Twenty one years ago........

[Francie, 1,718]

When i was young green an keen,me an my friend planned a day out,just the two of us,back then we walked everywere as we had no transport,we regulary walked at least 15 to 20miles if not more every saturday an sunday on the search for setts,keeping a close eye along the ditches an hedges  for the fresh kick out,anyway we headed of with my friends young black dog jim who only had one dig under him,an my lurcher bitch pepper who also was a young bitch an hadnt seen the sharp end yet.

Pepper was bred down from shadow(few pics of him on here)i aquired her from a fella from the far side of strabane for forty quid,he was parting with her at four months because she was going to be to small for him,she ended up 22 tts an stucky build,fast in a straight line lol

We were about four mile into our day an it was just getting light,so we stopped for a smoke,it was cold as it was in january but lovley as the sun broke at the top of the hill,i says to me friend mon well dander up this way this time as there was a nice hedge row that i wanted to check.

In those times of being green we let jim run free with the knocker box in hand hoping for him to drop in,this hedge was tall with a good bank behind it,it was a steep hill up an wee jim was away on up,we got up to the hedge an jim was gone,we started walking the hedge an soon enough i seen the the bottom of a fresh sweep in the distance poking out beyond the hedge,the adrenaline started pumping as we ran towards the sweep,sure enough we got there an could here the sweet sweet music WE WERE IN i shouted in excitment as we jim was baying away.

It was a cracking sett with only one entrance an me an my friend were excited to the max,young pepper was showing real good interest as i stood with butterflies in my belly anticipating are next move.

The grey box was knocking at four foot my friend shouted,as we jim was baying away,we only had one spade unfortunatley an it was shite, looking back i hadnt a clue about good tools but i soon caught on after that day,my friend was digging away when next thing hes shouts f**k f**k f**k i shout to him whats craic he said,the fecking spade broke,f**k

I jumped up on top an joined him looking at the dose of a spade snapped at the joint,peering in at the rock that took its life,we started to panic thinking what we were going to do,so i rung our other friend who was at work an told him the craic,he says i can get a len of two spades an he would make an excuse to get out of work,so as we jim battled on under the sod with about two foot left to go we waited for our other friend to ring us back an lets us know the craic,20 mins later he rang us back an said he cant get out for an hour but the spdes were ready to collect.

So i says to my friend im running back for the spades weve no time to loose,so of i went running like forest gump back through the fields the few miles we had traversed,as i was nearing the house my friend rang an says were ye at iv im an iv got the spades,thank f**k i said im just coming to the maxol,luckily he had just got his first car two weeks beforehand an lifted me an we flew at brake neck speed back to the dig.

The look of releif on my friends face when he seen us hareing down the field towards him was priceless,we jim was battling it out still an in there a good while,we busted the rest of the way an broke through,we jim didnt look up an kept working away,i cleared round him an lifted him out,my friend was over the moon,all this time pepper was waiting patiently for her turn,she did a fine job,i was very pleased,my friend headed back to work an we backfilled an stood relaxing laughing an joking about the shenanigans.

I thought the days outing was over but pepper had other intentions,i let her of the lead to start the walk back an next thing she ran to the front entrace an dissappeared,sweet f**k she had went in an never came out,i looked at my friend in disbeleif an started panicking,i kid you not we heard her at first mixing it lol then SILENCE,i was freaking out at this stage an tryed to hear her but nothing,so we opened the pit up again,no sign,we tryed digging in the place we thought she would be to no avail,hours passed an i was loosing hope until then we heard a faint noise,the wee bitch was alive an we managed to dig her out.

I was glad to see her an put her on the lead,releived an f***ing knackered we backfilled again an headed back the few miles to home,we jim looking tired an pepper still bouncing,she was a liability from then on an went to ground a few more times in the future while we were out in the cover with hounds when she missed the fox coming out of cover that ran back to the sett lol,thankfully she was able to navigate her way out another entrance,boys there couldnt beleive what they seen.

I loved that wee bitch an still have her bllod here.

@foxdropper

[Daniel cain 42,837]

Out of likes mate

[steve t 831]

Great Post francie 

[Francie, 1,718]

2 minutes ago, steve t said:

Great Post francie 

Goodman steve,those were the days

[foxdropper 17,092]

Proper mate .Thanks for posting that .I just knew there was a story in ya somewhere .I missed  out on the self discovery really as I had a mentor .An old boy named Norman Dunn who was very meticulous in his digging ,slow to the point of being annoying but I learnt patience .

[king 11,664]

Cracking post mate..fair play

[paulus 26]

Good to see a hunting post mate, fair play. 

[Francie, 1,718]

1 hour ago, foxdropper said:

Proper mate .Thanks for posting that .I just knew there was a story in ya somewhere .I missed  out on the self discovery really as I had a mentor .An old boy named Norman Dunn who was very meticulous in his digging ,slow to the point of being annoying but I learnt patience .

Out of likes fd

Haha,we sort of learned ourselves although we did get in with lads when i was around 21,an was flat out with the hounds then,still learning yet fd you know the craic

1 hour ago, king said:

Cracking post mate..fair play

Goodman king

 

11 minutes ago, paulus said:

Good to see a hunting post mate, fair play. 

Sweet paulas,suppose i should be sharing more lol

[foxdropper 17,092]

Nice one Francie .Hopefully read some more mate .

[Gypsydog94 4,328]

Good write up francie. I think I went to my first hound meet 20 years ago. Good times

[derry lad 200]

Good old day's.. good write up lad

[Francie, 1,718]

8 hours ago, derry lad said:

Good old day's.. good write up lad

Goodman shim

[Flacko 1,732]

Francie have you any old pics of the dogs you had good read mate 

[Francie, 1,718]

19 minutes ago, Flacko said:

Francie have you any old pics of the dogs you had good read mate 

Goodman flacko,Unfortunatley not,i didnt even think of taking pics back then,i wish i had cause id of had them on the wall now.

[NEWKID 26,157]

Really enjoyed that write up Francie, was there with you mate!!