How far can hunters go in a day?

[BogTrotter]

I've always wondered how far horses out hunting can go in a day.
I haven't hunted, but was hoping someone could tell me roughly how far the average hunter could go on a vigourous day's hunt, including hacking there & back. How many hours might all that be?

It's just something I've been wondering about (Google was of course, no help on this matter).

Thank you

 

[spacefaer]

Do you mean time or distance? It depends on the country, the pack and the scent.....

If you mean time, then the meet is usually at 10.45 or 11, hounds move off within a half hour of that, on average. Some packs have 2nd horses, where the mounted field change onto a 2nd horse, usually around 1.30/2. Then normally hunt until dusk (unless the weather is particularly foul, in which case they can pack up early) So, in the depths of winter, starting approx 11.30 through to 4ish, without 2nd horses......4.5 hours?

It varies considerably - hacking there and back - do you mean from home? In which case, who knows! Depends where the meet is in relation to your house! From the lorry - you should park at least a mile away from the meet, to get your horse settled, but a lot of hunts provide parking at the meet. Coming back to the lorry - again, who knows! Depends how far the hounds ran and in which direction!

Not a very helpful answer, probably, but I'm not quite sure what you are asking =D

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you spacefacer

Apologies for lack of clarity. I'm still new to forum posting.
I was wondering what the upper limit of distance a TB-type hunter could cover in a day's hunting (on moderate going) & hacking to & from meets. (like in the victorian times I suppose)
I suppose something like what I described would take most of the daylight hours in the winter.

 

[Goldenstar]

We have tracked ours using the iPhone they do 25 to 30 miles on a full day out .
They don't hack to the meet .

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you Goldenstar.

I suppose there are breaks where things are quiet if the hounds are searching for the scent?

 

[frostyfingers]

On a busy day we occasionally get up to 21 miles, more usually around 15 on a Saturday and mid week about 10. Our country is pretty hilly and sometimes the going is deep which can make the distances seem further! My horse hunted twice a week all season covering these distances and never felt tired. Obviously there a pauses, sometimes short sometimes and if your horse is fit it should cope well.

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you frostyfingers.

 

[CrazyMare]

I use a GPS tracking app on my phone. I've done as little as 7 miles and as much as 18 miles. I don't start the tracker until we just leave the meet, and I tend to go home at around 2-2.30pm

 

[spacefaer]

I have just remembered that I measured one day we were out last season, when hounds picked up a trail almost immediately from the meet and ran without stopping for what seemed like hours and miles! When I got home, I looked at google earth to see where we'd been, and managed to measure from field to field, over the open hill ground and the little lanes - I packed up at about 2.30 and we had done 11.7 miles.

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you CrazyMare & spacefacer

 

[Shay]

As others have said it depends on your country - and what quarry you are following. As a gross generalization in our country drag hounds cover less in terms of mileage but are far faster and work harder in shorter bursts. Foxhounds will cover more in terms of miles; but do so at a more constant pace. I've never been bloodhounding so I don't know about that - but presume it is limited by the endurance of the human runner! An average hunt here will vary between 11 or 12 miles and 25 - 30. But even that will not be a straight line. The longest hunt we had last season they were out over 8 hours but covered only about 4 miles. (Lost a hound...) So no easy answer I'm afraid!

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you Shay

 

[Goldenstar]

Points ,the distance hound travel without losing a scent measured between the start and finish of the hunt in a straight line are of course much shorter than the distance horses travel in a day .
In the olden days points could be long the scenting conditions were better because modern use of chemicals makes it harder for hounds to scent .
The country side was less busy and less built over and easier for the foxes to cross ( of course now we are trail hunting it's all completely different and you tend to go round and round the same area all day ).
Roads were not busy and before railways came there was little to turn foxes and stop them running in straight lines .
So in the days before transport when the rich transferred to hacks to canter home ( or sometimes the ladies to carriages )horses sometimes stayed with their grooms were they finished on farms and local posh houses and were walked home the next day sometimes people would stay too .
It's a great subject research .

 

[BogTrotter]

Thanks Goldenstar

I wasn't sure where to go to research it as Google was it's usual un-helpful self.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

In the "old days" we'd think nothing of hacking 8 miles to a meet, then having a jolly good chase across challenging country wherever hounds picked up scent - and then hacking home again afterwards - possibly a good 10 miles to get home depending on where we ended up.

This was on grass-kept ponies. They thrived on it.

 

[BogTrotter]

Thanks MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

 

[Valar Morghulis]

For a number of seasons I recorded our mileage on GPS. The longest day we ever had (in the spring and on good dry ground) was 38.6 miles. There were 2 of us out with GPS and we had the same mileage (less than half a mile difference between us) so it was pretty accurate. The horses were tired but certainly not too tired to trot up the field when we got home and were absolutely 100% the next morning.

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you Valar Morghulis

 

[Horsey_dreams]

The longest I was out was 8 hours, that included hacking there and back, which actually was too far and the furthest I've hacked to a meet. Not sure on total miles probably 25

 

[BogTrotter]

Thank you Horsey_dreams