I was born and raised in the beautiful
area of Galloway, South West Scotland. It was and still is, famous
for it's agricultural produce including the Galloway cattle.
An idyllic place, boasting of Roman Roads, castles and lovely countryside.
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In
1947, aged 9 years, I killed my first rabbit and sold it for
sixpence( a fortune then). There was an estimated 150 million
rabbits in Britain and Galloway had it's fair share.
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Over the years I learned, from the
old poachers,every known method of trapping.
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Between
1953/1954, Mxyomatosis destroyed the rabbit population and
it took a decade before they were seen again in any numbers.
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As luck would have it, or whatever,
in 1952 I spent a winter working with a professional trapper -
a secretive man with secretive skills- a Longnetter. He taught
me everything there was to know about longnetting.
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My experience over the years led me to design a longnet which can
be used in various situations.
I have worked on some of the
biggest estates in the land, Buccleuch, Queensbury, Culzean and
Threave to name but a few.
MY DEDICATION TO BILLY GRAHAM FROM CASTLE DOUGLAS:
I owe the
best childhood years of anyone on this planet to Billy. His knowlege
of fieldcraft/ ratting/ rabbiting/ birdnesting/ fishing he passed
onto me - quite simply he was a young boy, gifted with a maturity
of skills I have never seen bettered since.
Billy your gift to me was a thousand memories...
CONTACT:
JOHN
ORR (a rabbitman)
25
Chestnut drive, Girvan, Ayrshire,
South West Scotland,
KA26 0DA
