Ferreting in the Yorkshire Dales part 2

The last time I was on the tops was for a jovial day’s ferreting with Ian “Torchie” Clayton and his collie-cross Dan (Ferreting in the Yorkshire Dales part 1). While there, a welcome distraction to our day was watching a farmer and his collies herding sheep ready to be wormed. Helping him was his 14-year-old grandson, Callum Spence, who had just acquired his first ferret – a big hob.
While hanging the day’s catch, I could see Callum hovering about. He was intent on “borrowing” a rabbit to feed his ferret. We knew he was interested in what we were up to, so we asked if he fancied a walk out with Torchie, my friend Steve and me the next time we were in the area. Callum’s face lit up and you could almost reach out and touch his excitement. “Bring good clothing, a bait box and plenty of enthusiasm,” I shouted through the sturdy farmhouse door, but he already knew this: he’s from Yorkshire farming stock.
The day arrived and, as we rolled up the long drive in the Land Rover, Callum was already prepared. He couldn’t wait to get started, which was no surprise; I would have given anything to have been granted this opportunity when I was his age. Even the gloomy sky and the wind whipping around us couldn’t dampen his spirits.

Simon goes Ferreting to evict the local rabbits from some old Suffolk Oaks

About the author

Simon Whitehead

A Suffolk-based professional ferreter and rabbit controller, author and Shooting Times contributor, Simon is known widely as The Ferret Man and acknowledged as the last full-time warrener operating in Britain. Born in Middlesbrough in 1968, he moved with his parents to Suffolk in 1984 after the collapse of Cleveland's steel industry, and turned a boyhood fascination into a business in 2001, demonstrating ferreting at country shows nationwide through the summer and controlling rabbits in rural and urban East Anglia through the winter. Simon has become ferreting's premier demonstrator in the UK, sits on the Shooting Times expert panel and writes regularly for the magazine. He is the author of four books, including Ferreting: An Essential Guide, published by Crowood, and Ahead of the Game, celebrating wild rabbit as food, and has appeared in television programmes on rabbit management.

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