thefootman

I'm not aware of any split, as far as I know the same club members who keep drag dogs keep beagles for hunting, while years ago foot harriers/beagles were used for drag hunting now nearly all drag hunting is done with trail hounds that were imported originally from the lake district by the Cork clubs back in the 50s and 60s. That said in the North there are still one or two drags run every year for harriers only.

I have not hunted in Kerry myself but I would know lads in Monaghan who have been down to Kerry. To my knowledge there are still packs around Caherciveen, Waterville Portmagee and Kenmare. I hope to head down that way myself somethime. As far as I know they hunt the same as the northern foot packs they would intend to hunt hare but if they meet a fox they will hunt it as well. The Kerry Beagles Association has a website covering drag hunts, http://kerrybeagle.blogspot.ie/ check it out, there are some contact details on it.

Good to see they came on well for you. You will have good sport next year. Hard to beat the Monaghan hounds, but then I am biased.

Interesting thread this, for me personally I would not expect my own pack to lose either a hare or fox because of a field of sheep. I would not accept sheep "foil" as some of the lads call it on as a reason to drop a line, hounds should go through sheep or cattle as if they are not there. Of course a field of cattle might run and split a pack, but then you should not be hunting where there are big fields of cattle. The biggest obstacle in my opinion to a pack on a line is a tarmac road. It takes a good hound to hunt the road, especially a hare on the road. That brings me to another q

I found this link. It was written by a Presbyterian minister in the 1950s about the local hunting tradition in Loughgall Co Armagh. It captures well the way that hunting was a way of life for the common man all across South Ulster. This form of "free range" hunting survived in my own parish in Co Monaghan up until the late 1990's. Unfortunately with all the changes in the countryside the days of casually walking to the top of a hill and calling in a pack of hounds are gone I'm afraid. http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/3rd-may-1957/22/the-sudden-pack

Myself and another lad went out with just half a dozen hounds of our own last Saturday morning. We found at 8.45 and never stopped until 11.45 put two to ground and hunted another cub. Scent was very good and the hounds were flying, we only quit when a farmer came out and asked us to finish up as he had cattle to move. We went out with the full pack on Sunday had around 30 out, but it was useless, scent was poor, hounds knew it too and they were listless and did not have anything like the same enthusiasm as the previous day.

That's good to know, we wouldn't hunt hares until October anyway. That's a good one about Sunday hunting. Does that include foxes?

We are a Monaghan pack but would hunt over and back across the border regularly. Not sure of the actual legislation, but to my knowledge it starts on the 1 October and finishes on 28 February same as the south. lets just say the cops would keep a low profile in the parts of the north our hounds would cross into. so the law was never much of an issue for us. I remember once in the early 90s the pack got across the border and we came across an army/cop foot patrol when we were following them up, The old lads told the cops we were hunting foxes even though the pack were full steam after a hare.

She is still there, though I think there is a lad coming at weekend to look at her. Its my mates, so send me a pm and I will give you his number

By the way we are in Ireland

One of the lads in my pack wants to pass on a harrier bitch. She is a bit too slow for our pack. She is a grand bitch to beat and is as truth full on a line as you could ask for, just slow and gets tailed of a bit on hard running hunts. Would suit a lad looking for a hound to beat cover. PM and I will pass on my mates details.

No problem Gonetoearth. I am very proud of our tradition, so I can get a bit touchy if I think any one is running it down. Thankfully we should be able to pass it on to the next generation. Hope we never have to deal with the problems you lads have had to over there.

Look lads no need for the personal abuse, argue and debate away, but the name calling is stupid. Gonetoearth the definitions of hunting and bushing in England had nothing to do with Lowry's post, as he was quite clear that he was talking about Ireland. In Ireland while there are plenty of bushing packs, it is a totally different sport to the trencher fed foot packs which most people keeping hounds in Ireland are part of. There are 129 packs with the Irish Foot Harriers Association of which I would say 90% have hounds kept by members, with there own country, breed lines, and deep roots in the

Gonetoearth what do you mean by bushing not hunting. Do you think our sport in Ireland is not of equal value to that of the mounted packs, just because we don't dress up in fancy gear and address our betters as "sir"?. My own pack is a trencher fed foot pack, most of whose members, including myself, can trace their families involvement in hunting and keeping hounds at least back into the 1800's. We are not in any way unique as there are written records of foot packs kept by the "peasants" and factory workers in South Ulster back into the 1700s, that's a lot of tradition and hunting knowledge

Well lad nice looking hounds there, what part of Ireland did ya get them from, no specifics now just Northern or Southern counties.They look like they are Northern bred to my eye. Hate to break it to ya but the Irish Harrier is notoriously head strong even for a hound. The mounted packs around here won't keep them because they think they are two heedless to suit there style of hunting. Ourselves we actually try to breed them that way as we want them to be as game as possible and would have no respect for a hound that would lift his head from a hunt to go to a call. Funny thing is I have seen