Hunting Life Article Competition

My Hunting Life and Dogs

I got into hunting at a young age at about around 5 or 6 by following the local fox hounds.
The local hunt would meet at least once a month on the farm my grandpa managed and where my dad was shepherd .
The hunt was only a small family run hunt not many people rode horses they mostly used trail bikes. My dad I used to follow on the quad bike that he used for herding on the farm.

I have one hunt meet that still sticks in my mind to this day . We were sat up a forest track surrounded by trees listening to
the hounds give tongue when all went quiet. A few hounds came popping out from the trees noses to the ground but no traces of blood on the hounds so this fox must off out smarted them. They worked away trying to find the scent again, when I looked up a forest ride and what did I see but cunning mr fox sat looking at us. I called to my dad and he noticed it so he called over to the hunts master who managed to round up the few hounds that were around and get them after the wise or not so wise fox. The fox was caught by the hounds and I was given a sweet for spotting it.


I continued to follow the hunt but as I got older I was able to ride the quad by myself and ditch my dad. When I turned 10 years old my grandpa had to retire from farming for health reasons one heart attack was enough of a warning. So my dad took over as manager of the farm which meant moving in to the farm house, that’s when I got my first terrier a Jack Russell a small
type called Dinky, she had belonged to my grandpa who knew it was not fair to take her to live in a town, she was used to fields, hills, she was rarely ever on a lead. She was getting on in years but still a game little bitch. She was only ever used for ratting and she was good at that.


I always remember a story my dad used to tell me about an afternoon ratting with her on the farm. They were lifting the boards in the shearing shed and rats were coming out in every direction. Dinky was the only dog there and she managed nearly all of them herself she would grab a rat flick it in to the air, the rat would be dead before it hit the floor again due to a broken neck. I spent four long years with dinky but age got the better of her and she passed away when I was
14. I was gutted my first ever dog that I called my own. I would admire the hunt terrier mans dogs and knew that I
wanted another Jack Russell but my parents said no and that was the end of that dream. So instead I asked for my own trails bike so I could follow the hunt, trails bikes could go better places where a quad would not. That my parents agreed to so they got me an old Honda xl 125cc ,I had a great 3 years with that bike till I sold it when I was 17 to fund
a car and to this day I regret it. Also that year I asked for an air rifle for my birthday, I got a second had weihrach 80k .25,I struggled to cock the gun maybe not the ideal gun for a 14 year old girl. I must admit I never shot very much with that gun the odd crow or bunny, I spent most of the time having competions with friends by shooting beer cans.14 years later I still have this gun but its no longer in working condition maybe one day I will get it fixed up.


At 17 I started to learn how to drive and passed my test I also found the pubs and the demon drink and not forgetting finding men, that’s when I forgot about hunting and getting a terrier of my own It did not take me long to fall head over heels in love with a man, a local shepherd it worked we had the same interests. Not long after we meet we were in engaged, he was made redundant he got another job but out of the area with a house so we moved in together, when we moved in and got settled in I made it clear I wanted a Jack Russell it did not have to be from working stock as I was not in a position to
work it at the time so we got a 6 month old rescue Jack Russell (parson type) called Casper. As she grew and got bigger ,bigger than she should have got it was plain to see there was some other breed in there to this day I am still not sure what maybe whippet I am not sure anyways I did not matter she was meant to be a pet My other half hated his job so we only stayed for a year, he got another job but yet again after 4 years he became fed up and got another job shepherding this time it was back in the area I grew up in and only 10 minutes from my parents and not far from his. We were
finally settled and now in a position that I could work terriers I was interested in the ratting side of things, but Casper was only really a pet so I decided to get another terrier, I found a litter of Lakeland x Jack Russell’s from another local hunt so we went for a look picked a pup and brought it home, a black and tan bitch we called her wisp after a hill on the farm back home, I could feel the hunting bug coming back I was also starting to follow the local hunt again ,that I followed as
a child The plan for the new pup was to work her on rats, Next task was to find a place with rats that I could start her off on when she was old enough. I need not have worried the newly acquired chickens we had got had attracted rats under the huts. I went out and bought 2 live catch traps in the hopes I could catch a rat for the pup, so I could start her but her chance came before I caught anything .My hubby and his boss were mucking out the sheep shed next to the house when they had uncovered a lonely rat, he came and got me and dogs I took both dogs out I knew Casper would most likely be useless but she could no harm she might as well come. Well we could not find where this rat had went to but noticed Casper marking behind the sliding door and yes sure enough the rat was there a fair sized one at that. So Casper did have
the hunting in her after all, we managed to get the rat out from behind the door straight in to the young bitches mouth she made short work of her first rat.

So my ratting team was born Casper to mark and wisp to do the killing. Since this Casper has gone on to kill rats herself
although she makes a meal out of it sometimes and gets quite a few bites. Wisp has also showed that she would like to become a digging terrier I have lost her down a few holes but I am not in to digging that much to much like hard work for me but maybe in the future it will become apart of me.


So for the next year or so I was happy with my team but I knew time would be against Casper she was reaching the age of ten .So yet again I was thinking of getting another terrier. Wisp was now 3 and I decided I wanted a pup out of her so back in January this year we had her mated to a patterdale who belonged to the terrier man from the local hunt I used to follow. In march she had a litter of 6 pups 1 dog and 5 bitches, I said before she had pups I wanted to keep a dog for a change so I did not have much of a choice I nearly changed my mind and kept a bitch.The pup has one fault and its not his fault he has a long tail due to the tail docking laws in Scotland, I suppose I will get used to it in time as long as he works fine it wont be a problem. He is only 4month old at the time of writing this and he has already showed he might be a good ratter by catching a shrew not quite killing it outright but there is time. If he shows some interest in going to ground it might just give the push to give that a try next Also in the last year or so I have started to get in to trapping starting of on rats to catching an odd fox in a trap I was loaned I hope to do more in the future, also back in September last year I got a new air rifle nothing fancy a weihrauch 99s but enough to get me the odd crow and bunny think I leave the beer can shooting to my childhood for now.
I hope to continue my love for hunting and the countryside in the future and as I am only 28 I hope it’s for many more years to come but that all depends on the government you never know what they will ban next.

Keep hunting in what ever is your passion be it shooting, lurchers, ratting, digging


FIGHT THE BAN.

Anon