A big thank you to Teddy Moritz for sharing the story |
On her first day out I took the lurcher and just Garmin as a hole dog. I wanted her to learn by herself and to depend only on her own ideas about hard quarry. The lurcher marked a hole at the edge of a farm field. Garmin checked the hole and showed interest. She had to dig her way in because the hole was full of leaves and twigs. After she disappeared it took a few moments for her to find the groundhog, then she began baying. She came out once to see if I was still topside. Then she went to work in earnest it seemed. I could hear her baying but she sounded deep. I located her via her transmitter collar at six to eight feet. She had to have her quarry in a hibernating den. I let her work for several minutes and listened to her steady barking. Meanwhile, the lurcher heard something down the slope, in the briars, by the base of a big tree. I thought a squirrel might have moved. Garmin had gone quiet so I walked to the base of the tree. I saw a groundhog looking out of a hole at the base of the tree. I backed off and the lurcher found his way through the briars and nabbed the groundhog as it ran into the woods. I waited and then called Garmin. She eventually came out the original hole, covered with sand. I think the groundhog had gone very deep, then come up a tunnel to his escape hole in the tree. Nice work by Garmin.
Next hole was in a big mound of dirt and looked like it could be a fox den.
Garmin took a long time deciding to go into the
hole. I waited for her to make up her own mind, not encouraging her. She has to
learn to think for herself. She finally went in. After a few moments she gave a
sharp bark, then a yip and she came shooting out a
far hole. That made me pretty sure it was a vixen
in the den, probably with cubs. Garmin circled the
den. Again I didn't say anything to her. I wanted her to decide about hard
quarry on her own. She hadn't taken a bite but I believe the fox took her by
surprise. Garmin walked around a little, then went
back into the hole she'd first gone in. This time she began baying very strongly
and moved deeper into the den. Suddenly the fox shot out a hole in the far side
of the mound, running through the thick greenbriar. The lurcher gave chase but he couldn't maneuver through the heavy thorns and the fox
disappeared. Garmin came out all in a huff and tracked the fox. I called her back after awhile
and we left the fox. This gave Garmin the
confidence to face harder quarry, given the choice.
On the way out of the farm I saw a big groundhog run into the woods. The lurcher, who had been
trotting ahead of the car, marked the den, a
two-holer under a fallen tree. I had dug this den
with Bane last year. The shallow holes I had dug for him were still in evidence,
though filled with leaves. Garmin again had to dig
to get into the den. I thought she'd head toward the far hole, which was freshly
dug. This groundhog chose to go to the old den. I
cleaned out two holes with he post hole diggers and could hear Garmin moving through the tunnel, barking. The lurcher
showed interest in the furthest hole so I used the
digging bar and dropped it between Garmin and the
chuck. When I pulled the bar out the chuck tried to go toward Garmin but her barking became louder and faster and she
kept him in the tunnel. Eventually he backed up to the far hole and the big dog
pulled him out.
Thus Garmin met three adversaries in one
morning's hunt and faced them all without taking a
bite. So far so good for a young dog, although once she gets bitten then I'll
know what she's made of.
5 comments:
Wow, hunting that I know nothing about so it was a great read!
Fun read & I love the tagging on the back of your car!!
Justin Richins.
Teddy, You and your dogs' adventures amaze me! (not to mention your hawk!!) I got nervous just READING about the dog being that deep underground...honestly, that must take some getting used to. Thanks for sharing!
Here in the sandy soil of DE I am finding that hibernating dens are six feet deep or more. As the season progresses the groundhogs will stop using these dens and move to natal dens to have young. Even the fox go deep here. Bane was in a fox den today at eight feet. He bolted the fox. The sandy soil allows such deep dens. If I getinto one of those digs I'll call you for help digging, OK?
Anything for you! Just don't call Curt unless you're good at CPR! LOL
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