A historical question: really carefully formulated LOL

[paulus 26]

.......................lurcher does not have to weigh 85lb and be a mass of muscle to be of any use in todays modern times when all we can legally take is rabbits,all I can say to you lads that have struggled to get on terms with fox where or when it was still legal is get a better lurcher or change the way your hunting them as a good dog does not miss many,atb,WM

 

I've had a few small lurchers which took fox regularly, and I agree........any lurcher should be able to take them on open ground. The only time mine missed is when the fox was going through really thick cover: doubling back on itself in brambles etc. I have a very good day time lurcher which wouldn't take them on the lamp, but bust cover and guts to get them by day: strange bitch!

aint they all

[top hat 127]

excellent thread with some great insights in the world of foxing with lurchers.Personally i think that the introduction of bull blood and wheaten blood to the mix may have started alot of lads hunting foxes with lurchers.Collie crosses and deerhound crosses were widely used mainly as pot fillers and although i know a few old timerss that did take a few foxes with them ,it was rare enough that they got the chance to take them in daylight .The introduction of the lamp ,be it just a motor bikre battery and a spot off a car etc,gave the lamper more chances and opportunity to tackle foxes and with the introduction of decent bull blood came the two coming together .JMO

[morton 5,369]

.......................lurcher does not have to weigh 85lb and be a mass of muscle to be of any use in todays modern times when all we can legally take is rabbits,all I can say to you lads that have struggled to get on terms with fox where or when it was still legal is get a better lurcher or change the way your hunting them as a good dog does not miss many,atb,WM

 

I've had a few small lurchers which took fox regularly, and I agree........any lurcher should be able to take them on open ground. The only time mine missed is when the fox was going through really thick cover: doubling back on itself in brambles etc. I have a very good day time lurcher which wouldn't take them on the lamp, but bust cover and guts to get them by day: strange bitch!

Skycat,when you say "any lurcher should be able to take them on open ground",i take that to mean,any proven fox dog and not any lurcher in general?.

[skycat 6,174]

I mean any lurcher that actually wants to take fox: of course there are loads which will run a fox, joust with it, run alongside it and look for all the world like they mean business, but in the end they just don't want to risk getting bitten. Not all lurchers have a real killer instinct: big difference between catching and killing. I even had one lurcher who started her career on fox in the early autumn, and she was retrieving big cubs live to hand She learned that they needed to be dead so they couldn't bite her and went on to become a decent fox dog by her second season.

[whippet 99 2,613]

I mean any lurcher that actually wants to take fox: of course there are loads which will run a fox, joust with it, run alongside it and look for all the world like they mean business, but in the end they just don't want to risk getting bitten. Not all lurchers have a real killer instinct: big difference between catching and killing. I even had one lurcher who started her career on fox in the early autumn, and she was retrieving big cubs live to hand She learned that they needed to be dead so they couldn't bite her and went on to become a decent fox dog by her second season.

i wouldnt blame a mutt for not engaging with those disease ridden ,skeletons in those concrete jungles