Macca and I stood looking at the warrens with our dogs by our sides, a fortunate position to be in. An almost blasé approach to this sporting experience to tick off your bucket list. Pitting these athletic lurchers against athletes that are as wild as nature itself. True sporting enjoyment has to be wild and what could be more wild than hunting the athletic and versatile rabbit on it's own turf. The hunter versus the hunted, predator v prey, but the rabbit has many advantages. Not every warren will hold rabbits thus valuable time can be wasted trying to locate and hunt an animal that knows intimately every nook and cranny of the ground under our feet. A low centre of gravity permits them to sprint through the tightest of pipes, around the inflexible rocks and through or under the smallest clumps of heather. A true test of athleticism, that is why we have lurchers. The type of dog we run has collie influence, a great nose, balletic feet and the acceleration to match it's stamina. Anything less and they will only catch cold.
For days prior to our visit the heavens had been opened. Water made its way down the hill, making the ground underfoot soft, thus a lot of the warrens were partially flooded. However keen the ferrets were, they would have to go through water, something a lot don’t like doing. In the distance, rabbits were running about, unaware of the impending danger, as to them it was just another day. Dasher was off. Not after the rabbits in the distance but following his nose to a clump of heather not far away. He lifted the first rabbit from it's seat. Tawny, all statuesque over more heather, watched Dasher retrieve whilst continuing to mark her warren.
The ferrets were a mixture of polecat type that were pencil thin in build. Small enough for these tight, hilly pipes, plus a large nicotine white hob. All the ferrets were fitted with not only ferret finders but bells as well to jingle their way through the pipes, helping to startle the rabbits into bolting, and normally when there is no storm blowing, they could be heard under the heather too.
