Doug digs in.
Doug came up from North Carolina with his new dog, Gordon, one of the last of the Kill Devil Terriers.
Coming out of the truck, all of the dogs pinged on something, and though they never quite found it (had it gone up a tree?) Gordon was clearly sniffing up a storm. A good sign!
Standing only about 11 and a half inches tall, Gordon has a chest of about 15 inches at age two, and he should be able to get down almost any hole. High hopes!
We had barely entered the first field when Doug pointed up the dirt road that split the field in two. "What's that?" he asked, pointing to something standing at a low point in the road. I peered where he pointed, but it was not clear to me what it was, as it was just a vague silhouette. Then it moved. Ah! A fox! Very nice. I pointed to two areas in this field where I had dug on fox before.
We crossed through this lower field quickly. My intention, I explained, was to start at the back of the next two fields and work our way back towards the truck as the day got hotter.
The good news is that this farm, which has been in corn for the last two years, is in soy beans this year. Though the beans are only a few inches high, we can already see some eat-out from groundhog activity. All good, and it should get better as the season progresses.
After we crossed through a narrow patch of woods into the next set of fields, we let the dogs begin checking the field settes. The holes were frequent and enormous, but no one was home.
We headed to the bottom of the field, and I pointed to a small group of trees and said there were a few holes in there where we might find. We were just walking up to the edge of those trees when Mountain opened up inside. Excellent.
Mountain explores a pipe.
We entered the trees to a find the rock piles that were the reason for the copse of trees. When this farm land was cleared, some 250 years ago, this is where all the old field stones had been pushed. Mountain, it turned out, was under an enormous pile of multiflora rose on the edge of the woods behind a small hillock of cobble-sized stones.
We circled around, and then I waded in with a machete. After about 15 minutes of hacking away at the rose, we found where Mountain had entered. It was another 15 minutes of hacking before we got the rose bushes cleared away enough to dig, and then we discovered the second problem: the ground was mostly rock.
We pounded with bar, spade, and posthole digger for a good two hours just to dig two holes a couple of feet deep. At one point, pure rock dust and sparks were coming up, but not a bit of dirt.
Meanwhile, the noise coming out of the hole, sounded for all the world like a raccoon. No one was more surprised than I was to find a groundhog at the end of this dig -- and not even a very big one at that! He was just a little guy, and yet I swear I have never heard a groundhog make as deep a rumble as this one did, and I have dug many hundreds of groundhogs over the years!
After a quick dispatch, we let Gordon familiarize himself with groundhog smell and Doug put the snare on the dead groundhog and played a short lure game with it --a good way to get a dog interested in chasing a "live" groundhog that is in fact dead and can do the dog no harm.
Gordon gets his first smell and taste of groundhog.
Meanwhile, I laid out flat on the dirt. Damn it was hot! I had forgotten to put sun screen on my head, arms or neck, and I could already feel the burn creeping into me. Ouch!
We headed down to the river, about a hundred yards below us, so the dogs could get some water and we could get come shade. It was really nice by the water, and I could have spent the day there, but after the dogs had tanked up and we had cooled down, we headed back up to the fields to see what we could find.
Mountain and Pearl were noodling up the field when we realized Gordon was not with us. Where had that dog gotten to? Doug circled back and found Gordon just inside the tree line, baying at a hole! Wooeee! How good is that? Go Gordon!
Gordon locates his first groundhog all on his own!
Gordon knows he has done good and found his calling!
Gordon slides a litle ways into a hole. A good sign for the first day out.
Proud papa after a first find with new dog.
Doug was pretty pleased, but I was even more stoked. Wow! If a dog will locate this easily, it will enter too. Gordon was going to be an honest hunting dog yet, and maybe before the day was out.
Sadly, the sette where Gordon located was an absolute root-vault. Though Pearl and Mountain could get in up to one body length, enormous roots blocked the rest of the way. The groundhog, it was clear, was dead-center under the tree. Without a chainsaw, there was going to be no shifting him. But who cared? Gordon had found a groundhog all on his own! Yippee!
We walked back up the field, but the dogs were still not interested in any of the enormous field settes. Beans growing in the mouth of several of the holes told the story -- they had not been occupied for weeks. We would hit them another day.
As we crossed over into the next field, I told Doug that I had spotted a very red fox in this field the week before. I could see it just as I had crowned over the top of the little hill that was right ahead of us. And guess what? There he was again!
I was pretty sure I knew this fox, as I think he is the same very red fox I bolted from a sette one field over back in February. I see a lot of fox, but not many are this red! It was nice to see something I had let go -- something I can dig to later again. I dig on a fox in season, but I do not kill them, as they do no harm on any of my farms. Oddly, the farm I do work that has loose chickens on it does not seem to have fox -- all of their predation is by raccoon. I think the absence of fox dens on that farm is almost solely due to the absence of water. A fox likes to den near water.
We headed down the field and past more enormous settes with no one home. We tucked into the tree line, but found nothing, and circled back up into the field. Now where was Mountain? We waited a bit, but when she did not appear, we went back to where Doug had last seen her. Yep, she had gone to ground. And this time, it was definitely a raccoon!
There was more multiflora rose here too, but not as much as at the other sette, and the ground was actual dirt except for one really large rock which Doug managed to shift on his own.
Mountain was having a lot of fun at this hole, and we left Pearl staked out, while Gordon checked things out, loose on top.
Mountain checks a bore hole into the sette.
After a bit of digging we had the raccoon at a stop end, and we barred behind it in order to get it to bolt to a pole snare.
After showing the raccoon to Gordon, we staked him out and released the raccoon. We then filled in the holes and led Gordon loose to see if he could locate the raccoon again. The short answer was: YES. Gordon began pinging on an enormous groundhog sette just a little ways away. Excellent.
We decided it was time to go -- we were both tired, and Doug had at least a five-hour drive back to North Carolina. In fact, due to traffic, it took him 7-hours. A long day!
Mountain staked out at the end of the raccoon dig. Her job was done.
Pearl staked out at the raccoon dig. She'll get her turn next time.
At the end of the day, Gordon was the smart one, resting as we filled in.
Digging bar in foreground, machete in background, glove at right, tired dog in the middle, dirt underneath. The very essence of terrier work!
All in all this was a really excellent day for Gordon. He got to smell fox twice, he saw his first groundhog and located one all on his own too, and he saw his first raccoon and got to relocate it after it was allowed some law to find a new hole.
It would have been hard for Gordon to see more and do better on his first day out in the country. I think this is going to be a great little dog!
A rescue, of pedigree unknown, and 100% terrierman approved!
Sadly, the sette where Gordon located was an absolute root-vault. Though Pearl and Mountain could get in up to one body length, enormous roots blocked the rest of the way. The groundhog, it was clear, was dead-center under the tree. Without a chainsaw, there was going to be no shifting him. But who cared? Gordon had found a groundhog all on his own! Yippee!
We walked back up the field, but the dogs were still not interested in any of the enormous field settes. Beans growing in the mouth of several of the holes told the story -- they had not been occupied for weeks. We would hit them another day.
As we crossed over into the next field, I told Doug that I had spotted a very red fox in this field the week before. I could see it just as I had crowned over the top of the little hill that was right ahead of us. And guess what? There he was again!
I was pretty sure I knew this fox, as I think he is the same very red fox I bolted from a sette one field over back in February. I see a lot of fox, but not many are this red! It was nice to see something I had let go -- something I can dig to later again. I dig on a fox in season, but I do not kill them, as they do no harm on any of my farms. Oddly, the farm I do work that has loose chickens on it does not seem to have fox -- all of their predation is by raccoon. I think the absence of fox dens on that farm is almost solely due to the absence of water. A fox likes to den near water.
We headed down the field and past more enormous settes with no one home. We tucked into the tree line, but found nothing, and circled back up into the field. Now where was Mountain? We waited a bit, but when she did not appear, we went back to where Doug had last seen her. Yep, she had gone to ground. And this time, it was definitely a raccoon!
There was more multiflora rose here too, but not as much as at the other sette, and the ground was actual dirt except for one really large rock which Doug managed to shift on his own.
Mountain was having a lot of fun at this hole, and we left Pearl staked out, while Gordon checked things out, loose on top.
Mountain checks a bore hole into the sette.
After a bit of digging we had the raccoon at a stop end, and we barred behind it in order to get it to bolt to a pole snare.
After showing the raccoon to Gordon, we staked him out and released the raccoon. We then filled in the holes and led Gordon loose to see if he could locate the raccoon again. The short answer was: YES. Gordon began pinging on an enormous groundhog sette just a little ways away. Excellent.
We decided it was time to go -- we were both tired, and Doug had at least a five-hour drive back to North Carolina. In fact, due to traffic, it took him 7-hours. A long day!
Mountain staked out at the end of the raccoon dig. Her job was done.
Pearl staked out at the raccoon dig. She'll get her turn next time.
At the end of the day, Gordon was the smart one, resting as we filled in.
Digging bar in foreground, machete in background, glove at right, tired dog in the middle, dirt underneath. The very essence of terrier work!
All in all this was a really excellent day for Gordon. He got to smell fox twice, he saw his first groundhog and located one all on his own too, and he saw his first raccoon and got to relocate it after it was allowed some law to find a new hole.
It would have been hard for Gordon to see more and do better on his first day out in the country. I think this is going to be a great little dog!
A rescue, of pedigree unknown, and 100% terrierman approved!
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2 comments:
The day you described (most eloquently as usual) must be the very definition of Dog Heaven. I can not imagine a more enjoyable day for a good dog! Other activities AS enjoyable, maybe - but not more.
Sounds like a lot of hot, hard work for the humans though! :-)
This is great stuff, nothing more exciting than the first day out with a new terrier. I love Gordons prick up ears. he looks like a real character. Also excellent shot of Mountain taking her time to check down the borehole, not rushing in and getting into a tangle like some hard nut dog. She looks like a clever terrier, really reminds me of my Sticks in that shot and a lot of the others that you have shared with us.
What a great day you guys had. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Jonathan CT
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