To have a hunt there needs to be a quarry and one or more hunters. To have a good hunt there should be a find, a travelling hunt, maybe a check or two and a conclusion. The conclusion can be a kill on top, or a mark and a dig or a bolt. But it…
Read article
Fishing with Toby (and a confession)
“A walk! On a beach? In November? Here in Scotland?” I said. “Yes. Why not?” Ali said. “Because it’s bloody freezing.” “You take the dogs out when it’s freezing.” She countered. She gets like this when she’s eaten too much broccoli. That’s the trouble with women, especially Ali, they’re very logical when they want to…
Read article
Gone Dog
It started off as just another mooch. The only thing slightly different was that nine-year old Poppy, who was usually as bouncy as the rest, despite her years, hung back and ambled along twenty yards behind us. Even when the others had found a scent alongside the burn, albeit an old one and a younger…
Read article
Apologies to an Old Dog
In the October issue was an article I had written about how an old dog caught a fox and that it was only because he was too old and too slow that I managed to witness most of the hunt. In the past this dog has been a demon fox slayer but sometimes the only…
Read article
Pregnant
At the start of my mooch Poppy, the Teckel with the wondrous nose, started to snuffle along the burn. Every so often she would alter her course and go off at a right angle but never into the burn, so I assumed that whatever she was tracking was not a mink. It was unlikely to…
Read article
