What Age You Started Hunting?

[Magpie 102]

My father first took me fishing a 8 years of age. I caught 3 perch from a local drain, all around the 9/10 oz mark.

 

I got my first ferret, (Bazil) a white hob when I turned 10. Now it was at this time my parents parted company so I had no one to show how to go about ferreting. My first trip out saw me ferret in box and fishing keep net over my shoulder . I found an earth and entered my ferret, placing the keep net over the hole the ferret had disapeard down. A few moments later a rabbit sprang from the earth further up the hedge so off I ran to hold my net over that hole only to see a rabbit bolt from the hole I'd originally been at. Well this went on for a while, rabbits bolting, me running around in true Laural and Hardy fashion with my keep net until 7 rabbits had bolted and my ferret showed. Very disgruntled I headed home.

After a phone call to my 'Scarlet pimpernel' father and much laughter on his part I received ten purse nets in the post and away I went.

 

three years later I happened upon a copy of the shooting news, For those of you not familiar with this publication it was the forbear of the much inferior countrymans weekly( save Skycats articles ). I read an article about a guy who was accompanied on his ferreting trips by a lurcher. Wow I thought, that's for me and promptly pestered me mum until she gave in. My first lurcher was a 3/4 whippet 1/4 beddlington. Charlie was a smooth coated fawn bitch with a blue patch over one eye. Again having no one to show me the ropes and to help me train her I ended up with a very unruly hound that did exactly what I didn't want it to do. I still loved her all the same.

 

I left school and went to work on a shoot on the Cambridgeshire/Suffolk border. Spending two days at college on the now defunct YTS scheme.

I brought my first terrier with my first weeks wages and although she was initially quite frustrating she turned out to be a great little dog that I learnt so much from. She was self entered to fox, as hard as nails with rats and a great little ferreting dog.

Unfortunately my keepering job didn't work out as I'd planned and I left feeling all my dreams had been crushed.

 

I did shoot for a while, having my first air rifle at 10 and my first shot gun at 17 but, I let my certificate drop when I turned twenty. I just couldn't get my head around seeing something shot only to see it run or fly away to die a lingering death when I knew my dogs would either catch it or it would get away.

 

I owned several small whippet type lurchers and a gangly collie greyhound x before I settled on the dogs I keep now. Many harsh lessons have been learned but, I think theres something in having to learn things the hard way.

[Guest Macnas]

I think I first went out hunting when I was about 6 ot 7, and started being taught to use a gun at 10.

We had greyhounds for coursing and a few harrier hounds all the while I was growing up, one of my earliest memories is being among the greyhounds when they were let out, some of them had been fighting and I see in my minds eye a black bitch with the blood very red and bright on her torn shoulder.

[Guest Frank]

no I havent read it but I read the reviews on that link and it sounds like my cup of tea I notice the main character is called Frank

 

...Frank....Smart arse ...

 

The book is good , its based in your part of the world.

Edited September 12, 2007 by Frank