone according to plan. However, we have seen some
rabbits lolloping about next to an unpromising looking bramble bush a bit further down the
valley.
Well he called it a rabbitopia and he said fifty rabbits. Not quite fifty rabbits which
is why we've moved here.
We set up the nets again. Today is about nets and dogs. The dogs you want to be fast and
vicious killers. Well, you want the nets to be fast and vicious catchers, so Jaf chooses
them carefully.
These are the purse nets we use, got these from Bridport nets down in Bridport. Yeah
I've been there for a long long time all the fishing nets and like they've supplied the
fishing industry for a long long time.
These are a 10z three foot net. Basically brilliant. I don't like hemp nets myself because
hemp will rot away. These you can pack away damp, as long as you don't leave them all
summer damp in a bag they'll be fine. But certainly from week to week they'll last forever.
Hemp rots. These won't.
This spot turns out to be much better. Maybe that's the problem with ferreting. You have
a system of buries as big as the London Tube network and the ferrets just run round in
circles underground chasing rabbits. You need a shallow bury to get the rabbits out into
the fresh air and into the jaws of the dogs.
Not all the ferrets want to come back to the surface. Even a bury this size has lots of
chambers with lots of yummy things in them. The gang use the ferret-finders and occasionally
locate a ferret that has killed a rabbit underground and is stuck behind it. In the old days, you
would poke a bramble branch down the hole to see if it came back with fur on. Now you
use an endoscope, which gadget-man Jaf deploys to discover that, in this case, that's exactly
what happens. Rabbit removed and the ferret is free.
We end the morning with lunch. Jaf once again rides to the rescue with a jenny, a microwave
and some of his venison and pigeon pasties.
And here we have today's top prize.
It's possible there's too much oil in the mixture, which suddenly turns our ferreting
film into something out of The Highlander.
Still the pasties taste good, if slightly of two-stroke. And after lunch, there is one
more burst of action.
So a dozen rabbits by the end of the day, a lost ferret which Jaf retrieves the following
morning by leaving out a box and a dead rabbit, and the injured ferret makes a full recovery.
If you want to find out more about Jaf and the gang, search Facebook for South Somerset
Ferreters. And if you want good nets, go to BridportNets.co.uk.