Lurcher Write Up?

[tank34 2,178]

Liked that mate we all wont more

[weasellurcher 113]

Twiggie and I started taking a few hares but on the grass fields we didn't course them so much like a proper coursing dog rather we straight lined them, she was just short of 24tts and had plenty of speed, I would spot one, then we would walk towards it, I would whisper to her, "oos" and her collie ears would prick up and she would be looking aswell, If she saw it there was no messing about, straight after it, however if the hare started spinning she would get left behind, If she could stick for a few turns then 50 percent of the time she would get it as it crashed through a hedge or into a wood, I would listen out for the hares scream and without any training whatsoever she would retrieve them too me. I put this down to the amount of time we spent together and how we were really hunting as partners not merely master and dog. Now there alot of dogs that chase moving things and that is there instinct however Twiggie really new that she was hunting hares not just chasing something and so often, after I whispered "oos" if she could spot the hare even if it was crouching down, she would be off and away. I can remember clearly one such case, I had seen the two dots of the hares ears and told Twiggie so, she stood up tense and ready and suddenly took of at full speed, as this point the hares ears went down and I could no longer see it, she however kept up her sprint and as she neared the spot were the hare was I wondered if I had really even seen it, however without breaking a stride she leant down and plucked the hare from her form, swung round and retrieved it to me. I carried it home with me and when I arrived it was what my mother called, a familiar site! I had to learn all of the butchering my self and at 11 years old I would joint the hares and bring them into the kitchen whilst leaving as little mess as possible, luckily my father was a great cook and so we would have a delicious casserole or something similar. Whilst I improved my butchery and learned some cooking skills, Twiggie was getting faster and more controlled and a lot more experienced.

[peterbirdman1 206]

Very good read mate

[bullx100% 681]

Nice read mate.......as for the haters.....well f**k them they will always be everywhere.this is a hunting site first and foremost and should be filled of more story's of the field..... Not so long ago there were more story's on here and great write ups to be read but because of all the shite people just stop posting there story's and its a shame ......look forward to reading some more atb

[Tozer 385]

I like these, genuine example of what people do with a lurcher.

[Black123 120]

Another good read mate atvb

[Kemperz21 65]

Keep them coming ;-)

[LIGHT ON LIGHTS OUT 71]

Always intresting too hear (read) how folk first got into hunting game, atb

[weasellurcher 113]

At about a year old Twiggie caught her first muntjac, my Dad, every now and then got invited to a friends driven pheasant shoot in the midlands, just a small shoot but it was great fun. I was standing with him and the guns were circled around a small circular wood that was situated at the end of a cover crop. I had Twiggie on the lead when a muntjac squeezed under the fence and made a run across the line of guns, right in front of us, (there was a no ground game rule at the shoot don't worry!) she leant on the lead with her ears pricked, being inexperienced I didn't know of the harm a muntjac could do to a dog. So excitedly I took the lead of her and she immediately caught up with the small deer, she was not even close to a flat out run, more bounding or cantering alongside it. She had never seen one before and was slightly apprehensive as what to do with it. She then made a decision and grabbed it, I cannot remember where she grabbed it but very soon she had it on the floor by the throat, It was squealing, like a hare but far louder and I wasn't sure what to do but I had a small swiss army knife in my pocket and ran up to her, she was barely 15 metres away from me and I cut the animals throat. Thinking back, killing a larger animal like a muntjac in such a close personal way could have lead to great remorse however for me I was far to filled with adrenaline and pride for Twiggie. When the beaters came out of the wood, a few of them came over to me, one of them owned a lurcher himself and they told me that you need to gut a deer pretty soon after killing otherwise it spoils the meat and so here my attention was fully focused, for these were the lessons I wanted and needed to learn. With there help we gutted it and then I carried it all the way back to the car and at the end of the day we took it home.

[weasellurcher 113]

As Twiggie got older she started to course stylishly and I started to appreciate the beauty of it. A course I can remember was on a slightly rolling, large field with young wheat just coming up, I let her of the lead when we were far enough away from the road and Twiggie started to work the field. She ranged out into the field, drifting from one side to the other, her nose on the ground or in the wind until she cantered too close to a hare in its form and it sprang up and set off up the incline as is a hares way. She spotted it instantly and accelerated after it, as always she got behind it very quickly for she didn't lack any speed, however here was the hard bit, as she had only recently started coursing them properly, if the hare made a good turn then she would over shoot by a mile. However she would quickly get back behind it usually only to be pushed of again as she got too close to the hare and it span off. As the course went on she would get tighter to the hare, the soft soil would spray out from beneath her feet and she would be almost horizontal to the ground, the hare, barely a metre in front skirted round in the opposite direction and again she managed to stick on it. In fact she was closing right in on it and the course had brought her and the hare close to me, I could see her mouth open and she leant forwards to snatch the hare up. I watched her close her mouth again, the hare in between her jaws and my heart in between mine ... she snatched across as the hare again twisted and leapt to the side however she managed to grab hold of it thigh and she crashed to the ground, as she rolled along the ground she kept hold of the hare and stood up, adjusted her grip on the hare, picked it up and trotted over to me as calmly as you could imagine. Her tongue lolling out of her mouth but apart from that there was no indication that she had just done what I had seen to be extraordinary!

[blackmaggie 3,375]

another good couple of reads there matey keep them coming

[BIGLURKS 874]

Could have a book going in no time the writings not bad it's good reading

[northern lad 2,292]

Excellent posts mate....keep em coming

[Silversnake 1,099]

Love the stories mate, sounds like you and twiggie had a lot of fun, keep them coming

[weasellurcher 113]

been a bit busy of christmas but thought id do a few more posts, just reiterating that this is all well pre ban.

 

Some days I would be forced to take the family's two little dachshunds for a walk as well as Twiggie and sometimes a sister of mine or my father would come. One day we were walking, my dad and sister with the dachshunds and me with Twiggie and we went down the side of a field, fairly open but along a hedge. We were just having a normal dog walk when out of the hedge crashed a big roe doe, she ran straight in front of us and headed of across the field, Twiggie pulled on the lead madly, I wanted to let her of, it was the first deer we had seen together and as usual I could only think of the positives that could result from the course, I looked across at my father to see what he thought about it and to my surprise he was as eager as I, by the time I got her of the lead the deer was half way across the field but Twiggie ate up the ground quickly and was behind the deer before the end of the field. She didn't hesitate and grabbed the big roe by a hind leg until it slowed, remember the Twiggie was barely 24tts but she managed to get it to the ground. I was running across the field as fast as I could go, knife as always in my pocket and ready to be used, now roe, I am sure you know make a far worse shout than a munty or a hare, however I soon killed it. Just as the others caught up, we gralloched it there and left it by the hedge to be picked up later. Twiggie was always good at just picking things up as we went along and she was as game a dog as one could wish.