the footman

Have ye bred a couple of generations down of the welsh/harrier cross? I have always head, and seen in the only example our pack has had, was that when you cross a foxhound with an Irish harrier, the first generation might be OK, but anything bred down from them will be pure dirt. We had a first generation foxhound/harrier cross bitch in our pack about 15 years ago, she was a great hound, we bred a belly of pups of her and they were pure dirt. Just wondering how the welsh/harrier cross ran

Have not looked in on this for a while. Jeez this thread grew legs. With out a doubt hare requires the best nose. For me no greater test on a hounds nose than to hunt a hare on a road, especially if she has tried to throw them off by doubling in and out of gateways and side roads, takes good hound work to straighten it

Now I know you lads in the UK use different terms to us Irish lads, but by rioting do you mean actually hunting sheep? As in following their line and giving tongue? I have seen a lot of things in my 30 odd years hunting but I have never seen hounds actually hunt sheep. If I did my advice would be go home for the shotgun and bring back plenty of cartridges. However I have seen at first hand two hounds leave the pack and actually attack sheep. Both hounds were closely related which makes me think the tendency to attack might run in a line, as no other hounds we had ever turned their head at

Great to hear the old lads, reminds me of the old men that I hunted with as a child, they always taught us to respect the hare we hunted and to preserve them. They were conservationist before the word was ever heard off. They were great characters too and loved a pint and a song and a bit of rascality just like the two old lads in this.

Found this radio documentary from 1973 about the Keady Hunt club (foot pack) great hearing the old timers talking about the sport. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/doconone/2011/0713/646789-radio-documentary-on-yonder-hill/

Where are the Kilteevan Harriers from? Never heard of them before. The only place I can find on Google Maps was in Roscommon. If that true, Friday will be a unique day as you will have packs from Munster, Connaught and Leinster on the same day. You should have asked a Northern pack down to make up the four provinces.

Now I can only talk about Irish Harriers as my experience with stud book harriers is limited, but while you can never truly break an Irish harrier from hares, if you hunt them often enough and long enough on foxes you can get them to a stage where they will hunt fox first and hare later. I suppose its what you are after. In the North the traditional foot harrier packs are hare first and only hunt a fox if you come across them, but most foot packs try to avoid them as they will usually take you out of the hunting area chosen for the day. The fox only packs in the North are mostly gun packs

There have been a right few run ins over the years between the footpacks around our area on the Irish border over the years and sheep farmers. As well as sheep farmers some packs have barring orders with no hounds crossing land that can be traced back to non-hunting issues, all sorts of rows over objections to planning permission, arguments about work one lad done for a farmer, rows over rights of way, the list goes on and not all the farmers fault. If you going to hunt over a farmers land you must remember that your actions of the hunting field matter as much as it does when your hunting.

Jaysus Bullcross don't hold back. Anybody else there last year? Be interesting to hear a second opinion. Had the two packs ever hunted before? Sometimes strange packs blend, sometimes they don't. Usually better to have a joint meet over two days, the second day will always be better, hounds will be more settled and more willing to hunt together.

hang on wes im not going say what cross is the best, but that irish harrier/welsh cross has been tried many years both sides of the water, by many huntsmen some loving them alot,some hating them for their drive and independence,there is no control over this cross,that's out the window,that hound will do, what it's whats to do, and stuff the huntsman,the mfh packs can't put up with this cross because of this reason ,oliver offered you one from the litter he bred, i had one ,dan had one, and oliver keep four back, its a pity you didn't have one mate,all the litter entered well, he and many boy's

Hard to know with that cross. I have never seen any Irish Harrier/Welsh Hound crosses but from what I'm told with harrier/foxhound crosses its a case of luck of the draw and if your lucky enough to get a good cross first time, you will breed nothing down from that. The only cross I have seen hunt on a regular basis was a Irish Harrier/English Harrier crossed bitch we had in the pack for a few years. She was a good hound but what we bred of her was absolute dirt.