  
|
|
|
|
Not long ago, my daughter's teacher posed a question to her seventh grade class. The
question was intended to stimulate thought and interesting discussion, "What are your
family's Thanksgiving day traditions?" Excited to share our passion for hunting,
Megan offered, "My family goes hunting our dogs every Thanksgiving day!" Her
response met with confusion and sickened looks. Finally, a classmate came to the
rescue suggesting she really didn't HUNT her dogs, but rather she went hunting WITH
her dogs! As it turned out this Thanksgiving both interpretations were correct...
Conner Hunting Log - Thanksgiving Day 1996
Chris and Ellen Lesch came from Boise for Thanksgiving dinner and to hunt with us,
mainly the latter. They arrived Wednesday evening and we planned the activities of
the next three days. Thursday was an early turkey dinner and then out into the hunt
field. We planned on hunting close to home, and I was glad as it was snowing and
blowing enough to deter even the hardiest of hunters. But...not the Conners or
Lesches.
One of the most important aspects of any successful hunt is selecting the "right"
terriers. The terriers must be well suited to the quarry and terrain, and trusted to get
along with each other. We usually hunt with three or four dogs. One or two
experienced dogs, a young dog, and always a "good" locator dog. Generally, only one
dog is allowed off-lead at any given time. This keeps the situation under control and
the dogs close by our feet. This day we selected Teq (our experienced male and a
good locator), Nell (the Lesch's dog, a Teq daughter) and Merlin (our new Harrier
puppy - aka "the nose").
We started behind the house at a fox set we know quite well. We sent Nell to ground.
She investigated and confirmed nobody was home. Although Nell is a young terrier,
she had proven her hunting abilities before and we trusted her judgement. A cardinal
rule of terrier work is, "trust your terrier." One must never out guess their dog and
send them back into a hole they have already investigated. Over encouragement is a
natural reaction by most people. We can't see inside the set and we are sure that if
the dog looks harder it will find the illusive quarry. Unfortunately, encouraging a dog
to re-enter often leads to trouble. The terrier may have identified a skunk, badger or
coyote and continued investigation may result in a serious injuries to the dog. Take
my word for it, always trust your terrier.
We put Nell on-lead and headed for another den. The next den housed a vixen and six
fox pups earlier in the year. Although they vacated the den in August, the pups
occasionally return for ole' time sake. The pups are now full grown, and it is difficult
to discriminate between this year's litter and the adults. As we approached the den
we viewed fox tracks everywhere. Teq and Merlin, our locator-dogs are more
interested in an old culvert pipe just west of the den. Disgusted, we dragged them
away from the pipe and went to check out the den.
On this Thanksgiving day we hoped to "bolt" rather than "dig" our quarry. Bolting
occurs when the terrier enters below ground, locates the quarry, and pushes the quarry
from the earth. This is considered an acceptable method of dispatching fox for Jack
Russell Terriers. In fact, many historians believe that Reverend John Russell himself
preferred a soft-working terrier that would bolt rather than engage quarry. This makes
perfect sense given the Reverend's real passion was chasing fox not killing them.
As we reached the set which was a typical whelping den we saw four holes in the side
of a bank. Three large entrances on one side of a fence and one small exit on the
other side. Sean our ten-year old son, was stationed at the uppermost hole. His job
was to catch the dog if it tried to exit. Teq was sent to ground. He entered through
the major entrance and immediately popped out where Sean was standing. Teq is a
reliable hunter and it was obvious to him Reynard was not in THAT den. Sean was
paralyzed and watched Teq head for more promising hunting grounds! When we
hoped for a bolt this was not what we had in mind. Teq was nowhere to be found.
What had started out as hunting WITH Teq had ended up hunting FOR Teq.
"Trust your terrier" echoed in our heads. Craig and Chris immediately went to the old
culvert the terriers had marked on the way to the set. Craig dropped into the bottom
of the small irrigation ditch and checked out the culvert. It was a concrete pipe, ten
inches in diameter and two hundred yards long. The pipe had grates on the front,
presumably to keep out animals (it must work because I have never seen any cattle
enter a 10 inch culvert pipe). It was now snowing hard. Craig was laying on the
bottom of the ditch, in the snow with his face directly in front of the opening. He
pulled out his flashlight and shined it into the pipe. The subsequent dialog went
something like this.
Craig picked himself up from the bottom of the ditch and scrambled up the bank just
as a big red fox emerged from the culvert with Teq locked onto its brush. Teq is a
terrier's terrier and he was not about to settle for an easy bolt. The fox cleared the
culvert pipe and was hauling tail and Teq. Teq grabbed the bars on the front of the
pipe, sprawled, and started pulling like a mad dog. It has been said that a terrier-man
and his dog must work together as a team. Craig takes this saying a bit too literally.
He jumped down the bank and grabbed the canine duo just as Teq's grip on the pipe
gave way. Teq and the fox went flying up the bank. Craig was in position to nab Teq
and the fox escaped unharmed.
Teq had known all along where the fox was living, and it wasn't in that nice, diggable den. It was in an old culvert pipe that was too small to enter and too sturdy to dig. I have no idea how he got behind the fox with only ten inches of maneuverable space. Fortunately it worked out fine. Teq had a nice bolt, the fox escaped unharmed, and nobody was hurt. However, the next time Teq locates at a culvert pipe, there are six terrier hunters that live in Idaho that will trust him completely. After a good belly-laugh we retired to the house for pie, coffee, and hunting stories that lasted well into the night. "Hunting our terriers" or "hunting with our terriers" is a Thanksgiving day tradition the Conner's plan to continue. |
Return to front.