When it was legal

[Shamo 319]

I have recently spoken to a couple guys locally who used to dig Badgers, back in the 60's and early 70's. Obviously they didn't have the luxury of Locators, but they did have the luxury of time as it was a legal activity. They used to keep around a dozen Terriers between them, which couldn't be mute or over hard, they didn't want their Dogs to be 'laid off' for too long and mute ones couldn't be found. They culled quite rigorously and sometimes it meant the too hard and mute ones went..........Yes Locators have changed the type of Dog we can keep.

It was interesting talking to them, eventually getting on to numbers dug. They said that they were doing very well if they could get around 20-25 digs a Year to one of their Terriers. They didn't keep overhard Dogs, prefering the bayers. They would keep a real hard Dog to breed from (meaning one that got stuck in a bit more than others), the Bitches were mostly bayers and they only kept one or two, Males were what they kept the most of. To get the dozen or so Badger Dogs they wanted, they had to cull very hard and their % of success in a Litter was around 15-20%, which they considered pretty good. Incidentally their Dogs were Russell type, or white bodied as they said.

Their Dogs did make it to a reasonable age, although a lot jibbed as they got older as they were out Year in and Year out digging Badgers. Their oldest Dog ever back then was retired at 9 and half Years of age. The Dog was started at an early age, at 17 Months of age.........which was early for these guys, apparently. I asked how many they had dug with the Dog in total and the reply was, after getting 'The Book' out and looking for 'Tim', 172 adult Badgers. He was a particularly good Dog, baying when he had to and biting when he had to. He used to have a Week off here and there for injuries, but never more than a fortnight at a time. A lot of the places they went had been dug numerous times, because a lot of guys were out Badger Digging......IT WAS LEGAL! They were out one Morning and the local 'Badger Digging Club' came to the Sett and were well pissed off at them being there.........IT WAS LEGAL! When they went out they took four Terriers between them, always trying to take a young one. The only time they didn't dig was when the Weather was too hot, or they came across too many Cubs. They said they had 487 adult Badgers in their best Year, which again was written down. When you take into consideration Weather, educated Badgers and work etc, etc, that is some going!! It was only work to put food on the Table that got between them and their digging, and one Year Parvo, occasionally the Wife and Family. I guess nobody knew what a Divorce was.....lmao.

[Guest G.Mac]

1

Edited July 28, 2008 by G.Mac

[Moby 0]

i think the numbers would be even bigger these days if it was still legal as the badger is more prolific now than it was back in then,round this part of the country there was hardly any badgers apart from in the pitshafts 25 years ago, but now there are in every f*****g place

[TimJ 0]

Good read Shamo...........thanks for the post

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Was a good read, actually. Couldn't help but think about how they had their little books of exact records too. Mate of mine was a top level Game Dog Man and he kept exactly such books. Date, weight, time and opponents same. All meticulously recorded in a seriese of little hard back note books.

 

He had me ghost writing his 'autobiography' back then and it was, frankly, fasinating. He'd mention a Dogs name and say like; " That Dog went at thirty eight pounds, twenty seven minutes. " Just like that. Yet he'd be talking on one of hundreds of Matches and maybe a couple of decedes ago at the time of speaking. Only rarely did he stop and get his little books out, just to check a point. That's how I knew he had them.

 

Anyway, then everything went pear shaped for him and he left all that behind and just wanted to forget. The book was shelved. I left the manuscript in his hands and took no copy. It'll never see the light of day now. Probably just as well.

 

But it makes me wonder; How many eg. Ferreters or Lampers keep such detailed little records? I aquired a Game Book, when I was a youngster, and faithfully recorded all I got in that. But I just gave that up once I started getting numbers. I couldn't be arsed to keep counts any longer. Imagine if I had? A life times accurate record. Be some bloody read, eh? Like those two guys have helped Shamo bring us

[Guest shay]

Keeping records has done damage to some in the courts, I personally do keep them but not in a little book anymore, I don't have the best of memories which I think stems from my pot smoking days so it does help some people.

 

I know a fella from lancashire in my young days, he kept saluki types and was a big coursing man, his house burnt down and his records were gone from years of his breeding and quarry tallies, the man had a memory deficiency and couldn't recall most of what he had written, he was gutted and I mean gutted.

[Shamo 319]

Reading through their Books is like a real History lesson. They have accounts of mostly Badger digs, with the occasional Fox dig if it was a good one, but they said most bolted to be shot. They only wrote down about digs they had to their Dogs, numbers of 'bolting' Badgers and Foxes would have trebled their tally. They said around August and up to mid September was hard to dig a Badger in a small place, they 'bolted' a lot of the time.

[Ricky-N.p.p 0]

a cousin of mine fills his in on a callendar,mostly fishing records he keeps but his lad got a lurcher pup last year and i gave him a couple of ferts, hope he notes them down aswell

[Joe 2]

Good read If only it could be like that now

[cdnhastings 23]

just finished reading a book, "a sporting chance" written by a fella named Daniel P. Mannix in 1967 its a good read, plenty of pics as well. All sorts of hunting stories in it. Theres a chapter in there about "the plucky little terriers" An eight page account of a badger hunt in sussex. Mentions a few different terrier clubs of the era, The working terrier association, the oxford badger club etc.... A good read about hunting ole brock.

[highlander 0]

My mate that I used to work with was given a diary from his grand father about his father when he was a keeper on the estate we were working on in the 1900. Amazing what the killed in those days and funny things as well there was a note about shooting a cormerant that tried to swallow a 8lb salmon. Wild cats were also noted then in that area.

 

Regards highlander.

[byron 1,169]

I have recently spoken to a couple guys locally who used to dig Badgers, back in the 60's and early 70's. Obviously they didn't have the luxury of Locators, but they did have the luxury of time as it was a legal activity. They used to keep around a dozen Terriers between them, which couldn't be mute or over hard, they didn't want their Dogs to be 'laid off' for too long and mute ones couldn't be found. They culled quite rigorously and sometimes it meant the too hard and mute ones went..........Yes Locators have changed the type of Dog we can keep.

It was interesting talking to them, eventually getting on to numbers dug. They said that they were doing very well if they could get around 20-25 digs a Year to one of their Terriers. They didn't keep overhard Dogs, prefering the bayers. They would keep a real hard Dog to breed from (meaning one that got stuck in a bit more than others), the Bitches were mostly bayers and they only kept one or two, Males were what they kept the most of. To get the dozen or so Badger Dogs they wanted, they had to cull very hard and their % of success in a Litter was around 15-20%, which they considered pretty good. Incidentally their Dogs were Russell type, or white bodied as they said.

Their Dogs did make it to a reasonable age, although a lot jibbed as they got older as they were out Year in and Year out digging Badgers. Their oldest Dog ever back then was retired at 9 and half Years of age. The Dog was started at an early age, at 17 Months of age.........which was early for these guys, apparently. I asked how many they had dug with the Dog in total and the reply was, after getting 'The Book' out and looking for 'Tim', 172 adult Badgers. He was a particularly good Dog, baying when he had to and biting when he had to. He used to have a Week off here and there for injuries, but never more than a fortnight at a time. A lot of the places they went had been dug numerous times, because a lot of guys were out Badger Digging......IT WAS LEGAL! They were out one Morning and the local 'Badger Digging Club' came to the Sett and were well pissed off at them being there.........IT WAS LEGAL! When they went out they took four Terriers between them, always trying to take a young one. The only time they didn't dig was when the Weather was too hot, or they came across too many Cubs. They said they had 487 adult Badgers in their best Year, which again was written down. When you take into consideration Weather, educated Badgers and work etc, etc, that is some going!! It was only work to put food on the Table that got between them and their digging, and one Year Parvo, occasionally the Wife and Family. I guess nobody knew what a Divorce was.....lmao.

nice read shamo. thanks