Great Start With My First Hound

[CWN-HELA 228]

ive finaly got my hands on some harrier hound, and to day was the day it was either going to go well oh it was going to go all wrong...

 

we met up at 8.30am with the lads expecting having 6 guns and 2 running lurchers we neded up having just the 2 guns and the 2 lurchers, but things had to go on as i had told all the farmers we where going..it was a lovely morning with frost still on ground as we where heading down to the first marsh there was a lot of scent on the ground, i asked if all guns where ready and they where... so off go the hounds and 2 terriers we walked a few hundred yards and the black and tan dog started to open up a little and the bitch right be hind him they went another few hundred yard and the both where screaming with a lovely sound going through the cover the dog was giving a BIG BOOOOOOOOING sound i stood where i could see so much off the cover encase the fox came back , after a few minutes waiting the lad who was walking his terriers along the hedge shouted over 2 fox had broken cover where there was no gun oh lurcher, the hounds wasnt to far be hind and once they got on the field they didnt look back and took every hedge in there way, i made my way to end of the cover and watched and lisened which way the hound went, after good ten minutes i started calling them back NOPE they where having none of it. it took me an hour to get them off the scent. then we moved on to another marsh was smaller and we could cope with how meany guns and running lurchers we had. We made our way to the cover and left the guns and lurchers to get in there place the time we had got to the marsh all guns where ready, so sent the hound on there way didnt take long entill the black and tan was BOOOOOOOOING again and the bitch was doing a good sound as they made there way round in a circle and along the river the fox passed the first gun and headed for the lurchers it went in the field but didnt go out far enough and came back in the cover and was heading for the last gun which was my youghest brother had never shot a fox, my brother took his time and bang he missed but he wasnt going far on the second shot he knocked him down. good healthy dog fox..by this time it was 1.30pm so we headed back to the van and on to another small wood in another farm....

 

we arrived at the wood and it looked good runs well used , i only took the harrier bitch out and the 2 terriers because i had a job to get the black and tan back in the last place...so inn i go it was wet in most places and very little cover, as i try and cross a river i slip and go wast deep it was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing the cover on this side off the river was high tall grass it wasnt to long the harrier bitch started to change gear and started speaking she ran the fox for about 10-15 min and pushed out toward a gun which only took the 1 shot.

 

i hope there a more days like this to come because i cant wait to get them to the next covers i have lined up..

in the picture is the vixen which was the second fox we had.

[Bobo 135]

Superb mate,great to hear them on ain't it. We only run four at the minute but they sound like a pack when they find. Glad you got sorted with hounds and got going,you sound like you've some good cover to be going at.

[coverdogs 888]

GREAT STUFF LAD. WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF HOUNDS.AND ONLY TO YOUR WAIST IN WATER AND JUST ONCE AND ONLY AN HOUR TO GET THE HOUNDS BACK, THEN AGAIN ITS YOUR FIRST DAY. JUST WINDING YOU UP SON SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAD A GREAT DAY KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND GOOD LUCK.ATB COVERDOGS

[coverdogs 888]

hi cwn-hela I was just reading over your post again and it got me thinking about when we got our first hound a harrier aswell, this was not funny at the time but we have laughed about it many times since. it was in the mid 80s and myself and 3 friends hunted togher started of with a couple of terriers and a lurcher and we were doing well a couple of foxes every day, but then the greed set in because back then fox pelts were making £26 and we were working for about £20 a day. so we started lamping and beat cover for foxes i would have beat with a couple of terriers and a old springer x collie or whatever you could get to rise a noise flushing to the lurcher and a 2 guns, the fox pelt season finished in late feb early march good times over. This is where the fun starts, at the start of sept we were getting ready for another season and decided we needed a hound so myself and a friend who was now my brother in law ( i wasent lamping every night haha) set of to a show to look for a hound. the irish lads on here will know this place it was in tyrone or fermanagh it was called toppit mountain there was a drag hunt every year and all the hound men from around would attend, this was the first time i met philip king a well known lurcher man and a gentleman he tooks us to his home for tea and to see his lurchers great dogs and a nice man. after the show we got talking to a few men and one gifted us with a harrier and we headed for home proud as punch. The next day we met up we had a bit of terrier work to do for a man and afterwords we dicided we would take the hound out it was about 3 o clock and we went a small bit of cover got everyone in place and i led the hound up on a rope let it off within 30 secs the hound was in full cry the fox was out and down the hill and the harrier flat out benind it myself and a friend head after it and the 2 other men head for the car to try and cut it off, this was a remote countryside with one large farm of milking cattle that the farmer just happened to be bringing in to milk and where did the hound go you guessed it straight through the yard and cattle every where we could se this from where we were running after the hound so we took a detour but the 2 guys in the car couldent and drove into the farmyard innocent as you like meets the farmer and askes excuse me have you seen a hound about, the farmer roars seen a hound the b---ard came through here tearing lumps out of my cattle if i get it its f--king dead and who are you anyway? oh it dosent matter thanks anyway. my friend got to the hound first it was standing in a wood wholing at nothing, we worked it out that we ran 6 miles after that hound and anyone that knows me knows i am no crosscountry runer but why would anyone spend a sunday afternoon watching a liverpool v united when you can have craic like this LOL

[CWN-HELA 228]

Well i knew liverpool was gunna lose so wasnt worth watching.lol. I tell the farmers if i cant put a gun on your land and the fox goes that way i cant stop them so no point coming out shouting and screaming...From ireland i go my two from the chap that had them he had a good pack of harriers he hunted hair, but the two i got tended to go on fox more than hair, and the chap wasnt wrong the black and tan he can shift but the bitch is more steady on line and gives a good noise... I asked the chap in Ireland if he could of throw in a white harrier pup about 4 month old and he said NO CHANCE i was gutted.lol. I have a lovely wood to do tomorow by the sea its an old quarry i cant wait to hear the dog rip the place apart send a shiver dow my back Nice feeling. Ill work the two hound now till march and then give them next winter hunting and try get litter of pup for the following season. I should have a good little pack.CWN-HELA

[blackworm 58]

Weldone young fella,nothing like it is there,it will be a learning curve but you will enjoy yourselves no dought.Keep at it.

[biglad1990 57]

Happy hunting

[R.A.W 1,987]

Welcome to the madness mate.

[dick du 4]

sounds a good day mate, all the best with your hounds, just mind were you go these other pacs can get very funny haha

[wilbur foxhound 480]

well done and a good day indeed,p.s.you wont learn nothing from that black and tan if you dont let it hunt,hope you have many more good days,atb wf

[CWN-HELA 228]

sounds a good day mate, all the best with your hounds, just mind were you go these other pacs can get very funny haha

 

Im far from a big pack.. When i use to go with terriers and do big cover we use to get some and some got away. Then pack of hounds us to run the ground but they wont be there any more.

[CWN-HELA 228]

well done and a good day indeed,p.s.you wont learn nothing from that black and tan if you dont let it hunt,hope you have many more good days,atb wf

 

I know i didnt want to leave him behind but as time was getting on i didnt want to be there at dark.. But time with the too and they will soon listen. CWN-HELA

[R.A.W 1,987]

well done and a good day indeed,p.s.you wont learn nothing from that black and tan if you dont let it hunt,hope you have many more good days,atb wf

 

I know i didnt want to leave him behind but as time was getting on i didnt want to be there at dark.. But time with the too and they will soon listen. CWN-HELA

 

they do go deaf from time to time

[thefootman 17]

Well lad nice looking hounds there, what part of Ireland did ya get them from, no specifics now just Northern or Southern counties.They look like they are Northern bred to my eye. Hate to break it to ya but the Irish Harrier is notoriously head strong even for a hound. The mounted packs around here won't keep them because they think they are two heedless to suit there style of hunting. Ourselves we actually try to breed them that way as we want them to be as game as possible and would have no respect for a hound that would lift his head from a hunt to go to a call. Funny thing is I have seen over the years that when a hound is hunted long enough at foxes he will start to run to a shot especially if you let him rag the dead fox. Try and see if ya can get the black dog to do this. Coverdogs, That was the West Ulster Hound show at Topped Mountain was at it many the time.

[coverdogs 888]

Well lad nice looking hounds there, what part of Ireland did ya get them from, no specifics now just Northern or Southern counties.They look like they are Northern bred to my eye. Hate to break it to ya but the Irish Harrier is notoriously head strong even for a hound. The mounted packs around here won't keep them because they think they are two heedless to suit there style of hunting. Ourselves we actually try to breed them that way as we want them to be as game as possible and would have no respect for a hound that would lift his head from a hunt to go to a call. Funny thing is I have seen over the years that when a hound is hunted long enough at foxes he will start to run to a shot especially if you let him rag the dead fox. Try and see if ya can get the black dog to do this. Coverdogs, That was the West Ulster Hound show at Topped Mountain was at it many the time.

hello thefootman that was the show allright, do they still run it or any thing like it around now.