Early Morning Rabbits

[Dave C 63]

Was up on the moors with Pointer early yesterday, he picked my up at stupid Oclock with his Lurcher Tess and i had Paddy my Lurcher and my little Cocker x Hound Fudge.

Its a tough fast bit of ground and the scent wasnt that good but we were just looking for some good sport, and we found it.

 

Tess

 

Paddy

 

Tess hunting the Reeds

 

 

Fudge trying to get in on the action

 

 

End of day catch

 

(The pics arnt that good as it was just getting light).

 

10 in the bag, a good few hours sport.

The lurchers worked well and not much was missed.

And little fudge did ok when she calmed down and we got off the open land and into the thick cover of gorse and bracken.

 

Dave.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Dave C

[Guest mickyrichardson]

not bad going mate

[Dave C 63]

Thanks Micky, rabbits are getting a bit thin on the ground even on the fell, so pleased with the bags of the last few weeks, no easy rabbits round hear.

 

Dave.

[collie/grey 238]

I like Paddy, what's his breeding?

[Guest mickyrichardson]

Thanks Micky, rabbits are getting a bit thin on the ground even on the fell, so pleased with the bags of the last few weeks, no easy rabbits round hear.

 

Dave.

yeah to true mate i walked a part of a fell i have permission we normally get alot off this bit of land but there was not much to get at ended up with 6 off there and they were in bad condition looks nice land your walking on in them pics very simular to lots of my permission cant beat them reedy fields love watching the dogs working them

[pointer 543]

im glad you had a good morning mate,oneday we will have a full day at it but its hard to fit everything in sometimes and i had to pick a mate up at 12.30 for a couple of hours ratting yesterday afternoon.

fudge did well in the thicker cover,her workrate is impressive and she covers the ground too fast for my slow lurcher to keep up

 

rabbits are thin on the ground,or at least its getting harder to find them above ground for dogs to hunt them up.the sets on the open banksides seem to hold good numbers but thats a ferreting or shooting job.hopefully next season mixy wont be as bad.

 

in saying that numbers arent everything and all thats important to me is being out there regularly working dogs.if i only went out when i got canny bags id have stopped rabbiting in november and would only go ratting three or four times a year around the pens and gamecrop once the shooting stops.wouldnt really be enough to justify my kennel full of dogs

[bird 9,796]

Nice bit of sport that, i love mooching about with the dog. If he gets a couple , he as done well, any daytime rabbits are hard to catch.? Well done good bag that.

[pointer 543]

early season we get good daytime bags.................at this time of year the rabbits are in less numbers and are harder to catch.id imagine many know what a dog is,going off last fridays lamping session they know what a lamp is aswell,probably because lurchermen and keepers are trying to kill them every week.

 

it seems that generally where i go after christmas less rabbits sit tight either in the reeds or in the beam.

[scent 509]

well done dave some nice pictures there

[lofti 579]

well done lads,

thats my favorite time of day

dogs done well,cracking stuff.

 

 

lofti.

[pointer 543]

ive found that more rabbits are sat out in the afternoon rather than early morning.perhaps they have fed overnight and are to ground and dont come back out untill later.

also when i have to head out at first light you see more rabbits running away from you,maybe when i go in the afternoon those rabbits have been sat comfortably in the reeds for some time are less inclined to move away

 

all theory though,i might be talking nonsense.either way we seem to get more rabbits in the afternoon than the morning when simply letting lurchers hunt up their own rabbits but sometimes i have to go rabbitinbg early if im ratting in the afternoon.having to fit everything into a weekend due to working monday to friday really buggers up my hunting

[Dave C 63]

I like Paddy, what's his breeding?

 

Thanks CG he is more or less Saluki Grehound x Collie Greyhound he is a 26" dog which is to big for some people but he realy suits that kind of ground.

 

Dave.