earliest memories of coursing dogs

[two crows 3,342]

i thought it might be interesting to here what peoples first experiences with coursing dogs/lurchers were and when, mine was 1969/70 when I was a small boy out bird nesting and  playing in the fields and woods around home I used to see hares all over and our mongrel used to yap off into the distance and i longed for a dog that could catch one, there was a litter of running dogs in the village these were beddy whippet x saluki not that that meant much  to me at the time the bitch I bought for £3 was fly and she was a world beater in any ones eyes. the pic has been seen before but fly is the bigger one aged about 5/6 in that pic.

[darbo 4,776]

By chance as a kid coming home at dusk from a fishing trip i spotted a dog coursing a hare on local farm land. i was aged about 12 so 1976. First time in company a old fella let me tag along 1983 he had a first cross saluki /greyhound went out every sunday morning from then on.

[THE STIFFMEISTER 16,116]

A well known lurcher man lived two doors down from me 

greyhounds , lurchers, terriers , apbts roamed our street on thenestate 

most nights saw me going round and torturing him ,he was funny , had a very funny way of talking 

“jean! Comb, 2,3 I’m away like, come on slip lead ‘ 

id follow him for hours , just ratchingnaroundn in the background , carrying rabbits and hares

Two things I remember were that everyone wore Parker’s , from pensioners to the infants 

and the house was like a social club , twentyblokes in the kitchen , not a job or a nut between them , clamming for pints , arguing over dogs until the pub opened 

ive probably spent months of my early life holding lurchers outside bookies , boozers and men’s clubs , getting crisps and coke passed out the window 

most sundays were like a film , twenty or thirty in morning before spending all day in extended file on some estate or farm , usually walk out , run home 

 

my mother used to go mental but she knew that it kept me off the streets so let me crack on 

howntimes have changed 

 

[bendrover 556]

Went camping in Perthshire with my auld man in 1979 aged 10 . Seen a blue dog hare coursing.  Ma da was more a rabbit man . So he got me a collie grey x ped whippet . She caught hundreds of local hares by time I was 17 . Father would be ferreting and I just pissed off . He used to say "be back in an hour " I was never back in time lol

[Busher100 747]

1 hour ago, two crows said:

i thought it might be interesting to here what peoples first experiences with coursing dogs/lurchers were and when, mine was 1969/70 when I was a small boy out bird nesting and  playing in the fields and woods around home I used to see hares all over and our mongrel used to yap off into the distance and i longed for a dog that could catch one, there was a litter of running dogs in the village these were beddy whippet x saluki not that that meant much  to me at the time the bitch I bought for £3 was fly and she was a world beater in any ones eyes. the pic has been seen before but fly is the bigger one aged about 5/6 in that pic.

Lad holding the Dogs looks like a scare crow

[marshman 7,758]

Waking up in the front of my dads Ford transit van and being scared because he wasn’t there . Then I look out the window and could see my dad in the field slipping he’s lurcher on a hare . Reckon I could’ve only been about 19 years old at the time only joking I was about 5 lol . 

When I think back I can’t remember a time when my dad nether had a long dog or a terrier 

[peterhunter86 8,627]

11 minutes ago, Busher100 said:

Lad holding the Dogs looks like a scare crow

I thought he was mr bloom 

[Bearfoot 1,477]

That's a whippet lurcher back then had dirty thick coats

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Bearfoot

[Moocher71 4,050]

My grandfather always had a lurcher and to b honest I karnt remember when my family didn't keep a running juckel or two,

Most had bedlington in them,and I always remember a Fawn ruff coated dog that slept under the trailer he wouldn't sleep in his box,he was a good dog.

First hare dog i see was my uncle's he had been to Ireland to collect a stunning Black pup,and he popt in to show me dad,

That Greyhound x whippet took many hares and it was seeing him run that got me thinking, I got two collie Greyhounds when I was 14 they mostly hound blood.

I would leave the site every morning to go tramping the fields and for several days I would walk back to our plot empty handed with what seemed like everyones eyes on me,one old traveling fella said after watching me get nothing"jucks no Good boy I'll give you fiver for the brindle bitch,

I didn't let her go,and she finally caught a hare on a old arodrome few days after, always remember walking past the old fella with hare in one hand dogs in other and chest out like a game cock, The bitch was good on hares the other didn't do as good.

 

[morton 5,368]

With my intro to hunting it was all guns,snares and night lines{fishing},ferrets and egg collecting.I vividly remember the whippet that somehow ended up amidst all this and the hours and hours i spent in the fields with that little sandy bitch,i was less than 6 years of age and can still remember,over 50 years later,how she yapped the place down on hares,she managed the odd hare that she worked off its seat and again i still remember the flying fur and how she struggled with holding on to them,she caught a bunny or two and became a useful ferreting companion,her ace in hand was her ability to work the dykes and catch water hens.A few years later i remember the anger,sadness and disappointment when my dad sold her to a local greyhound trainer,who admired her work ethic.About 10 years later i was at his yard and an ancient whippet came towards me,the lump in my throat was tempered by the anger i felt at the injustice of how she left me.That little whippet set a fire inside me that will never be extinguished,dampened certainly but never put out.

[Phil Lloyd 10,738]

I recognize that feeling ....so much pain, and heartache over so many dogs,... over so many years,...I often ask myself, all things considered,...was it all really worth it...

[Night Walker 591]

1 minute ago, Phil Lloyd said:

I recognize that feeling ....so much pain, and heartache over so many dogs,... over so many years,...I often ask myself, all things considered,...was it all really worth it...

Only one answer to that Phil and you know it

[C.green 3,231]

Of course phil. Just think how boring bits of life would be without working dogs ... running dogs in particular

[Night Walker 591]

10 minutes ago, morton said:

With my intro to hunting it was all guns,snares and night lines{fishing},ferrets and egg collecting.I vividly remember the whippet that somehow ended up amidst all this and the hours and hours i spent in the fields with that little sandy bitch,i was less than 6 years of age and can still remember,over 50 years later,how she yapped the place down on hares,she managed the odd hare that she worked off its seat and again i still remember the flying fur and how she struggled with holding on to them,she caught a bunny or two and became a useful ferreting companion,her ace in hand was her ability to work the dykes and catch water hens.A few years later i remember the anger,sadness and disappointment when my dad sold her to a local greyhound trainer,who admired her work ethic.About 10 years later i was at his yard and an ancient whippet came towards me,the lump in my throat was tempered by the anger i felt at the injustice of how she left me.That little whippet set a fire inside me that will never be extinguished,dampened certainly but never put out.

Good post mort

[morton 5,368]

12 minutes ago, Phil Lloyd said:

I recognize that feeling ....so much pain, and heartache over so many dogs,... over so many years,...I often ask myself, all things considered,...was it all really worth it...

Memories,Barbra Streissand must have owned a lurcher.