Ferreting

[Irishcobs]

I've done a quick google search but can't seem to find what I'm looking for.
Can you legally ferret on the side of a road?

Yesterday while hacking I passed two men on the side of a country lane. It was the wooden box at their feet that made me take notice as it was like the boxes they used to transport the terriers on the quads in, back in the day.
Anyway as I passed my horse did a little spook as a beautiful cream ferret popped out a hole. I didn't think much of it as I assumed they had landowner permission but as I rounded the corner and looked back they were speeding away.

I don't know much about ferreting but I guess they would still need landowner permission because of the network of barrows etc?

 

[maree t]

I cant see many landowners turning ferreters away to be honest. Anybody my OH has spoken to has been very happy to lose a wabbit or ten !!

 

[Alec Swan]

Without the permission of the land owner, those caught ferreting face a charge of "Trespassing in pursuit of coneys"!!

Between the two great wars (and before), there was a train which left Norwich once a week with goods carriages loaded with rabbits for the London markets and beyond. The working masses were heavily reliant upon rabbit meat as a source of protein.

All over the country, the larger farms and the estates leased out the rights to Warreners who earned a living rabbit-catching, by just about any method which they could. The Gin Trap was legal, snaring was a recognised method and ferreting too. Those Farms (or more often the Estates) which leased out their shooting rights, did so with the exclusion of rabbits, as the rabbiting rights were leased out separately. Rabbits were an important part of rural life.

Today, no one really bothers with the humble bunny, and most of those who go ferreting do so for the sport, I suspect. Those caught trespassing in pursuit, are rarely bothered with!

Alec.