My Friend Ron Black from Lakeland Memories, "The Mardale Hunt",  has sent me info on another great read, Try Back Lads Try Back 2,  by Lyn Harber, "good serious stories of terrier work" very well written and rebirths the spirit of those early terriers that were so special. A great read for any working dog lover. Ron has a review on this and other hunting books at his Lakeland Memories site plus a lot more.

Ron has a group of new postings over at Lakeland memories and a very few of his limited edition book, still available.

Below are Postings for August 2012 to whet your appetite.

The Hunted Fox
The Fox
Memorable Hunts
"Yer Daft Bugger"

HUNTING SONGS VOLUME ONE: THE LAKELAND FELL PACKS
Full colour cover with photos and hand drawn illustrations; 80 pages; 40 songs; introductions to each of the Fell packs.

Printed copy available from Blurb & Fred Holdsworth Bookshop

eBook available from Amazon (Kindle)
&Smashwords (most eBook reading formats)

THE LUNDESDALE & OXENHOLME STAGHOUNDS
A HISTORY Using material written at the time, this book tells the story of the Lunesdale & Oxenholme Staghounds.

Printed copy from Fred Holdsworth Bookshop

eBook available from Amazon (Kindle)
&Smashwords (most eBook reading formats)

THE MARDALE HUNT
A HISTORY
Using material written at the time, this book tells the story of the annual Mardale Shepherds' Meet, the characters who attended and the hunt and hound trail before the valley became a reservoir in the 1930s.

Printed copies are no longer available - sold out!

eBook available from Amazon (Kindle)
&Smashwords (most eBook reading formats)

THE MARDALE HUNT
A HISTORY
Using material written at the time, this book tells the story of the annual Mardale Shepherds' Meet, the characters who attended and the hunt and hound trail before the valley became a reservoir in the 1930s.

Printed copies are no longer available - sold out!

eBook available from Amazon (Kindle)
&Smashwords (most eBook reading formats)

LAKELAND HUNTING MEMORIES
Volume One
A recollection of Lakeland fox hunting in the '50s and '60s using pages and images archived from this site.

eBook available from Amazon (Kindle)&Smashwords (most eBook reading formats)

Coyote Song, by Don Edwards

A song I like, and a pic of one of my dogs BD, (Bad Dog) only when it comes to Coyotes and Hogs!

Was a cowboy I knew in south Texas
His face was burnt deep by the sun
Part history, part sage, part mesquit
He was there when Pancho Villa was young

And he'd tell you a tale of the old days
When the country was wild all around
Sit out under the stars of the Milky Way
And listen while the coyotes howl

And they go... poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo
poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo

Now the long horns are gone
And the drovers are gone
The Comanche's are gone
And the outlaws are gone
Geronimo is gone
And Sam Bass is gone
And the lion is gone
And the Red Wolf is gone

Well he cursed all the roads and the oil men
And he cursed the automobile
Said this is no place for an hombre like I am
In this new world of asphalt and steel

Then he'd look off some place in the distance
At something only he could see
He'd say all that's left now of the old days
Those damned old coyotes and me

And they go poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo
poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo

Now the long horns are gone
And the drovers are gone
The Comanche's are gone
And the outlaws are gone
Now Quantro is gone
Stand Watie is gone
And the lion is gone
And the Red Wolf is gone

One morning they searched his adobe
He disappeared without even a word
But that night as the moon crossed the mountain
One more coyote was heard

And he'd go, poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo
poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo

poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo
poo yip poo yip poo
poodi hoo di yip poo di yip poo

Where there's a will there's a way

From over at Querencia, friend Stephen Bodio's Blog

Bad news for houndsmen...

.. and all hunters. David Zincavage reports, furiously, here.

From an unremarkable story, earlier:

"California Fish and Game commissioner Dan W. Richards travelled deep into the wicked terrain of Idaho’s Flying B Ranch to fulfill a long-held goal. “It was the most physically exhausting hunt of my lifetime. Eight hours of cold weather hiking in very difficult terrain. I told the guides I appreciated the hard work. They were unbelievably professional, first class all the way,” he said. Richards said he took the big cat over iron sights using a Winchester Centennial lever action .45 carbine. Asked about California’s mountain lion moratorium, Richards didn’t hesitate. “I’m glad it’s legal in Idaho.”

And now he is ousted from office:

"Although the kill was legal in Idaho, California has outlawed the hunting of mountain lions for decades. More than 40 state legislators called for Richards to resign in March, saying he showed poor judgment in killing the cougar when the practice is opposed by most Californians...[Michael] Sutton, an executive with the Audubon Society [who was at the same time elected Vice President of the Fish and Game Commission], said later that the killing of the lion and Richards’ comments defending it were factors in his decision to vote to replace Richards."

Zincavage: "The president of the State Fish & Game Commission is supposed, in California, to be out of line when he uses his office to speak in favor of hunting."LA Weekly, though reporting that some comments against Richards were "pretty terroristy", is flat- out exultant:

"Needless to say, he was immediately attacked by every shade of the left -- from animal-rights crazies to some of the Legislature's most mainstream Democrats... [really?!]... although Fish and Game commissioners haven't explained specifically why they decided to vote Richards down from his throne today, it was clearly a symbolic move to kill the human who killed the beast... Let this be a lesson for all trigger-happy Republicans who dare to dream of swimming against California's blue tide: We'll eat your grin for dinner."

Several churning thoughts: is hunting in Cal really that partisan an issue, or just in a few big cities? What do some of my friends who are Democrats and hunters say, in and out of Cal? What does this bode for the politics of hunting, and the nation?

For certain, it is a black day for the hounds. I wonder who they will call when a lion next stalks, or eats, a runner. Will they let them use hounds?... even end up begging for them, when nothing else works? I wouldn't let my dogs step foot in California, where a coursing ban is on the agenda, and mandatory spay- neuter waits in the wings...