Irish Extra – June 2023
I had serviced the trapline, replaced food and water for the call birds and bagged up any dispatched birds for collection by a local falconer. The air was warm and still and as my new gadget of a 12v kettle boiled the water for coffee on the back of the pick up I caught the glow of an unwelcome visitor in the thermal spotter.
Another few minutes and I would have had the coffee made and been on my way to the next area had I not taken a quick look with the spotter. The entire situation changed. I knocked off the kettle, loaded the rifle and slipped through the gate into the fenced area where there where a pair of Curlew sitting on eggs at the other side about 1/2km away.
How the fox had got in there was the question on my mind – A 6ft high electrified fence checked regularly by myself and others enclosing 60 acres of ground for breeding waders and he was walking through the middle like he owned the place! What ensued was over an hour of cat and mouse as I followed him through reeds, rushes and gorse as I attempted to line everything up for a shot. I didn’t want to get him, I had to get him…There was no choice. After around 30 minutes he settled himself inside some gorse bushes and I could only make out fragments of him from the thermal as he nosed around inside. I had to wait, I was unwilling to walk in and flush him and was hoping he would eventually leave the cover where I thought he might and allow a clean shot. However after another 15 minutes a local farmer passed on a rather noisy quad bike near the top and the fox took off from the gorse at full speed. He went straight down the hill and out onto the heather below, then moved into some rushes. I kept above him and with the wind in my face we were in a good position. A hand squeak caught his attention and a few more brought him my way, but he was keeping low and snaking through the heather and rushes on the way.
An approaching fox always gets the heart skipping and I often think of some of my old lurchers that are gone who I have lamped foxes or hunted cover with and when crouching down and hearing the teckels working and a fox approaching I often felt the lurchers heart going as fast as mine! I caught the foxes eyes on the light I was using mounted on the scope and as he paused it was a “now or never” moment and I squeezed the trigger. It was a long shot, maybe too long and as I switched from the scope to the spotter, I could see him running off into the distance and he seemed to disappear. I was disgusted, this was going to be an all nighter, I couldn’t leave him and he would be a lot harder to get again. I walked his direction and had got a few hundred yards when something caught my eye on the spotter up ahead. I approached and there he was, what a relief it was, he fell only a short distance from the nest and I could the birds alarm calling further out. I take no enjoyment from the death of any animal but I was certainly glad this boy was gone, however at the same time he was carrying out perfectly natural behaviour while totally unaware of the detrimental effect it has on ground nesting birds. I carried him back to the vehicle for closer inspection and he was a fine healthy dog fox with a fine set of dentures. How he got into the enclosure remains a mystery but one I am investigating!
Organisation focus
We have many fantastic organisations working with and on behalf of country sports in Ireland and to me there are a vital part of keeping country sports where it needs to be. One organisation that has always impressed me since its inception many years ago has been the Irish Working Terrier Federation. The Federation has been in existence since the 1970s and amalgamated in 2012 into an all-Ireland group and has worked tirelessly to promote, protect and defend terrier work. With a code of conduct and an accredited membership scheme and affiliated working terrier clubs the length and of North and south Ireland.
Feelings and facts are often confused when it comes to these types of subjects and it is only correct that we must deal only in facts. Terrier work is and has been proven to be a humane and effective way to deal with an Apex predator such as the fox. Studies carried out in Europe have shown that foxes do not spike in Cortisol levels when being pursued underground by a terrier which means they don’t find it stressful o9r at all unnatural. The role of the dog is never to fight or attack an animal underground but simply to bark or “bay” at its quarry to encourage it to leave the earth or allow it to be located, dug to and removed. What can be more natural than a dog following its instinct to work underground to a quarry that is neither alarmed nor concerned by its presence. Terrier work is practiced and is recognised across the world and with scientific facts and studies showing it to be effective and humane as well as selective. When presented with the facts, nobody can disagree that terrier work is a necessity in the modern world and that the future of terriers and their work should be protected. This was the case some years ago when there was an attempt to ban terrier work in Ireland, but a dedicated team of IWTF individuals worked day and night and thankfully people who may have been swayed to think otherwise were able to see Terrier work how it was and not how it was perceived and a ban was prevented with the sterling work of the organisation. The battle was won but the war is far from over, however I feel that with the continuation of the Federation and the clubs and individuals who do and should continue to support it, we will continue. I have heard that the IWTF show on 23rd July (details can be found online) is shaping up to be a stormer of a show and I don’t attend many, but this one is on my calendar.
Just before I sat down to put this piece together this evening, I noticed my young Teckel bitch “Cleo” rather curious around the chicken coop. After some scratching and digging at the grass on the corner she appeared to spring upwards and back down while lunging forward. I suspected what had happened and sure enough she came straight to me with a rat clamped in her jaws – After many months of difficulty with her retrieving the best retrieve of all was with something Id rather she left where It was!