what or who got you started in this game?

[JoshWalter 3]

out of boredom i guess.

[3 Turns 326]

IN MY HOUSEHOLD THE DOGS /N/KILL,S WERE ALWAYS THERE.

PAPA HAD THEM /DAD HAD THEM IT WAS THE NORM.

YOU DIDNT LEARN HOW TO HUNT .YOU SUBCONCIOUSLY LEARN WHILE YOU WERE OUT A WANNER WAE THE DUG,S..

MY BOYS SAID HUNTING DOESNT BOTHER THEM BUT THEY ALWAYS WANT TO GO A WANNER WAE THE DUGS.

[N E poacher 4]

Went out one night with mates had a good night and ever since then ive been in the game.

[rolysmate 49]

A little cur dog with a touch of whippet in him called Sandy he lived on the local estate but we never knew who owned him, he just started coming out with us on our wanderings in the fields bird nesting etc and he caught rabbits,that was it me and my mate where hooked, we got ourselves a ferret not really knowing what we were doing but we learned lol

[danby825 11]

No one really got me into it both my parents would not have dreamed of hunting anything all my mates were football mad I cant stand it to this day. I would go out trying to catch rabbits I just had this erge to hunt so I was abit of a loaner kid then there was a guy down the road that had whippets and i would tag along with him I was only 10 my mum didnt like it but she gave up trying to stop me I then got a springer and became a keeper but got sick of shooting I felt more like a chicken farmer "my ideal shoot would be a wild bird shoot but dont have the funds for that" now ive got a lurcher x lurcher mainly saluki and a terrier and I dont keeper anymore but still work on farms so I can get alot of permission happy days

[chrisbullx 2,541]

Was brought up around working dogs,oldest brother always had lurchers and terriers and as soon as I could walk he had me out ferreting and lamping so I have him to thank for getting me into this game atb cbx

[burto 18]

my grandfather took me out with some of his mates back in the day said it would keep me out of trouble and not looked back since

[NEWKID 27,376]

my parents split when I was around 6, I moved to Bristol with my mum after a while would come back for weekends to see my Dad, his labourer, would take me out ferreting, lamping, fishing, bird nesting everything. Ended up spending every weekend at his house hardly sleeping then spending all week waiting to get back and start again. He was a huge influence in my life and like a 2nd dad to me and my brother, he had unbelievable patience with us and made every weekend an adventure. He sadly passed away earlier this year I miss him every day, but am so grateful to him.

[6pack 60]

Worked for dog rescue for a long time around sight hounds, started in Notts at the Greyhound track. Most rescues are totally anti working your dog in anyway so decided I needed to see first hand to 'see' the argument. Went out with some very conscientious peeps, liked what I saw, so went and did it with them.

Now I found a rescue that puts the dog first and I get to do both

[Bosun11 537]

Actually thinking back now, i met a few people by my house when i had first got my Whippet puppy, people said nice dog, etc you should try it, was skeptic, thinking back now, i remeber a man i met by a pump station, lovely pack, lurcher and a big bull x and i think another dog, not sure, the dog was huge and black, told me give the whippet ago, never seen him again for years untill i joined this site to find he only lived down the road!

 

[brambles 3,291]

My father kept and bred greyhounds,my grandfather and uncle kept and worked ferrets and lurchers and through my own curiousity I was involved with them all and looking back all those years i couldn't have asked for a better start. I now have a grandson at the age of 4 he's not been forced into taking an interest in the dogs and ferrets he's just took to it like a duck to water,its just a shame the laws have changed so that he's gonna miss out on the daytime hares, deer, and fox that was part of my every day life. What's better for the boy LURCHERS or LOOTING.

[NEWKID 27,376]

My father kept and bred greyhounds,my grandfather and uncle kept and worked ferrets and lurchers and through my own curiousity I was involved with them all and looking back all those years i couldn't have asked for a better start. I now have a grandson at the age of 4 he's not been forced into taking an interest in the dogs and ferrets he's just took to it like a duck to water,its just a shame the laws have changed so that he's gonna miss out on the daytime hares, deer, and fox that was part of my every day life. What's better for the boy LURCHERS or LOOTING.

 

Well said mate, I know what I want for my lad................on the other hand I could really do with a new telly :laugh:

[newcomer88 86]

got myself into this in a major way waiting to get my first lurcher very jealous of everyone going out this season looking forward to bringing on my first pup ....buzzin and totally addicted to thl constant ...

[Gaz_1989 9,539]

I can remember setting "traps" in the garden as a kid. Used to use an old cage with a stick lodging the door open. Never caught a bean, lol.

 

Then I remember getting my first air rifle on my 14th birthday. A Jaguar .177 which must of been older than my dad. I used to take corvids every weekend on my mates grandads land.

 

I always had dogs as a kid, by the time I was into the air rifle we had an EBT that I used to take ratting and to be fair he was quite good.

 

When he was PTS I started asking for a lurcher, I wanted a Beddy Whippet and searched the Countrymans Weekly every week only to be knocked back by the parents.

 

I got a Daystate X2 Sport for my 18th birthday which I was over the moon with but I soon lost interest in the whole hunting scene and became more interested in women and alcohol.

 

Beginning of last season I started coming on here more and more and reading tales of bringing pups on, Lamping and mooching with the dogs and I decided it was time I tried to get into it. So I posted on here to see if anyone local fancied letting me tag along with them and I went for a few walks with a lad off here who also had a litter of S/W/G pups at the time.

 

I had a pup off him and went Lamping with him and his dogs for most of the season. My pup is just coming 12 months and the biggest pain in the arse going but he might come good this season :-)

 

Gaz

 

[Malt 379]

Been into hunting rabbits ever since I was old enough to go out with my dad shooting, ferreting & setting the odd snare along the fence lines here and there. We always had a working spaniel about the place & used to enjoy watching a trained dog do it's stuff. Friends of mine had lurchers off and on over the years, I liked them, but I never had the time or circumstances to dedicate to having one of my own.

 

I kind of drifted away from hunting in my teens as I got my first serous girlfriend, and it was only when I truly settled down with my wife that I yearned for the pursuit of the humble rabbit once more. I started back with ferrets as they were a shared interest with a then work colleague who had also been away from the game for too long, and we kind of egged each other on into getting back out there.

We had a few seasons ferreting with the aid of marking terriers, and in the process used to go out with a friend who ran a good beddy/whippet/grey several times a week.

 

It was then that my eyes were truly opened to the benefits of hunting rabbits with dogs. It was like a moment of clarity - I could hunt my favourite quarry with nothing more than a lamp and and a species of animal which I had spent my whole life living with and had a great deal of affection for. What appealed to me was the whole simplicity. I could hunt rabbits without carting ferret boxes & shovels round all day for miles, which was a bonus as osteoarthritis of both knees was starting to make things difficult.

 

I got my first lurcher 3 years ago and haven't looked back.