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Sporting Answers: Locating a lost ferret

Q) I have just started ferreting with some new friends and we tend to spend long periods waiting for our ferrets to return. None of us has a ferret finder and we are all fairly inexperienced. Is one really necessary? M. GARBUTT By email

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A) A responsible ferreter should never go ferreting without a fail-safe method of locating and retrieving his ferrets. A ferret finder is akin to wearing a seat belt when driving. The ferret finder was initially designed to help find a lost or errant ferret or to locate a “bottledup” ferret so that after a dig one could retrieve not only the ferret but also the rabbit in the blank end. Over a season, it is surprising how many extra rabbits are accounted for in this way.

Unfortunately, some ferreters never give their animals enough time to work a warren before getting out their finders and searching for what is probably a moving animal, so get the wrong signal. It is all down to styles of ferreting and motivation. When used correctly, the finder confirms that something is not right and if you need to move on or go home you have a method of finding and retrieving your ferret. After decades of ferreting I have yet to see a consistent alternative to the ferret finder.

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