a few memories!!

[stewie 3,387]

well lying here on my bed in Sweden looking out the window at 3 roe deer nervously leaving the edge of the forest and wishing i had my mutts here sooo bad ive been here 7 months now and its been great but apart from 3 weeks back in England its been my quitest season in a long time!! i turn 30 this Friday coming and my birthday is more or less when i stop lamping and just stick to mooching about in the day. i wanted to bring a dog or two over this year but at the min in far from in settled accommodation and it wouldn't be fair on them being outside in -23 most nights!! if i stay here for the year and can build a proper kennel with heating then hopefully i can get them here but time will tell on that.

 

anyway having my dogs back home and my birthday coming got me thinking of a few things that have happened on or around my birthday with the dogs and i thought id post a few now as on a sunday afternoon over here there really ain't much to do that don't involve spending more money than i care to at the min!!!

 

i supppse i should start with my 1st! not that i remember it but apparently it was the day when my dads old bitch penny caught her first rabbit as a pup and went on to become a good bitch who i remember fondly as was always with me, protecting me from any danger i was in which in them days were only my dads pigeons or my sisters rabbits lol but in told she would bark and growl if any dared to step to close!! sadly she passed away but my dad had (gem) a saluki x, (maddie) a deerhound x and (penny mk2) a springer spaniel and by now i was coming upto ten, 20 years ago WTF !!! near my parents house was what id call my dream area for growing up with dogs. over a canal bridge and to your left you had a huge bmx track and on the right a massive concrete factory. both of these had no end of woods and rough ground that held plenty of rabbits and the odd fox. i can remember getting under my mum feet one Saturday afternoon and she told me to get out with the dogs and i didn't need telling twice!! my dad had brought me a black widow catapult for my birthday and i knew where my brother stashed his gat gun so armed with these, the dogs and a swiss army knife i set off out to hunt!!!! i felt so good as i walked the 200 meters to the concrete factory, sneaked through a gap in the fence and let the dogs off to hunt up in the rough ground ahead. maddie was up after a rabbit that just got to patch of brambles and by now gem had joined her and both were running round the bush, sniffing both the air and the runs on the ground. penny and run over and as soon as let her off the lead she flys in the bush and the rabbit runs out, straight in to gems mouth!! YEESSSS im jumping for joy that i have had a successful hunt while out on my own!! forgetting that my mum hates dead animals unless there freezer ready i run home screaming "mum mum ive got one" only to be told to put it in the shed till dad got back from the pub!! but when he did he was as happy as me!! i had many great night with these dogs over the next few years but one night will always stay with me for the wrong reasons.

 

it was the day before my 16th and i decided to go out lamping on some good land i know alongside the river dove. it was a good hours walk so i set off earlier than usual to get there around 10 when no one else would be around. crossing an old bridge that goes over the dove i gave the first field a quick shine and saw plenty of ruby dots reflecting back at me down the beam!! so let gem off as she would walk by your side, jumped over and shone the lamp, finally resting the spot on a squatter in the middle,perfect!! i hissed her on and she caught it with ease, but would only bring it so far back as i had maddie on the lead but its in the bag sooo enough! so now swap dogs and off into the next field, lamp on, see squatter and hiss maddie on. this field used to have a fence running threw it that they jump with ease if needs be but i never knew that the farmer had ripped it out and stacked it in a messy heap right in the middle for burning. there was a pole sticking out the edge and before i knew poor maddie had ran into flat out breaking her kneck instantly. in not ashamed to admit i cried my eyes out as i carried her body home really was the worst night of my life.

 

they say you learn from you mistakes and i certainly did from that as now i always look for hazards before i slip a dog but accidents can always still happen as i found last year when my little bull cross bitch hurt herself badly after a rabbit and she hit a ditch head on in the dark but luckily she made a full recovery and finished last season on a high note.

 

at times its killed me not having the dogs here with me but its also been nice to just get out and mooch with just a camera. seeing things like moose,red squirrels and cranes is good and the land here is top class for a running dog but with snow on the ground for the last two months and the ground frozen solid there probably wouldn't be much sport anyway!! terrier work is big here tho and so is tracking with hound types so maybe that's the road to take next season but ill see what happens between now and then with work and accommodation. but tbh getting back on the scrap and having my dogs around me sounds more tempting everytime i think of it!!

 

[KittleRox 2,147]

good read, atb

[dytkos 17,784]

Good read Stewie, when I saw the title, I thought it was gonna be about winning a trophy? :laugh:

 

Cheers, D.

[stewie 3,387]

Good read Stewie, when I saw the title, I thought it was gonna be about winning a trophy? :laugh:

 

Cheers, D.

lol!!! yeah its been a while mate!! but hopefully they will win the carling cup on Sunday and finish what should be a cracking weekend!!

[buster 8789 64]

Good read mate.

[mickmck 716]

f****n hell mate you brought a tear to my eye lol !!!!!! you sound home sick

[florence 4]

great read mate

[northern lad 2,292]

great read pal

[stewie 3,387]

f****n hell mate you brought a tear to my eye lol !!!!!! you sound home sick

lol yeah i am mate!!!! the grass ain't always greener