Opinions on Hunting?

Go - it is the best fun you will ever have on four legs!

As for the fors and againsts on the hunting debate - hunting with hounds is far more humane than shooting, poisoning or trapping. Foxes will continue to be culled in the countryside by whatever means is legally at a farmer's disposal be it spring, summer, autumn or winter - in towns, people currently believe they are cute. I believe this attitude will change when the fox population becomes a nuisance and the townies seek a solution....

Of course the foxy loxy lovers believe that foxes will control their own numbers in response to food supply - this is just not going to happen in a town or city where the rubbish is put out in the evening and not collected until the morning ....
 
Go!
I used to work for a pest control company, the tech's had just as much fun with big kills and totally within the law, remember one of our sales guys coming in to show us a video of his terrier ratting, we also used to kill foxes. Not only legal but we worked for the government too...
 
MON....I love yor quote brilliant bet they eat no animal products either!!! Is fishing not a sport (sorry)....Go hunting you will love it start off autumn hunting alot quieter :-)
 
GO! It's fantastic fun, the BEST day out on a horse you can have :)

I actually mostly go with a Blood Hound pack (no foxes involved at all!) it is fast and furious .... great fun :) I go with them because they go out on a Sunday which is the best day for me, but I will go with the fox hounds as well if I can make it.
 
Personally I think in this day and age there are far more humane ways to kill foxes than terrorise them all afternoon before being shredded by dogs.

Drag hunting is in my opinion a fun way to keep up old traditions using modern ethics. You'd probably catch far more foxes if you laid in wait for a few hours with a double barrelled shotgun than in the middle of the day with a pack of hounds.

And my personal experience with drag hunting was limited to only the once when I spent the whole day riding on adrenaline, it was exhilarating, absolutely awesome and one of the best days I'd ever had out on horseback... though its not something I'd choose to do regularly. I'm not much of an adrenaline junkie lol
 
Go for it! You only live once!

I grew up around a hunting area in Devon, but never got to hunt as I was 'pony-mad-but-ponyless' back then. But I would help at the meets, plaiting up and polishing my friend's horse, handing out the cakes and drinks etc, then standing on her landrover bonnet in a lay-by keenly watching the hunt galloping in the distance.

I have keen memories of those days, I was planning to take her youngster cubbing the next season, was so looking forward to it, then my family moved away.

I think now that I wish id had the chance to go hunting back then (1995), but maybe it wouldnt feel the same if I went now..... I think my pony would make a nice little hunter, even though she's getting on a bit!.

Im a pro-hunt vegetarian by the way....go on bite me...I can take it!!!
 
I personally think it is ever so cruel to put a metal bit in a horses mouth its an invasion of their horsey rights!! How would you like it, I mean being beaten with a big stick/spurs, forced into submission!! Just so very wrong!! I personally think horses should be left to graze and roam and we should all be vegatable eating tree huggers!!!!!!!!
Maybe we could play with the wild horses using carrot sticks!:D:D :D:D
 
I think before anyone goes hunting they need to decide if its something that they think is acceptable for them - so well done for starting the debate. There's nothing worse than people not really agreeing with the principle of hunting but going anyway because the riding is so good. Many years ago I did a college horse management course and of course many of my friends went hunting, in one of our discussions on the rights and wrongs of hunting one of the girls said " Well, when the fox is killed I turn around and i don't look". If you go hunting you are directly responsible for the death of any animal that may get killed on the day - If you are ok with that, then go hunting.
I'm a real anti and many moons ago used to belong to the hunt sabateurs (I've also owned horses most of my life) I used to love riding wearing my hunt sabateurs sweatshirt. On one occassion I was working with my horse in our own fields when a pony club mum came to collect a livery pony that she was borrowing to take to camp, she stopped me and asked if I had permission to be on the land and touching the horses!
I think life is sacred (I'm not religious!) whether its a humans or a mouse. If we need to take the life of another being it needs to be done as quickly and as humanely as possible and under no circumstances in the name of sport. In my opinion anyone who kills animals for sport or fun is morally bankrupt.


Umm, did you miss the fact that hunting to kill with hounds was banned. :rolleyes: ;) :D
 
If a fox dies at the end, I think it's disgusting. Seems to me an unnecessarily cruel way to cull fox numbers and a pretty brutal way to end a good gallop. My next door neighbour is a crack shot and was having problems with foxes getting her lambs a few years ago. She located the den, waited one night for the fox to leave, and shot it in the head. The fox wouldn't have seen it coming and I doubt it felt anything. I was quite young at the time and I was pretty devastated when I stumbled across the fox's body several days later (someone told my neighbour leaving the body where the foxes entered her land would deter them from coming back) and found that her cubs had found the body and were climbing all over her, mewling :(. But, I do think, if you want to control fox numbers, that is the way to do it.
That said, I'm not actually clear on the hunting rules atm.

That is truly sick. At least the hunting season is outwith when they have cubs.
 
QR

I am pro hunting. IMHO much better than poison and shooting. Also it is a tradition I would hate to see disappear.

However don't hunt at present, partially due to a very old hunting injury but mainly due to not having a horse that would hunt. Captain is a woss who hates going out and much prefers schooling. Fany, well bless her she is just not built for it, nor inclined to it. She can jump but not well enough.

Dare say I will never hunt again, Not much hunting up here and no horse to hunt on anyway. Unfortunately Elizabeth is very anti - hunting which would make it awkward as we share the horses.

FDC
 
days later (someone told my neighbour leaving the body where the foxes entered her land would deter them from coming back) and found that her cubs had found the body and were climbing all over her, mewling :(. But, I do think, if you want to control fox numbers, that is the way to do it.

That is why I agree with hunting, it is done out of the breeding season and is quick generally.

FDC
 
I am pro hunting.

Immediately post ban, the numbers of foxes shot by gamekeepers rose enormously. I have never seen as many dead foxes lined up at field edges.

There is no selection involved, no chance for the fitter, healthy animals to escape and the removal of the old, and infirm. It is totally indescriminate (sp?).
The death of a fox, if caught, by hounds may not be particularly palatable to view, but it lasts a few seconds at most and is most definitely final.

That to me, is a better way to go than poisoning, a poor shot, or God forbid, use of snares.

Hunting is not about ridding the area of foxes, it is about managing a sustainable, healthy fox populations for years to come.
 
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OP your friends who don't want you to hunt. WHY don't they want you to hunt with a legal hunt????? Or are they saying that they know that the hunt you plan to go with are illegally hunting fox??? I don't understand, surely you didn't start this thread so we could debate the moral rights and wrongs of hunting, that's not how I read it?
 
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