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Fair weather hunting.


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Starting to see the allure of summer hunting, strolling around with no jacket, no driving winds and icy rain. No sinking past your wellies in quagmire fields, like being on your holidays :D

Out last night with Woodga, and we were joined by Rapidjenky and his pal (sorry do not know your THL name) The conditions were possibly the worst it could be, warm, totally silent, no wind at all (well apart from Woodga! :whistling: ) and believe it or not still enough light to be able to see each other.

Off we went our seperate ways, Woodga/Star and myself with Boo together and the two lads with their dogs.

My biggest regret of the night was not being able to see the two lads working their dogs, i always enjoy seeing new folk and how well the dogs do, but on a night like this 4 people and 4 dogs together would have made far too much noise for us to get to see anything! So i cannot comment on any of the lads exploits but i'm sure they will themselves.

 

Again little Boo was on fire, 110% committed to each and every run, missed his first rabbit, but after that went on the catch about the next 7 without a miss. Somersaulting on his first catch, staying behind jinkers at the same speed/turns they jinked. Striking through fences to catch, boxing the rabbits all over the place. It is like having a completely new dog, i am totally overwhelmed with pride and admiration for him.

Most of the runs had to be very long slips, and loads of rabbits panicked away from the fences to be able to catch. Apart from one field. This field was hardly bigger than a postage stamp, really short grass with sheep grazing, it has houses around it and was flooded by street lights lighting us up. My first thoughts were, dont know why Woodga would put us on here, the rabbits will be able to easily see us coming. But these rabbit must be used to seeing people because instead of running for cover they simply sqatted, and Boo had some hellish runs, one after another, even chasing rabbits with caught ones still in his mouth, with Woodga and Star not 40ft away doing the same, brilliant fun!

Again we had to walk miles to find the rabbits, we would have covered 10 mile easily last night on foot alone, but it was good for the dogs to get breathers inbetween with the unaccustomed heat.

We all met up at halfway for a quick cuppa, and the lads were buzzing about their dogs and their catches. I have to say i sometimes wonder if it is such a good idea for Woodga to keep inviting strangers up to go lamping, but listening to the lads and seeing all the emotions of pride, awe, delight i can completely understand why he does it. I dont want to embarrass the lads, but will briefly say....

When you read the post on here from what appears to be the up and coming generations of hunters my heart is really filled with dread about the future of our sport, the future of the poor dogs, and in some cases the future of man kind. But these two lads really have given me new hope. Most importantly to me, they cared for and respected their dogs, the night was about their dogs, not their own egos. They were filled with the bravado (and gob) that young men have :rolleyes: but were still respectfull and treated the land and Woodga accordingly. Those dogs are lucky to have such owners, and the owners are lucky to have such lovely dogs, well behaved, no aggression, in lovely condition and cracking natures. Cant wait for the better weather to see these dogs run.

 

 

Then off for the second slog, this was the only downer of the night, we pulled up at some permission for the lads to go too which always results in good runs to find the keeper waiting. Not a very nice man by all accounts, had a run in with him myself about 6yrs ago, when they came looking for us lamping and let me know in his arrogant manner my tyres were still intact and the money was still in my dashboard!

He informed Woodga the permission was now revoked (Money it appears really is the root of all evil)

 

Anyway we set off again to pastures new for a few more runs before calling it a night.

It was a long night, i left home at 6.15pm last night and did not get home till 5.15am this morning, but it was totally worth it.

Little Boo managed 18 rabbits last night, out of i don't know how many runs as i lost count in the fast and furious field, he had too many if the truth be told.

 

The total bag for the night was 51 rabbits, an amazing amount for the conditions. I went out and came home in a tee-shirt....totally bizzare! :blink:

 

 

Yet again Woodga came up trumps providing rabbits for everyone, and all for the price of a tuna suprise sarnie and a cup of tea....your one in a million :yes:

 

Boolamping18buns30911.jpg

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brilliant night,can't knock the dogs! they must have ran well in them conditions :thumbs:

i know what you mean by warm..last time i went with Tomo it was easily warm enough to wear a tshirt lamping.. i prefer blowing a gale on a dark drizzly night haha

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had a great night thanks to you and colin lastnight once again. there would of been alot more then 4 of us if the other lads had come and we would of been on ians land which we were ment to be visiting. but last minute changes still left us with an unforgettable night.

 

we will have to get cars with more seats so the others aren't stuck for a ride next time.

 

seems like all the dogs ran well and everyone of us was proud of what our dogs had done.

i could sit here and write loads on the runs we managed and some of the pic ups they had but im to tired lol.

 

safe to say there was a couple of heart in mouth moment as the dogs either ran of the edge of slopes into holes, bounced of fences ect but there non the worse of it this morning maybe a little stiff and sore though! at the end of the day our dogs are still pups and did very well on the night.

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Well done, seems like their was some moisture on the ground there, however here it's as hard as concrete 32c and 17c at night :icon_eek:

 

Same here! :censored: All my dogs are getting is a quick walk and a swim first thing in the mornings. Ground like iron.

 

I SO wish I lived in the wet places. :laugh:

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got myself a couple of minutes spare while the boy takes his toys apart! thank god for screw drivers lol.

 

me a j.p started the night off in a little spot just down the road from colin and moll, col pointed us in the right direction and told us which was to work the fields. the first field we hit we managed 4 runs and 3 pic ups within the first 10 mins of walking. couple of really long slips for both dogs but they nailed them at the fence line at the far end of the beam. next couple of fields saw the same but we got a couple of squatters and the dogs hammerd them straight out of there seat. as usual chip was straight back to me with his prise but did his usual trick of dropping them at my feet. i have to be quick or its a whole new run for the dog on the same bunny lol! its a problem but one im prepared to live with, there well and truly alive and he dose just about everything else i ask of him.

 

next couple of fields were deep grass sheep fields and the dogs had problems seeing them properly but we managed another couple before we had finished them fields and got back to the van with 8 in the bag. not back for about 30 mins walk.

 

we had been told were to go next and headed off across the main road. withing 10 yards we had out next run and it carried on pretty much the same across the green infront of the huge castle we were parked near. i could see ppl watching from the large doorway in the castle so i was glad when the dogs put on a good show and managed to hit the next 3 which were running round trees and threw rough patches on the green. there were cows close by and j.p wanted to be away sharpish but we spotted a black bunny sat in a group of 4 maybe 100 yards up the beam so we walked up on them and as we got closer they bolted i kept the lamp on the black one and mad sure chip was watching that one before he was slipped. away he went he made a real meal of the run back and forth back and forth along the stone wall with the little black git running out and back in really taking the piss out the pup, then it mad a dart for the gate way which was a big mistake as he hit it a few inches from safety. after what seemed to be the longest run of his life he returned to me proud as punch with his prize. i was half expecting him to let it go when he caught it with it being black as he wont chase anything at all other then bunnys.

 

we continued on and col had said when we see some buildings to put the dogs on the leads because of things like man holes in the ground.so we did as we were told even though there were more bunnys running round the old stone buildings then were out in the field. we were glad we did as well as i managed to fall down one man hole up to my knee how i never broke anything is a miracle as i went down like a tun of bricks with a bag full of bunnys on my back. another 30 yards and we were at he river which was a cliff edge with a 10ft drop down onto rocks so again we were glad to have kept the dogs on the leads!.

 

we crossed the road and were away onto the next bit and the field lit up with eyes! but sadly the whole field was litterd with sets, every bunny we slipped the dogs on vanished down a hole it was sat next to. we managed 2 off there out of the hundreds that were there then decided to call colin and make sure we were still on the right land. we then had to walk and find them a few miles up the road. quick chat, cuppa and a sarnie and we were off to another spot. between me and j.p we had 17 in 2 hrs wandering around in still calm conditions, not bloody bad i recon!

 

next spot same again we went one way they went over the tops. by now our dogs were starting to tire, both dogs havent seen that much work in such a short amount of time but they kept going and we took 6 of the next few fields but we missed atleast the same if not a few more as the dogs got worn out. we spotted molls motor on the road and decided enough was enough and headed back to rest the dogs, they were goosed but were wanting more but the decision was taken to leave so we just headed off and left the rest for another night.

 

to say we had a good night is an understatement, col and moll were hungry for more but we left one way for home as they were the other to different ground. no idea if they made it or not as we had 51 between us before we went home and they still had 51 when they were finished.

 

me and j.p managed 23 out of the 51, j.p with a dog who had never seen 10 rabbits in one night never mind that many and me with my pup who is just about 13 months.

 

good night had by all!

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Well done, seems like their was some moisture on the ground there, however here it's as hard as concrete 32c and 17c at night :icon_eek:

 

Always wet most of the places we go Artic, some of the gateways into fields we were sinking up to our ankles, don't think even in the height of summer if ever gets totally dry where i live :thumbs:

 

col and moll were hungry for more but we left one way for home as they were the other to different ground. no idea if they made it or not as we had 51 between us before we went home and they still had 51 when they were finished.

Yes Jenky we drove further on, but to be honest after sitting in the car neither the dogs or humans felt up to it again. Tried Boo on one slip and he did not want to run it properly, a definite sign it was time for home :thumbs:

 

 

good stuff lads , and a cracking score in what must be horrible conditions.

 

why did the keeper revoke the permision moll.

 

Woodga will be able to tell you better Tomo, it is only one farm, and a tenant farmer so he really has no rights over the gamey. He has never liked having anyone on there tbh, but why he suddenly stopped it is anyone's guess. I personally think people are going back there and poaching it, it is one of the easier places to find on Woodga's permission, and as i said always provides a good night. Woodga thinks he is now charging for people to shoot on there?

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