The Cails River Otter Hunters

On going back long gone Seasons in years some six decades of time
To the mid nineteen fifties before the death of rhyme
Sunday hunting on foot was an in thing in rural Ireland then
The schoolboys of the fifties are now tired ageing men

In the waterways of Duhallow otters in numbers did abound
And where brown trout used to be abundant not many to be found
Which made the local fly fishermen rather angry for this the otters they did blame
And every otter for to hunt and kill was fair game

The anger of rod and line fishers against otters not hard to understand
And a thinning of their numbers by Duhallow anglers planned
In the Cails River west of Millstreet Town a rare thing a brown trout
And for the cause of their scarcity there was not any doubt

In the summer of nineteen fifty six on a Sunday in July
The sweet scent of hay was in the breeze and the sun shone in the sky
When to the Cails west of Millstreet the otter hunters came
To kill a couple of otters would give them local fame

When the hunting of otters was a favorite past time
Fair haired Michael Murphy of Millstreet town back then was in his prime
Quite a likeable fellow who enjoyed his pint of stout
Of their dislike of otters then fishers did leave none in doubt

Jim Lucey of the Station Road was then an ageing man
Of memories of hunting the decades he did span
His noble kerry blue dogs were canines without fear
Only stories of the bravery of their sort one does hear

Jerry O Ford of the Station Road his hair silver gray
For years hunting otters he spend many a Sunday
With a fox terrier and a wheaten terrier in his dogs he took pride
Their worth as earth dogs and hunting dogs of them could not be denied

Jer Long of Annagloor who lived by the river was there and he said otters every day he did see
One who knew in the Cails where otters used to be
Otters were the main reason brown trout were so rare
In the Duhallow rivers of fish they had eaten more than their share

Andy Duggan the barber one known for miles around
Had his fox terriers with him dogs unafraid to go to ground
A middle aged man then of greying hair of brown
With him he had a big two pronged stick for penning otters down

Hunting in those days a topic in every Duhallow pub
Paddy Joe Lehane, Tim Riordan and Mick the Jeweller of the Millstreet Foxhound club
Were at the otter hunt though fox and otter hunting not quite the same
What is hunting in Nature is hunting by name

Jimmy Cotter and his cross bred greyhound he was then in his life's prime
Hunting and rod and line fishing his favorite pastime
Why he did not like otters the reason not hard to understand
The number one predator of brown trout in the waterways of Ireland

They dug a few otter burrows and send the terriers to ground
But the otters for the dogs far too deep to be found
Otters are quite tough creatures for animals of their size
As every otter hunter does come to realize

But in Shannaknock their luck changed for the hunters this coud be a win
Quite a shallow burrows they send the terriers in
The dogs dragged the otter out but of their grip it broke free
And swam to a deeper burrow under the bank by a tree

For their otter hunt along the Cails nothing of which to crow
Of any proof of a kill they did not have to show
The Cails River otter hunters now in eternal peace lay
It can be said of them that they did have their day.