Well!  How about this YouTube video showing you the fine art of ferreting!  

WARNING – they show how to “dispatch” a rabbit and I couldn’t watch it so if you, too, are a bit squeamish, put your hand in front of the screen at that point.

I think someone told the rabbits we were coming, because they’d all run away and the warrens were empty but it was good to be out of the big smoke, sitting around with other ferrets owners and enjoying the cool evening outdoors.

The next morning I stayed behind in the tent while Philip took the kids and Scully and followed some other people who’d heard there might be rabbits in another area of the property.

They were gone for ages and I was getting more and more worried as the time passed and there was no sign of them.  Finally, about 3 hours later, they rolled up and Philip told me he’d put Scully down a hole and she had stayed down there.  Obviously he couldn’t leave her there so they just stood around, waiting for her to reappear.

That was our first – and last – weekend out ferreting

Still, all things considered, it is a fascinating “sport” and I’ve added the link to James Marchington’s blog to my list for those of you who want to read up and learn more about it.

I had to laugh when I saw this article, as I had only just finished writing about the “sport” of ferret legging on my site a couple of days ago.

At annual Highland event, contestants put animal down their pants, then wait, pray

BY BILL WASSON

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Oct 29, 2006

If you awoke this morning with an itch to stuff a ferret down your pants, you’re in luck.You can scratch that itch today at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. at the Richmond Highland Games & Celtic Festival at Richmond Raceway Complex.
The annual two-day festival brings the ancient sport of ferret legging to Richmond.”

I am not keen on hunting or blood sports but if I were heading off to the British Isles, I think I’d be tempted to go and mix with the team of “eager ferrets” in the countryside!

Certainly the scenery looks fantastic, especially after the arid, desert-like conditions of Perth after a dry winter

Experience the trill of ferreting on a highland estate set in the picturesque valley of the Feugh.

This is an opportunity to spend some time with our head game keeper “waiting for the rabbits to bolt” in this exciting and often unpredictable sport, accompanied by a knowledgeable and a “safe” pair of hands and our team of eager ferrets!

I came across this site while looking up something entirely different about ferrets and thought, hmmm, interesting!

The idea of chasing rabbits down doesn’t appeal to me but I would be so interested to see how the hawks and ferrets interact when going after their quarry. Mind you, I think it’s a pretty expensive experience at 520 pounds stirling for 3 days, IMHO.

We went ferreting with WAFFS about 10 years ago. Some farmer invited members to bring their ferrets along to his property out wup wup (Aussie for ‘out in the sticks’) to get rid of those wascally wabbits.