worst digs.

[greggy 18]

j

Edited August 11, 2011 by greggy

[slip 1]

Storys of bad digs or events????

We had a bad do a few year ago.We had a bitch mark a big spot on a railway banking so let her in and before we got the nets on the fox bolted with the bitch close behind.We were to eager to put the nets on first to our regret.A young bitch shook loose of her collar and shot off after them we didnt see them again all day we searched all the earths close by with the old Deben box and never got anything.Anyway after scouring for miles in every direction we had to go home for the lamps and torches.When we got home and told my mates dad he told us to check a single hole which we had already done but told us it ran a lot further into the field than wed been.So we arrived back and low and behold we got a mark 7 and 1/2 ft.We were over the moon the digging started off easy in sand but soon we hit the hard stuff and the going was very tough and slow.All the way down we never heard a thing so we feared the worst and on breaking through found that the bitch that bolted the fox origionally was dead and the young bitch was in a bad way couldnt stand.Gutted.The fox was still kicking though and was drawn and dispatched accordingly.The young bitch never made the grade after that and the old bitch was a big loss at the time no world beater but we had sum stuff with her.RIP lady.Hope to hear some of your tales lads cheers.

good read lad!!ACORDINGLY say he was

[wood1 0]

sounds like a bad dig chief how long did it take you?

[Squirrel_Basher 17,100]

The worst dig we ever had was 4 year ago at the bottem of a banking .Marked a hole that wed done many a time before but always had a bolt from .I remember it now like it was yesterday but until this thread started it was one of those times that get put to the back of your mind and blanked for the sake of your sanity

The hole was what is known locally as a swallow hole ,it drains the surrounding fields and ditches in times of hard rain .Never gave it a thought that it may rain or even cloud over as it was a perfect clear, November day .Entered a terrier at 10.30 after netting the single holer .God knows where this drains to or what route it takes to get there but we'd always had bolts so no reason to fear this hole .Never heard a sound from the hole but we never do .After a good 20 minutes or so ,we had a look round with the box.Nothing picked up anywhere ,not a blip on the old style grey box .Listened with ear to the ground for a large area but still nothing .It was now 12 midday and something had to be done .We decide to follow the hole and shoved a sapling down it so we wouldnt lose the tube .The first 4 foot or so was vertical then it ran back into the bank but still diving sharply.We stopped now and then but couldnt hear a thing .We were now 8 foot down and panic was setting in on both our faces but you dont like to say too much !Then it started spitting with rain and the sky darkened fast and soon turned to full on ,hard rain .For a while it never affected us but it wasnt long before the first trickle came over the lip and inot the dig .Its pure sand here so it soon washed a tunnel through the spoil heap we had out and was pouring down our necks .NO fun when your pissed off already i can tell you .We dug on into the banking ,chopping down the overhang as we went down .We had a massive hole by now and had totally filled up the ditch so we had to shovel it away before we could get it out the hole .Water coming in like a small stream now and washing loose sand down the pipe we were following .The wind had got up too and with the noise of water as well in the bottem of the hole ,we wouldnt have heard the dog if it was near us .The tube turned sharply at about 11 foot and levelled out but by now it was half full of orange water!The thing that kept me going was the thought that the water was still draining away somewhere and the dog should be half dry!

Our trench was now being undermined by water as we kept below it as you do .It seemed like it took fecking ages for us to dig about 6 foot on ,level now,as the water was getting mixed with the sand and we were shovelling slop.It was now approaching dusk and a real depression set in .Then a stroke of luck ,my mate came upon the brush of the fox quite by accident as he cut into the side of the trench ,maybe 3 foot off the tube , and he drew the fox ,buried but still alive with the terrier attached to the other end .Both were soaked .What had happened we can only speculate but i think the fox had been up a tight side tube and the dog had dug to it ,filling itself in and somehow got itself the other side of it !.It had been a nightmare dig but all that was forgotten when i saw the terrier alive and well .Getting out the hole was a nightmare too and we had to dig a set of steps and heave our tired bodies out .Told the farmer and he said he would backfill with the loader in the morning.The rain kept up for 2 days solid after that and the farmer told me there was now a gash in the bank 15foot wide and about 10 foot deep with a small hole in the bottem that was the original tube .He sleeved the hole with a 9 inch plastic pipe and backfilled it .It still drains well but we will not be putting a dog in again .With todays bellman ,the dig would have been a straight forward one ,although deep but would have saved a lot of worry .Its the not knowing that made this our worst dig .

Edited March 17, 2008 by foxdropper

[greggy 18]

The worst dig we ever had was 4 year ago at the bottem of a banking .Marked a hole that wed done many a time before but always had a bolt from .I remember it now like it was yesterday but until this thread started it was one of those times that get put to the back of your mind and blanked for the sake of your sanity

The hole was what is known locally as a swallow hole ,it drains the surrounding fields and ditches in times of hard rain .Never gave it a thought that it may rain or even cloud over as it was a perfect clear, November day .Entered a terrier at 10.30 after netting the single holer .God knows where this drains to or what route it takes to get there but we'd always had bolts so no reason to fear this hole .Never heard a sound from the hole but we never do .After a good 20 minutes or so ,we had a look round with the box.Nothing picked up anywhere ,not a blip on the old style grey box .Listened with ear to the ground for a large area but still nothing .It was now 12 midday and something had to be done .We decide to follow the hole and shoved a sapling down it so we wouldnt lose the tube .The first 4 foot or so was vertical then it ran back into the bank but still diving sharply.We stopped now and then but couldnt hear a thing .We were now 8 foot down and panic was setting in on both our faces but you dont like to say too much !Then it started spitting with rain and the sky darkened fast and soon turned to full on ,hard rain .For a while it never affected us but it wasnt long before the first trickle came over the lip and inot the dig .Its pure sand here so it soon washed a tunnel through the spoil heap we had out and was pouring down our necks .NO fun when your pissed off already i can tell you .We dug on into the banking ,chopping down the overhang as we went down .We had a massive hole by now and had totally filled up the ditch so we had to shovel it away before we could get it out the hole .Water coming in like a small stream now and washing loose sand down the pipe we were following .The wind had got up too and with the noise of water as well in the bottem of the hole ,we wouldnt have heard the dog if it was near us .The tube turned sharply at about 11 foot and levelled out but by now it was half full of orange water!The thing that kept me going was the thought that the water was still draining away somewhere and the dog should be half dry!

Our trench was now being undermined by water as we kept below it as you do .It seemed like it took fecking ages for us to dig about 6 foot on ,level now,as the water was getting mixed with the sand and we were shovelling slop.It was now approaching dusk and a real depression set in .Then a stroke of luck ,my mate came upon the brush of the fox quite by accident as he cut into the side of the trench ,maybe 3 foot off the tube , and he drew the fox ,buried but still alive with the terrier attached to the other end .Both were soaked .What had happened we can only speculate but i think the fox had been up a tight side tube and the dog had dug to it ,filling itself in and somehow got itself the other side of it !.It had been a nightmare dig but all that was forgotten when i saw the terrier alive and well .Getting out the hole was a nightmare too and we had to dig a set of steps and heave our tired bodies out .Told the farmer and he said he would backfill with the loader in the morning.The rain kept up for 2 days solid after that and the farmer told me there was now a gash in the bank 15foot wide and about 10 foot deep with a small hole in the bottem that was the original tube .He sleeved the hole with a 9 inch plastic pipe and backfilled it .It still drains well but we will not be putting a dog in again .With todays bellman ,the dig would have been a straight forward one ,although deep but would have saved a lot of worry .Its the not knowing that made this our worst dig .

wow thats a good read mate thanks glad it all ended well..we too would have had an easier time of it with the bellman maybe the bitch would have survived had we got there sooner.cheers for that.

[greggy 18]

sounds like a bad dig chief how long did it take you?

took bout 3 hours woody.i think in all they were down 13 hours blocked in by a cave in thats how the bitch died suffocation.

[lurchergrrl 1,441]

Bumpity bump folks .... I found the above very interesting reading. Surely more of you have great stories to share.

[earthdogrunningdog 11]

the worst dig i have been on was not as bad as any of the above but we dug about 6 foot i no that sounds silly but it was like going through pure stone,we did get the dog and the fox but as i tried to climb out of the hole i fell back in and cracked my head and knocking myself clean out only for my mates to pull me out poor some water on me and then tell me i had to wait until they had back filled got the dogs home and then they would take me to the hospital. i was in pain for days