Opinions on Hunting?

Charlie.x

Charlie.x

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Just wondering What is everyone's opinions on hunting. Ive always wanted to go, but lots of my friends are very against it. So i just wondered what everyone else's opinion was. Thanks :D x
 
I'd love to go - I've been out with the hunt twice and regularly went on hound exercise one summer (had my horse stabled at the kennels! xD) and hope to join the hound exercise again this summer, and if my lad managed to keep his sanity we might try hunting next year! :p
 
GO HUNTING!!!

if ur horse is a good hunter then get the boots on and go enjoy urself!!
they can only drag hunt anyway which is so much more fun then foxhunting anywhay!!


There is nothing better then goin across the british countryside on horse back.
they hunt from my yard and i love watchin them all go!!

Get out there!! dont let other ppl affect what u want to do!!

good luck.:o
 
I'm really confused about the law on hunting atm. I was sure that it was legal to hunt with dogs provided fox wasn't killed by dogs (so it would be shot instead) but several people recently have told me it's only legal to drag hunt, no fox involved. Can anyone clear this up for me?

Personally, I think drag hunting is fine. 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.
 
HashRouge said:
Personally, I think drag hunting is fine. 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.
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And that's not brutal? Where do you get your priorities from if it's ok to leave cubs to die of starvation because a gun happy moron shot their mother? They should be ashamed of themselves if they can't see how brutal and callous that was.
 
I'm against it! I'm a vegetarian too, which is hard when your when your whole family are carnivorous hunting enthusiasts!

My sister takes her horse hunting a lot and loves it, and I admit it does sound fun :o What about drag or mock hunting?
 
I've only been a few times but I love hunting. If you feel a bit uneasy about it then go drag hunting or with the bloodhounds who follow a human runner.
 
I went last week for the first time and loved it, very friendly people and lots of fun. However certain mainly vegetarian friends of mine who are non-horsey expressed their disgust, but they do know I don't agree with being vegetarian either.
If you want to give it a go you should do so, everyone was very welcoming to me and made me want to go back.
 
I love it! Me and my boy go out as often as possible. If your horse is good being ridden in large groups and is a careful jumper, then you will be fine. :) It has improved my boy so much - he is a lot more forward now, even when schooling and he is a lot bolder when jumping across country.
 
HashRouge said:
I'm really confused about the law on hunting atm. I was sure that it was legal to hunt with dogs provided fox wasn't killed by dogs (so it would be shot instead) but several people recently have told me it's only legal to drag hunt, no fox involved. Can anyone clear this up for me?

Personally, I think drag hunting is fine. 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.
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Lord. That is the most awful thing.

At least with hunting, cubs won't be left orphaned due to the seasons not clashing.
Even my grandfather who will happily shoot any foxes he sees wouldn't do so while there is a chance they may have cups.

THIS is why I am pro hunting. Those poor wee cubs.
 
Pro hunting but its just so bloody expensive!

As for the rights and wrongs, starving slowly to death is a fate much worse
 
When I lived in London I was dead against fox hunting. Now I've lived in Lincs for more than a decade my attitude has changed a little and I'm definitely not as opposed. I don't think I'd ever have the courage to go myself but I wouldn't criticise those who do hunt. I guess part of the reason for my change in thinking has come from seeing the carnage foxes can cause in a chicken coop, they kill not to eat but for the fun of killing. I think we do need to keep a check on fox numbers and I'm not sure that shooting is the right answer. It is better for the fox to be killed than to be left wounded and in pain.

As far as the hunting laws go I cannot see how any hunt that sets a pack of dogs on a fox's scent can possibly guarantee that fox will be killed by a shot and not by the hounds.

And I hate the thought of the vixen's cubs climbing over her dead body. Surely it would have been kinder to kill the cubs as well, rather than to let them starve to death?
 
In the Winter I live for my hunting - it gives me a reason to get out of bed on a cold dark morning and motivates me to keep the horses going.
There is nothing like the challenge - over the summer I often think back to the jumps I have jumped and the country I have crossed and which I would never dream of doing on any other day.
Socially I have made many good friends on the hunting field and feel part of a 'community' and being quite a shy person is a tremendous feeling. Today hunting was cancelled due to high winds so one of my hunting buddies and I went for a long hack over the Shropshire hills instead, through the howling wind and sideways rain, but boy did we feel good for it after!
Also nothing compare to the sight of hounds streaming across our beautiful hills and vales.....it can still leave me speechless and makes me feel so lucky to be part of it.
 
Pro!
1. You can never guarantee that by shooting a fox you will kill it instantly, with dogs you can.
2. I have seen the destruction they leave when in a chicken coop, they will kill for fun.
3. Hunting ensures that only the old and weak are caught, leaving the rest of the population to thrive and strengthen - fox-hunting is about population control not extermination, whereas shooting is in discriminatory. Also as other posters have said the season means that no foxes that are likely to have cubs will be killed.
4.It's bl00dy good fun! I am saving for a 6 month ticket for next season, an am having my first days out drag hunting in a few weeks! Otherwise I mock hunt.
 
Just to dispel and old wives tale. Foxes don't actually 'kill for fun', I believe only humans and cats do that. They kill everything they can with the intention of coming back to retrieve it over the coming nights. However as we discover the carnage we get all upset and remove the bodies thus removing the food source so the fox will kill again and if there are poultry houses with easy access, easy meat. The only time we ever lost poultry was when the buggers wouldn't go in at night of if we had inadequate housing.
I do realise that some people will disagree with me, I don't mind 'cause I know I'm always right. ;):D
 
ColandMe said:
They kill everything they can with the intention of coming back to retrieve it over the coming nights. However as we discover the carnage we get all upset and remove the bodies thus removing the food source so the fox will kill again and if there are poultry houses with easy access, easy meat.
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have heard this before and when i lived at home we had chickens, fox dug in one night and killed the lot. We left the cracasses there, complete with the fox sized hole he had dug to test the theory. He never came back for the others. In our case it was a kill all for fun.
 
Colandme my poultry-keeping friend assures me that you are correct and that if you do not clear the carcases the fox will return for the rest. Cuppatea was he still alive to come back the next night??? I'd love to know what the truth is on this one, because I could easily see a fox in a hen-house killing for the sport of it. Anyone have any conclusive evidence???

The law in England:

- you can only flush towards a gun with TWO hounds, not a pack.
- if you are hunting fox with a pack whether to a gun or not, you are breaking the law, so if your local pack is doing that, don't go.
- if your pack is flushing to a bird of prey then make up your own mind whether you think that is acceptable or not. It certainly is not within the spirit of the law even if it is within the letter of it.

If your local pack is a drag or hunting a trail, go, it's enormous fun!!!

WHY do your friends disagree with it????
 
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It is impossible to say if a fox kills for fun or not as no one has asked a fox if it is having fun.
We can say that a fox is an indiscriminate killer when in an un-natural enviroment (chicken coop).

Sorry but not a big fan on putting human emotions and ideals on animals.
As for hunting, I would rather my friend shot the foxes, I will never be convinced with this instant kill stuff.

But as hunting is now illegal, go out and have fun on horseback, meet some like minded people and enjoy the countryside.

Craig
 
My opinion is that I am very much against hunting. Not going to get into my reasons on here as these posts always get out of hand and of course because of the magazine being pro-hunting the majority of people on here are pro - so its a ridiculous place to discuss it!
 
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.
 
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