Thursday, August 28, 2008

oh deer!

Some of you may know that we were training Tolerant to be a stalking (deer) dog, however after he died last year we hadnt thought much more about it and had planned to train our HWV instead. However there have been a couple of call-outs of late and so it was decided to train fergus instead. it would probably put paid to his working trials as encouraging a hound to hunt deer is not ideal for a trialshound, however it was decided he was the best candidate. Last Tuesday afternoon I crunched my disc in my back and was in agony....then with perfect timing a call came in for a wounded deer that needed tracking. By this time it was dark and I could barely walk...but we harnessed up fergus and Andrew had a lamp and a rifle and I had fergus! So we climbed up the hill and into the forest and tracked the deer through trees, rocks, brambles for over 2 miles in dark.....mostly on my hands and knees because i couldn t walk!! In the end I couldnt go any further and Andrew parked Fergus and me at the roadside...it was midnight by then...and walked home to get the Landrover and collect us!!
So the tracking was unsuccessful and my back was even more crocked and since then i have been stuck here on my back unable to move for 2 days. Fergus meanwhile is llooking forward to his next outing!!

Friday, August 22, 2008

more rain!

Rain Rain Rain!! will it ever end? The hounds have webbed feet!
David Gore managed to get over in between the showers so we could shoot some more pix of his lovely girls.......and then it had been arranged for me to test his "Beetle" for her working permit....well the moment he arrived at the flags the heavens opened and we were soaked to the skin......the wind howled and there were deer on the line and mud deep enough to lose a hound in...but.....she hunted beautifully and I was able to give her her permit and look forward to seeing her at trials.
Trials...now there is another thought....every year I swear I will get fitter for the hunting season.....this year is no different except that I am actually judging them this year and I am still not fit!!
I just keep everything crossed that the lead up to the trials are disaster-free as last time I judged I put my back ou the week before and struggled around like a 90 year old.....the time before that I sunk my landrover in a river the day before and had no transport so had to get the train to London and then another one to Bucks.....can you imagine what I looked like on the return journey at Paddington station, covered in mud and exhausted, its no wonder folk were taking a wide berth!!