Hunting hounds for foxes

OnTheGame

I may be able to aquire a few hounds that are not up to scratch from a foxhunt. Idea would be to use them fro driven fox shooting out of cover and bogs etc. any opinions..?

marlin vs

Don't take other peoples rubbish,if they were even slightly any good the hunt would keep them,if you ever follow the hunt you will see that mostly only two or three hound's are on the mark and the rest only follow.

round tower huntsman

hounds used for beating bogs to guns dont need to be up to the same level as hounds used in a pack. lots of gun packs take hounds that arent up to pack level. packs want a hound that will hunt a fox to the next village,gun packs want a hound that will cry on the scent but will stay near and not go missing for 3 days!
most gun packs now use the hound x's cos they'll hunt bogs and small covers but they wont go across country afetr a fox like good harrieres will.
packs i hunt with will often give gun pack hounds that arent up to hard hunting.

marlin v your wrong bout only 2 or 3 following a good pack every hound should be capable of hunting alone. and hounds that are only chasing are soon found out and given to gun packs;)

marlin vs

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one,I follow a hunt fairly regular and it's the same hound's that are first out of the cover after the fox everytime,even when the rest break cover some of them head off in a different direction,and it's usually the one's that get lost that are got rid of,no one want's to be out looking for lost hound's the next day,even people that use them as beaters.

tfox

marlin vs wrote: »

Don't take other peoples rubbish,if they were even slightly any good the hunt would keep them,if you ever follow the hunt you will see that mostly only two or three hound's are on the mark and the rest only follow.

Not entirely true. I have done a lot of work with the local hunt and from what I see the lads that are looking for hounds for fox shooting buy up the hounds that hunt off too much by themselves that the hunt dont want, but are ideal for fox shooting

corkdogs1

i'd say for what you need them for you would be better off with a good barking springer or two and springer/beagle,springer/harrier crosses.we use them in heavy cover on foxes and catch them with lurchers.

cavan shooter

for what its worth we have shot more foxes this year beating bogs using a 3 terriers of various classes (yappers) than we have gotten over the years when we bring in hounds. why?

You get 1 or two drives with the hounds then spend the rest of the day looking for them, God help you if you miss the fox, the embarrassment is nothing compared to the time spent driving the countryside looking for these dogs, the terriers will come back.

Now you may say that thats down to untrained hounds but I have to this day yet to see properly trained hounds (very wide accusation and Im sure packs that hunt on foot will tell me off). Stick to the terriers or as lads I know in Sligo do use their own droppers/crosses, beagle springers and beaters.

kemen

we have a small pack of 4 hounds and 7 terriers, we get no less than 4 bates in a day but the s*!t hits the fan at the last 1.. 1 of our hounds most know its time to go home and just disapears for half an hour.. its music to the ears to hear hounds on a good hunt