Ratting With Lurchers

[stabba 10,745]

Much gets posted about other type of quarry such as ..rabbit..hare..fox and deer...But hardly see much posted about the humble rat...The reason i started this thread is because now the combines are out my lurchers will take quite a few from dykes and hedge bottoms.

Anybody on here who has "Rat Only Days" with lurchers?? would like to hear other peoples views on this and a few pics if possible...atb stabba

[ferret333 747]

Ive heard of beddy whippets being good ratters

[Simoman 110]

Something ive never done with anything but terriers.............

[WILF 48,101]

Not something I have done, but a couple of my pals have regular ratting sessions with their whippet crosses.

[huntingryan 33]

don't know really but most people who have lurcher have or know of a terrier they can take out

[lurcherterrierferret 2]

I take my collie whippet x beddie whippet ratting with my terrier, he loves it, took to it straight away

[ftm 3,357]

dont have lurchers now but me and the lads used to hunt the hedge rows around the local pig farms at this time of the year and it was great uusing collie crosses deerhound crosses and any thing that wanted to come ratting and i can tell you mate it was brilliant watching the big dogs pulling long tails from up in the hawthorn hedges ,we got some canny numbers too aaahh them were the good old days. mind you our ferrets used to get hammered from the longtails and we lost a fair few from injuries

[Guest hunterside]

moll has some pics of lurchers ratting dam good they are to

Edited August 2, 2011 by hunterside

[rocky1 942]

done quite abit of it last season up my alloment ,just started 2 but the traps out again and i also use a smoker ,good crack watch the lurchers crunch them

[logan 447]

my old saluki x was decent on rats the odd time i got a invited

[nobjerk 161]

always take ours .collie crosses do well and even the bullx has a go . as good as he is on teeth, a rat on the lip makes him squeal . :piggy:

[logan 447]

  On 02/08/2011 at 18:00, hunterside said:

moll has some pics of lurchers ratting dam good they are to

Thats my saluki x the red bitch if were on about the same moll . cheers

[reavo2k9 20]

i suppose it gets you out of the house pal i might have to give it a try on me permission be a laugh get the smoker in

[Bosun11 537]

Ratted with just about every cur that'd take to it Stabba, Westies, Cairns, Yorkies an Alsation, Labs, Spaniels, Bull Terriers, Collies and various of pedigree unknowns. But as has been said, using a lurcher alongside the terriers really does improve your bag and Moll's pics certainly proove that.

 

Had some good fun with just the lurchers too. Not far from where I live now was a huge landfill site, Sefton tip, right next to Altcar estate. Many a time if we got fecked off Altcar we'd head over the tip (we had a spade an bar stash there, as my old man worked on the tip) and spend a morning ratting. Our lurchers fecking loved it and would switch on to marking rats through the shite as keen as scanning the big stubbles.

Not that it bothered us then too much but the lurchers came back in some sorry states, around the muzzel from forcing it in to rubbish to drag out a rat, to nasty leg and body injuries usually from suicidal strikes and catches over the same ground. Never mind the bites! It really was tough on the dogs but the numbers made it worth it.

 

If we wanted an easier time of it, we lamped the ditches around the tip. We started with a landing net but after a night or two, our lurchers would dive right in for their quarry or walk apace with us but through the water, checking the banks. Thinking back, I wish my dogs now were as versitile as the ones we had then!!

 

Any sized lurcher that's switched on will take to it BUT beware the knocks, a rats size will see lurchers really getting low for some of their catches, can play hell with stoppers and chests, plus it's a real rough an tumble game, in places lurchers usually shouldn't be and they usually come out a lot worse than terriers at the end of the day.

[nakednutt 58]

used to take the girls wee brothers down to one of the farms i had with the lurchers. never had any massive bags but it kept them amused for an hour