before the saluki x's?

[kent scotty 0]

what was the percentage of deer hound in the old style coursing dogs? i've always heard the coursing dogs of old before the salukis were deerhound x greys but how much each way or were they "a line" so to speak?

 

cheers scotty

[Big bald beautiful 1,231]

saw several first crosses and even pure deerhounds run hares at drax in the early-mid 's.

[poacher3161 1,766]

saw several first crosses and even pure deerhounds run hares at drax in the early-mid 's.

I would say that 60 percent of coursing lurchers at draxs in them days were a mix of deerhound and other crosses .some good ones as well.ps kayotic days their but funny.atvb

[Guest jt750]

In my little part of the world we used "snappers" whippet/greys because of the smaller areas we worked and needed a dog to get to the hare pretty fast but i remember a lot of deerhound x away from here where there were longer runs .. also the deerhound was popular for outcrossing for fox/deer(obviously) and to good lines of lurchers of no particular cross..this was late 60's early 70's when a saluki would cost you an arm or a leg and sometimes both ..this would be late 60's early 70's when people were fortifying the racing whippet with collie and bull and there were some odd shapes and sizes around our flapper tracks

[bird 10,014]

A colliexgreyx deerhoundxgreyhound, were popular in 70-'s. They were good on rabbits,fox,deer, not to bad on hares. The ones i saw, would kill quick a fox+hare. They might not be like the [specialized ] fox+hare dog of to day, but they make a real Dam good lurcher, if there is such a dog as a alrounder, they must come Close

[Bosun11 537]

Deerhound crosses were used predominantly as coursing dogs pre Saluki, with good results too I belive. Though like everything else the stock had to be right to do the job.

 

I worked with an old boy in the early 's who bred and ran this cross with Nuttall of Clitheroe (mentioned in Plummers book Rogues & Running Dogs) in the 60's, to them it was all about good foundation stock to produce dogs that would consitantly kill hares (and I wish i'd have paid more attention as to what they used!).

 

They travelled to run their dogs, though Altcar estate was the most favoured ground as Jim, the old boy I knew, was a tennant farmer in Halsall, which borders the estate and Clitheroe ain't too far.

 

Although out of the same stock and sometimes the same litter, Jim reconed his dogs were always better than his friends, as his were seeing good hares almost daily on the farm and constant running made all the difference.

 

He always said that to produce the 'right' type in a first cross, it had to be a Greyhound dog to a Deerhound bitch, as it brought the size down and the stock had better drive. Something I spoke to Doxhope about last year.

 

Jim said it near 'broke' him to buy one of the Deerhound bitches to produce his lurchers but the rewards in matches soon brought the money back.

 

Jim eventually lost the farm through his coursing enthusiasm and ended his days as a boilerman in the swimming pool I came to work in, for a year or two though he'd 'light up' in the mornings when i'd come in telling of my own dogs, usually mediocre, achievements.

 

I'll never forget showing him his first Saluki cross and seeing the look on his face, he nearly passed out saying 'kill hares, a good run would kill it'!

 

How times have changed......

[kent scotty 0]

thanks for the replies guys very interesting.any idea or guess of the average size of them?

 

 

scotty