Best Days Bushing / Bushing Tales.

[fitchet 788]

Cracking read mate.

 

This day was a few years aga now pre-ban obviously. Me and two others had organised a day out onto a huge tract of wasteland that Holds all sorts. This bit of landis mainly rush beds brambles and old gravel pits that go down into an arrow head. Roe muntjac fox rabbits hares and game birds all litter this land but the dogs have to work hard for there catches. I had my 3/8 5/8th bull greyhound and a terrier. Tayo had his strong powerfull saluki/greyhound bitch "bess". This bitch started her days killing hares but turnt out to be pretty handy at dropping roe and muntjac and was sold as her owner was sick of it when they were out coursing. he also had a old terrier blind as a bat but out for the walk. The other lad out with us ronnie had his first x saluki/grey "red". Not the best dog in the world but keeps him happy. We were up with the larks and were ready to go just as the gloom was starting to clear. There was a bit of frost not ideal but men and dogs were too keen to let it bother us. "bess" had a good run on a lucky hare that narrowly made its escape into a strip of young trees that we were due to walk through later on in the day. Whilst waiting for the bitch to return we smoked and chatted about the run we'd just seen.

 

Then the sound of bodies bouncing of the plastic tree guards erupted out of the cover and a lovely Muntie doe leapt out with bess closely behind. A ten yard sprint and the doe was on the deck. By the time we were on the scene it was all over. A good show. We quickly sorted the deer and left it in some reeds ready to pick up later on. By now we were well awake as we're the dogs. We came to a big old reedbed and I loosed the bull/greyhound and terriers and the other two were bouncing on slips. My dog worked the cover with true vigour and produced a single bunny. Better than nothing but not really what we were after. We moved on and deer slots were everywhere. The next spot was some reeds that bordered a small pond. The bull/grey was sent on and withing seconds he was cantering nose down obviously on a red hot scent. I was expecting a fox so whistled the terriers up and leashed them. As he approached a smallish patch of bramble he jumped in and a good Muntie buck jumped out.

 

He's one it like a shot twisting turning and just before the next bit of cover strikes and gets to grip with his quarry. Anybody who's ran muntjac will know they can be hardy little critters so we ran over to make sure everything was ended quickly as possible. He knows how to deal with an angry buck having learnt the hard way and kept it well under control.

 

I was over the moon but ronnie was under pressure now. We loosed the terriers and positioned ronnie to were we thought quarry would break. To my surprise the only things that broke were rabbits and "red" quickly mopped them up and retrieved them before the terriers arrived on the scene. Brilliant stuff. We loosed all the dogs and just took an easy walk reflecting on the morning. The terriers put a few bunnies up tayos blind old dog never faltered once even found a crafty old hen pheasant sitting tight. We kept walking and my bull/grey came to a rock steady point in some gorse. A well aimed strike and the cock pheasants in the bag. Sadly the terriers got to it so it was minus head and tail feathers by the time I got it but was a nice catch all the same.

 

We decided to make our way back and we walked along a brilliant stretch of private river. We were chatting away about dogs not really paying attention when my terrier bitch gave a yap and the banging and crashing of several bodies. Next thing 2 nice sided roe crashed out of cover followed by our "crew" the deer plunged into the river closely followed by 2 of our dogs mine and tayos bitch. "red" ran up the bank along the river. The deer got up the bank and the dog in hot pursuit. All of a sudden"red" came out of nowhere and literally yanked one of the does of it's fet. Impressive stuff from the dog who used its brain. There was now a tangle of dogs and a very tenderised roe. There was only one way to get there sharpish and that was to wade it. The water was so cold it stung. We quickly got sorted and got back across with Tayo falling over and nearly losing our doe due to the pacyness of the river. We got our steaming dogs and quarry home ASAP. The dogs got rugged up and were given a good bowfull of food. We had a hot bath and got on with sorting our Sunday dinners out and other menial chores.

 

Might not have been the most quarry caught and the dogs may not have been the best but that morning will always stick in my mind. "bess" is dead now and red is near on retired. I still walk this ground now but never had a morning as good yet.

 

All the best.

 

Edited June 19, 2013 by fitchet

[Guest foxpack]

 

had some great days out with through invite with some lads with a bushing pack ,been on fox drives and on mixed bag drives,seen a lot of gear and some cracking dogs working .mainly beagle x blooded dogs.i would be out more with them if i could find the time.

 

 

Dont they look the part

 

they do mate ,the lads do a lot of fox drives up and down the country ,there based in cumbria ,but do scotland ,lancashire ,etc.anyone need to get in touch drop me a pm,thanks

[Ideation 8,216]

Cracking read mate.

 

This day was a few years aga now pre-ban obviously. Me and two others had organised a day out onto a huge tract of wasteland that Holds all sorts. This bit of landis mainly rush beds brambles and old gravel pits that go down into an arrow head. Roe muntjac fox rabbits hares and game birds all litter this land but the dogs have to work hard for there catches. I had my 3/8 5/8th bull greyhound and a terrier. Tayo had his strong powerfull saluki/greyhound bitch "bess". This bitch started her days killing hares but turnt out to be pretty handy at dropping roe and muntjac and was sold as her owner was sick of it when they were out coursing. he also had a old terrier blind as a bat but out for the walk. The other lad out with us ronnie had his first x saluki/grey "red". Not the best dog in the world but keeps him happy. We were up with the larks and were ready to go just as the gloom was starting to clear. There was a bit of frost not ideal but men and dogs were too keen to let it bother us. "bess" had a good run on a lucky hare that narrowly made its escape into a strip of young trees that we were due to walk through later on in the day. Whilst waiting for the bitch to return we smoked and chatted about the run we'd just seen.

 

Then the sound of bodies bouncing of the plastic tree guards erupted out of the cover and a lovely Muntie doe leapt out with bess closely behind. A ten yard sprint and the doe was on the deck. By the time we were on the scene it was all over. A good show. We quickly sorted the deer and left it in some reeds ready to pick up later on. By now we were well awake as we're the dogs. We came to a big old reedbed and I loosed the bull/greyhound and terriers and the other two were bouncing on slips. My dog worked the cover with true vigour and produced a single bunny. Better than nothing but not really what we were after. We moved on and deer slots were everywhere. The next spot was some reeds that bordered a small pond. The bull/grey was sent on and withing seconds he was cantering nose down obviously on a red hot scent. I was expecting a fox so whistled the terriers up and leashed them. As he approached a smallish patch of bramble he jumped in and a good Muntie buck jumped out.

 

He's one it like a shot twisting turning and just before the next bit of cover strikes and gets to grip with his quarry. Anybody who's ran muntjac will know they can be hardy little critters so we ran over to make sure everything was ended quickly as possible. He knows how to deal with an angry buck having learnt the hard way and kept it well under control.

 

I was over the moon but ronnie was under pressure now. We loosed the terriers and positioned ronnie to were we thought quarry would break. To my surprise the only things that broke were rabbits and "red" quickly mopped them up and retrieved them before the terriers arrived on the scene. Brilliant stuff. We loosed all the dogs and just took an easy walk reflecting on the morning. The terriers put a few bunnies up tayos blind old dog never faltered once even found a crafty old hen pheasant sitting tight. We kept walking and my bull/grey came to a rock steady point in some gorse. A well aimed strike and the cock pheasants in the bag. Sadly the terriers got to it so it was minus head and tail feathers by the time I got it but was a nice catch all the same.

 

We decided to make our way back and we walked along a brilliant stretch of private river. We were chatting away about dogs not really paying attention when my terrier bitch gave a yap and the banging and crashing of several bodies. Next thing 2 nice sided roe crashed out of cover followed by our "crew" the deer plunged into the river closely followed by 2 of our dogs mine and tayos bitch. "red" ran up the bank along the river. The deer got up the bank and the dog in hot pursuit. All of a sudden"red" came out of nowhere and literally yanked one of the does of it's fet. Impressive stuff from the dog who used its brain. There was now a tangle of dogs and a very tenderised roe. There was only one way to get there sharpish and that was to wade it. The water was so cold it stung. We quickly got sorted and got back across with Tayo falling over and nearly losing our doe due to the pacyness of the river. We got our steaming dogs and quarry home ASAP. The dogs got rugged up and were given a good bowfull of food. We had a hot bath and got on with sorting our Sunday dinners out and other menial chores.

 

Might not have been the most quarry caught and the dogs may not have been the best but that morning will always stick in my mind. "bess" is dead now and red is near on retired. I still walk this ground now but never had a morning as good yet.

 

All the best.

 

 

Brilliant read mate, cheers

[skycat 6,172]

fitchet: great read, and it's not the quantity of game caught IMO but the quality of the hunt. Love to see dogs using their brains and putting themselves in the right place.

[whippet 99 2,613]

one what sticks out for me was on a late winter afternoon before the ban,...............a little bit of a miserable day ...normal walk along the river,...turned into a great bit of sport what involved all the dogs.......

dogs noses in the air sniffing with excitement ,............I knew aswell as them ,..............there was some sport across the river ..........the other side this river there is a pub with a field behind it and the field was untouched and I knew occasionally holds one or two in a couple of the shallow earths...........I could rule out deer with ease and could tell by the excitement ,it was no rabbit,...........I knew dam well a ginger fire ball was about..............

with out hesitation the dogs ran across the tree what had fallen across the river and stayed like it for years after ,..........with the dogs sound across it was now my turn and as I got to the other end of the tree there was a few yips from two of my russells ,............as I looked up I could see our ginger friend coming out the of the brash covering ............with the lurcher and the whippet not far behind ,..............old charley was a lot quicker than them through the thick cover on the river bank ,................but made a costly mistake of going too ground,.................with two russells on her ass it wasn't long before they had dived too ground and after literally a minute or two she bolted and as she left the cover to slip into the next bit ,................she was met by a lurcher who was wanting too play ,..............after the impact they rolled down the bank a bit and as the red ball was smaller she was up and on her way again and I honestly thought it was her lucky day ,........as she crept inside the bramble to my amazement the shivering pet whippet took a hold of the back leg ,.......giving enough time for my fox friendly lurcher to get back on terms with what he had first started and it was over in and instant ,.............with the two terriers joing for a share of the trophy ,...there was two happy jack russells ,...one happy lurcher and a very happy whippet and a shocked owner lol..............as me pet whippet don't like sharp ends so I was happy to say the least........

on our way back to the tree across the river one of me terriers went to ground and was baying hard and I knew too well that the other sex was in here and that would of made sense this time of year even being a little early,.............I could here a bit of contact now and again and with now two russells too ground I thought now I got problems..........so after about ten minutes I tried to locate where they were as I thought a dig might be in need ,.............I could just about here them under a big tree right next too the river in fact at one point I was in the river trying to look for holes in under the roots,............when I got back on top I could here the baying getting louder and clearer,..............with that there was an explosion of two red fire balls what had bolted straight into the river ,......with my lurcher taking an impressive leap from the steep bank just missing its target in the water,..........(I thought fook me this has turned in to a great little walk)........with old raynard narrowly missed in the water ,it made its escape up the steep bank what was easier for the fox than it was for the lurcher and they both lived to see another day as the lurcher lost to much ground up the bank but was very unlucky with its lunge and initial strike ............. a great bit of sport and a good feeling heading back to the van ,............

[Ideation 8,216]

had some great days out with through invite with some lads with a bushing pack ,been on fox drives and on mixed bag drives,seen a lot of gear and some cracking dogs working .mainly beagle x blooded dogs.i would be out more with them if i could find the time.

 

 

 

I recognise the dogs

 

Those cocker x beagles are cracking

[Born Hunter 17,628]

Some cracking tales!

 

I was there with you on that one whippet, I could see it all clear as day, great writing.

[desertdog 149]

_{a friend of mine got a patxcocker of a lad from here, what a dog she is to hunt, seems to pull the pack together,and has a great nose,super little hound,}

[patterdale666 1,620]

Some great reading lads fair play

[Astanley 11,465]

My most memorable day bushng was in September 1967.

A friend and I decided to go and visit his aunt who lived a couple of miles away ,we had with us two small mongrels and the journey took us along a foreshore across a couple of fields and through a small wood. On the foreshore one of the dogs had killed a rat and we came into the first field thinking we were mighty hunters yapping away to each other about how big the rat was ( and it was getting bigger by the minute )and how we would get a bag off his aunt and pick it up on the way home so we could take it into school , suddenly , right under my feet , the first hare I have ever seen rose up and made off toward the wood ,over the years I have tried to describe how I felt at that moment , but I,v never been able to do it justice , any way the silence was broken by two very scruffy , very noisy mongrels giving chase followed by two very scruffy , very noisy kids . The hare was almost casual as it made its way to the woods , even at half pace it was in no danger of being caught by our two super rat killers , it reached the woods and safety , or so it thought .

The dogs ( midge and Kim ) barely hesitated at the edge of the wood before once more giving strangled yelps and diving into the under growth , the next 10 minutes were a bit of a blur , but the excitement of hearing the dogs get noisier the nearer they got to their quarry , the long silences , the occasional glimpse of the hare as it left the wood for 10 or so yards then ducking back in will live with me forever .

I was 11 and every time I go out with the dogs I am still 11 years old , just a big kid looking for the thrill of the chase .

[staffs riffraff 1,068]

Great read guys thanks for sharing

[j1985 1,983]

Cracking read mate.

 

This day was a few years aga now pre-ban obviously. Me and two others had organised a day out onto a huge tract of wasteland that Holds all sorts. This bit of landis mainly rush beds brambles and old gravel pits that go down into an arrow head. Roe muntjac fox rabbits hares and game birds all litter this land but the dogs have to work hard for there catches. I had my 3/8 5/8th bull greyhound and a terrier. Tayo had his strong powerfull saluki/greyhound bitch "bess". This bitch started her days killing hares but turnt out to be pretty handy at dropping roe and muntjac and was sold as her owner was sick of it when they were out coursing. he also had a old terrier blind as a bat but out for the walk. The other lad out with us ronnie had his first x saluki/grey "red". Not the best dog in the world but keeps him happy. We were up with the larks and were ready to go just as the gloom was starting to clear. There was a bit of frost not ideal but men and dogs were too keen to let it bother us. "bess" had a good run on a lucky hare that narrowly made its escape into a strip of young trees that we were due to walk through later on in the day. Whilst waiting for the bitch to return we smoked and chatted about the run we'd just seen.

 

Then the sound of bodies bouncing of the plastic tree guards erupted out of the cover and a lovely Muntie doe leapt out with bess closely behind. A ten yard sprint and the doe was on the deck. By the time we were on the scene it was all over. A good show. We quickly sorted the deer and left it in some reeds ready to pick up later on. By now we were well awake as we're the dogs. We came to a big old reedbed and I loosed the bull/greyhound and terriers and the other two were bouncing on slips. My dog worked the cover with true vigour and produced a single bunny. Better than nothing but not really what we were after. We moved on and deer slots were everywhere. The next spot was some reeds that bordered a small pond. The bull/grey was sent on and withing seconds he was cantering nose down obviously on a red hot scent. I was expecting a fox so whistled the terriers up and leashed them. As he approached a smallish patch of bramble he jumped in and a good Muntie buck jumped out.

 

He's one it like a shot twisting turning and just before the next bit of cover strikes and gets to grip with his quarry. Anybody who's ran muntjac will know they can be hardy little critters so we ran over to make sure everything was ended quickly as possible. He knows how to deal with an angry buck having learnt the hard way and kept it well under control.

 

I was over the moon but ronnie was under pressure now. We loosed the terriers and positioned ronnie to were we thought quarry would break. To my surprise the only things that broke were rabbits and "red" quickly mopped them up and retrieved them before the terriers arrived on the scene. Brilliant stuff. We loosed all the dogs and just took an easy walk reflecting on the morning. The terriers put a few bunnies up tayos blind old dog never faltered once even found a crafty old hen pheasant sitting tight. We kept walking and my bull/grey came to a rock steady point in some gorse. A well aimed strike and the cock pheasants in the bag. Sadly the terriers got to it so it was minus head and tail feathers by the time I got it but was a nice catch all the same.

 

We decided to make our way back and we walked along a brilliant stretch of private river. We were chatting away about dogs not really paying attention when my terrier bitch gave a yap and the banging and crashing of several bodies. Next thing 2 nice sided roe crashed out of cover followed by our "crew" the deer plunged into the river closely followed by 2 of our dogs mine and tayos bitch. "red" ran up the bank along the river. The deer got up the bank and the dog in hot pursuit. All of a sudden"red" came out of nowhere and literally yanked one of the does of it's fet. Impressive stuff from the dog who used its brain. There was now a tangle of dogs and a very tenderised roe. There was only one way to get there sharpish and that was to wade it. The water was so cold it stung. We quickly got sorted and got back across with Tayo falling over and nearly losing our doe due to the pacyness of the river. We got our steaming dogs and quarry home ASAP. The dogs got rugged up and were given a good bowfull of food. We had a hot bath and got on with sorting our Sunday dinners out and other menial chores.

 

Might not have been the most quarry caught and the dogs may not have been the best but that morning will always stick in my mind. "bess" is dead now and red is near on retired. I still walk this ground now but never had a morning as good yet.

 

All the best.

 

I enjoyed that, good read!!

 

The way some muntjac try shaking of a dog weaving about on the run is great to watch. Others when pushed or caught out in the open seem to straight line it, they're the ones that usually get dropped quick so I'm told.

[desertdog 149]

not always the case, j, them muntys are nasty angry little feks and well armed, i lost a bitch to a munty,he straight lined, and she got him, but he fought back, slashed her up,and battered her,and she was a dog that took them regular, she died in my arms on the field.the thing with bushing is you never no whats coming out,thats half the fun.

[j1985 1,983]

I know full well how mad them little b*****ds can be! All it takes is one well placed blow from a buck and it can be curtains for the best of dogs.

 

Yeh, once I hear them terriers start screaming it's great.

[youcanthide...BANG 1,051]

great posts lads, not got bushing dogs myself of ever been out for a mooch with the dogs but all these stories make me feel like ive been missing something big-time