Fox drives

Houndsman

Member
Any keepers/syndicates needing an efficient little pack of beagles for fox drives at the end of the season or any bits just now that don't affect your bird drives drop me a pm. Cheers.
 
Don't know where you are, but we already have an efficient system available to us, The Scottish Hill Packs (fox hounds) cover everything pretty much north of the central belt.

Don't know if there is anything similar in the south of Scotland so possibly there might be an opening there for you.
 
Yes I'm aware of them but it's not everybody that can have or indeed wants a full pack of big hounds on there place. We do places both north and south of Edinburgh. Thanks.
 
It a great sight to see, watching the dogs do what they do best being the small hounds or the big hounds. Hope you get some work for them pal they do a great job.
 
There is a few english gun packs i know off come up to a few different estates in south west scotland, sure there is still a fair bit off room for u thou.

How many couple do u hunt with?
 
Fox drives are a waste of time on a well keepered shoot. We have stopped paying for them to come after the numbers flushed to the guns is usually nil. I shoot more in the year than a hound pack will ever achieve. It is however a good indicator of good keepering.
 
Sometimes rd it is about giving others a crack at a bit of sport but I'd agree I wouldn't pay for the service ,we allow a pack to hunt pre season and they are coming to the boundry for some dogging in so to speak as we shot yesterday
norma
 
The hounds have given up coming to this area. One of the masters was recently giving a local farmer an ear-bashing for letting me deal with his massive fox problem (he'd lost in excess of 1,500 free-range organics chickens). After a few minutes the hounds master mentioned that he'd also had a similar problem. When the farmer asked him how he'd dealt with it, he conceded that he'd brought in two blokes with night vision, who, the last I'd heard, had shot 38 foxes. The farmer nearly punched his teeth down his throat.
 
All depends on ur ground, u are very naive if u think u can either lamp every bit of ground or 'proper keepered' pheasant shoots dinae have foxes.
Off course they're not as flexable as u coming out at a moment's notice but they still serve a purpose

In some ground hounds are very effective esp on the open hill or large forestry blocks.
I small pack i know will come out at a few days notice esp at lambing time, just one of the kids a motorbike and a few hounds but they work on mainly hill ground that u couldnae lamp effectively.
I know a few grouse keepers and very good low ground keepers that stil let hounds on there ground.
 
In my view, proper fox control should involve a number of approaches. Rifle, snare and hounds/drives work well together as a year round approach.

Novice
 
Don't know where you are, but we already have an efficient system available to us, The Scottish Hill Packs (fox hounds) cover everything pretty much north of the central belt.

Don't know if there is anything similar in the south of Scotland so possibly there might be an opening there for you.

I was with the Scottish Hill Packs for over ten years and had many a great days hunting with Mark and the lads and met a lot of people and hunted in some beautiful estates :thumb:
 
Fox drives are a waste of time on a well keepered shoot. We have stopped paying for them to come after the numbers flushed to the guns is usually nil. I shoot more in the year than a hound pack will ever achieve. It is however a good indicator of good keepering.

And what a good keeper you must be. As it happens we don't do it for money we do it because we enjoy it. As for shooting more in a year than a hound pack will achieve,I think that'll be obvious seeing as you're probably out several nights a month for the whole year whereas the hounds will only be in a couple of days. I've had the "you won't find a fox on my place" **** before and usually go on to put at least one up. We done a place last week that is bordered on all sides by well keepered estates with keen foxing keepers on and lifted 5 and accounted for three, one being an old vixen with hardly a tooth in her head,you can't tell me she hadn't seen the keepers light before many a time. Nobody hits everything they fire at so inevitably you end up with lamp shy foxes.
 
That is your opinion but i think your name may be a giveaway? I have had more foxes in one outing than all our hound packs have ever flushed on the estate.. a lot of effort for next to no results. You are welcome to prove me wrong, FREE of course?
 
Are we nearly at the stage of the evening where you have to start self-deleting your 'beer posts' RD? ;)
 
In my view, proper fox control should involve a number of approaches. Rifle, snare and hounds/drives work well together as a year round approach.

Novice

I was with you novice.. right up until the point that hunts were being interviewed on national TV saying how inhuman shooting foxes were and portraying a bunch of cowboys shooting foxes with 6 shot at 50yds. Now they can go f**k themselves. I went to the first countryside march to support them as another fieldsports user, after i have heard that tack taken several times while discussing it with hunt members and the likes, ive run out of time for such people.

Would rather them not stirring up my pheasants either for the sake of maybe 1 fox.
 
i cant see what the big problem is with this post, yes ok the op is obviously looking for a bit of ground to work his dogs on but hes also offering a service a service which is not easily avalible to many and a service which could well acount for a problem fox. Im not a hunting man in the slightest infact i dislike hunting but flushing to guns i dont have a problem with which is what this is. Im not suprised this chap has taken an ear bashing from some members over this post but i do hope he gets somthing from it as i dont see this as your usual ive got a gun and some insurance now wheres my shooting post
 
That is your opinion but i think your name may be a giveaway? I have had more foxes in one outing than all our hound packs have ever flushed on the estate.. a lot of effort for next to no results. You are welcome to prove me wrong, FREE of course?
i think it depends on the mix of woods to grass on the estate, lamping on some of the estates, I have hunted is very difficult, we used to run hounds before birds came out of the pens, and again in February before birds started nesting, best day 13, average over 12yrs 7, if you can lamp that many in one outing then you have a lot of foxes.
 
I was with you novice.. right up until the point that hunts were being interviewed on national TV saying how inhuman shooting foxes were and portraying a bunch of cowboys shooting foxes with 6 shot at 50yds. Now they can go f**k themselves. I went to the first countryside march to support them as another fieldsports user, after i have heard that tack taken several times while discussing it with hunt members and the likes, ive run out of time for such people.

Would rather them not stirring up my pheasants either for the sake of maybe 1 fox.

Perhaps I should have been more specific, I meant gun packs. While I still maintain that all Fieldsports should stand together, the reality, in my view, is that mounted packs can't truly argue the out and out pest control angle. I daresay most mounted followers wouldn't know the difference (or care) if they were following a live fox or a trail.

As part of a range of tactics, having a gun pack through to increase the chances of accounting for foxes thathave avoided other methods has a lot to be said for it.

So if houndsman does take up red dots offer, I'd happily make the trip to make up the numbers.

Novice
 
What some people think about mounted hunting is upto them yes some of them are completely up themselves as in all fieldsports personally along with a couple of other members of the SD I know knowing hunt staff and hunt members can be very beneficial if you go stalking I will let you guys figure it out but all the hunts I know have access to thousands of acres of farms and estates on a daily basis and the owners of this land allow the hunts to do what they do mostly for the sake of a point to point ticket and farmers lunch and drinks once a yr .now don't you think they discuss things like deer at these lunches " yes I have a very nice man who controls our deer " "for free"
embrace them they had a little tickle about on my boundry yesterday and everyone's happy :lol:
norma
 
Fox drives are a waste of time on a well keepered shoot. We have stopped paying for them to come after the numbers flushed to the guns is usually nil. I shoot more in the year than a hound pack will ever achieve. It is however a good indicator of good keepering.

Probably not a lot of need for them on a low ground shoot but can be very effective in large forestry blocks of several thousand acres that would be more or less impossible to handle with beaters, especially those that lead on to the open hill which can be covered by a few good rifle men.

Have quite often had half a dozen foxes or more in a day which makes the huntsmans fee well worth while especially if its being split by neighbouring estates or farms.
 
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