What's the hardest quarry you have hunted?..

[Guest Deerstalker]

ELK ARE THE SAME GENUS AS RED DEER AND ARE ONLY SEPERATED BY WATER THE NOISE HAS BEEN SAID TO BE BECAUSE THE RED DEER HAS NOW SPENT MOST OF HIS LIFE ON THE HILL AND NEED TO DEVELOP A MUCH LOUDER SOUND

I THINK THAT THE HARE WILL BE THE FASTEST LAND ANIMAL WE HAVE AT NEAR ON FOURTY MILES PER HOUR TAKING DEER WITH DOGS ON THIS SMALL ISLAND OF OURS IS EASY MOST OF THE TIME AS HAS BEEN SAID MOST DEER ARE TRAPPED BY FENCES ETC BUT FOR THE LADS THAT RUN DEER IN OPEN COUNTRY THEY WOULD FIND A BIG DIFFERNCE MOST DEER CATCHES I HAVE SEEN HAVE BEEN LUCKIE AND THE DOG AND HANDLER HAVE BEEN INVOLVED NOT JUST THE DOG OR THERE HAS BEEN TO DOGS AND THEN THE ODDS ARE DIFFERNT.)

[J Darcy 5,871]

Loki i would agree with brock that roe are faster than a hare in a straight line im sure roe are the fastest land mammal in the uk .

As for reds ive worked with reds hands on as i done my last season as a stalker on an estate that also farmed deer  they are very powerfull animals even the calfs are strong .At the back end of the year we had to what we call up here spaining the same as you do to sheep its when you separate the calfs from the hinds ,you dose them & lug mark them.

  they were gathered up into a big holding pen then a dozen at a time were put into a smaller pen where you had to man handle them to mark them & dose them then the hinds went into one area & the calfs another if a hind took a dislike to you she would curlup her top lip & come at you boxing with her front feet at the end of the day you were battered & bruised the calfs would just freeze sometimes they just wouldnt budge they were very strong even at 5 months of age as for stags we would take of the antlers of bfore the rut but they were knocked out for that unless youve been up close to a stag even a small hill stag you will not relise the power of them .

It must of been some site seeing pure deerhounds pulling down a stag when they were used in the highlands .

We will be having a run at the reds this year with the big dogs sorry there will be no pics only to a few pms unless a hch starts again 

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im waiting for the invite

[kiwi 4]

elk and reds are not one in the same, they are from the same family or branch of deer but have gone on another path, they are cousins, the sika deer is of the same family and both types are able to breed with the red deer as we have found out here in nz. the wap bugle or whistle is not as hair tingling as a roaring red at twenty meters in thick bush gives ya the shits!

[Guest Nightwalker]

I spent my youth running fallow in open country and there is no more magnificent sight that a big strong dog or two lining out after a huge great fallow buck with a mile or two to go to the next wood. I got my first lurcher in 1975 when I was a just a teenager and I grew up somewhere with loads of fallow. I ran fallow for years before ever seeing a roe and I couldnt believe how easy roe were to kill in comparison. I started with smallish dogs (bull xs and saluki xs) and later went to real big fast strong dogs because hard won experience taught me that when you are running big deer on a daily basis, year in year out, little dogs just dont cut the mustard. Its interesting to see that as his experience has grown JD has also realised that there really aint no substitute for size when tackling the big boys.

 

I have had more sport but also had more dogs killed runing rabbits than anything else. Hares can really test a dog but running hares just doesnt move me any more, I just cant get excited by it any longer. Running charlie doesnt do it for me either, though I still kill a few. Muntjac arent fast but can be difficult and the bucks are dangerous little feckers with those big canine tusks, I have killed hundreds over the last 10 years but spent so much money on vets bills that I have begun to wonder if its worth chasing them at all. Roe I love, fallow are the tops but in the day and especially in the rut can be dangerous. Sika - I havent done many but in my experience they simply dont compare to fallow. CWDs, havent done many, but havent been impressed by them. Reds - I have now seen and participated in taking several large (West Country) reds with dogs - totally magnificent you need AT LEAST two big strong dogs (and I would recommend three[or four!] as better than two).

 

In the US I have seen muleys and whitetail taken with dogs and I have a friend who is moving from NY state to Wyoming whose ambition is to take a bull elk with dogs. Having seen the size of those bulls I have some reservations but three or four good big strong staghound type dogs ought to be able to do it. Good hunting. Nightwalker

[pegandgun 52]

Very interesting that was Nighthunter and the rest of ya!!!!

[IanB 0]

Good posts

[F.R. 2]

We usually see the golf course covered with elk this time of year. This was taken down the street from the wife's grandparents house last Saturday. They are often in their front and back yard in addition to the occasional Mule Deer, bobcat, fox, coon, black bear and mountain lion. 10 minutes drive up the road is Rocky Mountain National Park where we head in September for the rut at mating season. The bull elk are a regal animal and the bugling can be heard through the valleys. Elk is great tasting as well!

 

[Flynn 314]

Well if a hare is hunted up by a dog or the dog is slipped on kick ups the hare is often caught easily.I didnt think speed was a hares best defence stamina and the way it twists and turns.I know of lads with quality coursing dogs that like to give a hare atleast 150-200 yards just to take the edge (speed wise )off the dog.I dont know how much head start most lads would give a roe :11: .

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even on a decent slip a hare will beat a dog on a straight line so imho it not just stamina even kick ups can still get away

its the smarter dog that keeps turning the hare away from its escape route You gotta be in it to win it

[burnie69 376]

Well if a hare is hunted up by a dog or the dog is slipped on kick ups the hare is often caught easily.I didnt think speed was a hares best defence stamina and the way it twists and turns.I know of lads with quality coursing dogs that like to give a hare atleast 150-200 yards just to take the edge (speed wise )off the dog.I dont know how much head start most lads would give a roe :11: .

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even on a decent slip a hare will beat a dog on a straight line so imho it not just stamina even kick ups can still get away

its the smarter dog that keeps turning the hare away from its escape route You gotta be in it to win it

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I i think he should slip on some of the hares we slip on flynn and thats not with slow dogs

[brock 11]

got to disagree with you there,dont think a hare should out run a dog in a straight line.im not saying hares are easy to cathch,infact far from it,just saying roe are faster in a straight line.why do you think they give the hare 100 yds law,even in lurcher competitions,i bet a roe would take some catching if you give it 100 yds law in a straight line,he would be fecking flying.

[Smudge 0]

Polecats

 

Smudge

[shaun v 3]

i knew this would happen :11: .

this is my penny's worth, i would say a hare, for the reason a hare thinks on it feets looking of ways to slip the dog, i would also put a fox in this category when hunted by hounds, where as a deer panics when pressured.

[Royston2 0]

:11: :11: :11: :11:

Personally i have no comment :11: :11: :11:

[J Darcy 5,871]

I tell you another quarry that is a tough nut...Wild Goat. I hunted them several times last season and they were difficult critters to pin. Sure, they are prfetty darm slow when compared to a lurcher, but its once your dog reaches that big, strong billy, with its 2 foot long lyre horns that the problems start. They are not scared of dogs and they will try their damnest to make your dog into a canine-kebab!!!! and i aint kidding!!! the nannies are nothing, but those big boys weigh alot and they live on the harshest terrain too...they are not to be underestimated......one day someone may write about them in a book i guess... :friends: ...good hunting guys...JD

[Guest Nightwalker]

I tell you another quarry that is a tough nut...Wild Goat. I hunted them several times last season and they were difficult critters to pin. Sure, they are prfetty darm slow when compared to a lurcher, but its once your dog reaches that big, strong billy, with its 2 foot long lyre horns that the problems start. They are not scared of dogs and they will try their damnest to make your dog into a canine-kebab!!!! and i aint kidding!!!     the nannies are nothing, but those big boys weigh alot and they live on the harshest terrain too...they are not to be underestimated......one day someone may write about them in a book i guess... :friends: ...good hunting guys...JD

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I assume then that no fecker keeps domestic goats round your way then JD? Not something I would fancy running not least because the dog would then consider goat to be legitimate quarry and feel free to tackle goats on the local smallholdings and allotments