The differance between post ban Hunting and Drag Hunting?

As far as I understand it a trail hunt does its best to replicate pre-ban hunting. They will take in coverts so the huntsman has to draw for the trail, there will also be checks to make him cast around and try to copy how a fox or hare would run. A decent trail layer will be able to make it virtually undistinguishable from pre-ban quarry hunting.

My limited experience of drag hunting is that the artificial scent used there is taken over the most challenging run they can create, to make a fast and furious run over jumps.
 
And then there is bloodhounding which is different again!

Bloodhounds "hunt the clean boot" which means that they chase a runner who is not laying an artificial scent. They just pick up his own natural scent.

I don't know how it differs practically from other types of hunting but when we went they hunted three lines and it was great fun to foot follow.
 
as far as i can see is that drag hunting has always been pointless and post ban hunting is supposed to be temporarily pointless until the ban is revoked.

that is just my POV before anyone bites my head off.
 
It also depends on your huntsman.
Our huntsman had to make a move post ban to have a secure future for his family. So as he was a fox hunting man, he hunts our drag hounds as close to how the fox hound packs are doing their trail hunting.
Drag hounds are fox hounds. They are not robots and thrive on work. Please don't tar us all with the same brush.
 
as far as i can see is that drag hunting has always been pointless and post ban hunting is supposed to be temporarily pointless until the ban is revoked.

that is just my POV before anyone bites my head off.


Oh Joe :( ! What is pointless about forty people having a great time following a pack of hounds having a great time following a cross country runner having a great time, while exercising their horses in company, jumping when they want to and not when they don't and having a good old chinwag and fixing all the world's problems at the checks? If that's your definition of a pointless life I may as well go and top myself now. Thankfully, it's not my definition, so I won't, I'll go to the meet on Saturday and have a great time instead :grin:
 
OK, so Bloodhounds follow the sent of a human runner and incorparate pre planned fences, Drag hunting is the same only its an actual sent thats laid then Post ban hunting follows a sent as close as possible to that of a fox which may or may not incorparate fences, more so to keep it as real as possible for the hounds.
 
as far as i can see is that drag hunting has always been pointless and post ban hunting is supposed to be temporarily pointless until the ban is revoked.

that is just my POV before anyone bites my head off.

My old boss used to say "bl***y drag hunting its's nothing but a glorified steeplechase", he wasnt keen . personally I dont have anything against it and would go if I got an invite but prefer proper hunting.
 
SueEllen I understand that, because they follow a more difficult scent, bloodhounds tend to run slower than foxhounds on a "drag" scent. I've never been to a bloodhound meet so I can't say for sure.

With a drag the sole purpose of the scent trail is to give the riders a good day, but I think things are different than in the very early days of draghunting. As an illustration of that, thirty years ago it used to be impossible to insure for draghunting, presumable because of the "devil-may-care" reputation.

These days, my drag (CFDH) has followers on foot, on a quad, on horses jumping, on horses not jumping, and on a number of ponies including a ten hand Shetland (who had to be dragged off his line to a four foot hedge by his 8 year old rider last time I went because he was going to try to go over or through it, the keen little devil!)

To the hunters in the area I would invite you to join us early in the season to get your horses fit, because we start at the beginning of September. And late in the season when we are still going out when you have stopped. That way, you can at least still get out with hounds even if it's not quite as good for you as your normal fun.

Guest cap for us is £40. (But the sub is only £50 and then the cap is £25, so do your sums first)
 
i did say in my opinion and from the point of view of a farmer landowner you get your land and fences hedges walls damaged with there being a service involved.

i personally wouldnt go and wouldnt spend my money to do it. the unpredictability of hunting is what hunting is all about the adrenaline rush of the unexpected find and then the rush of working out where the "scent" will go and how you get there.
 
Ah Joe, but you did write it as if you thought drag hunting was pointless altogether, not just "pointless for you", didn't you? If not, I misread you, but I bet I'm not alone in that.

I'm not sure I understand your post about the service to landowners. The drag give the same service to the farmer as a fox pack - they collect fallen stock.

If you are referring to the killing of foxes as a service, come on now Joe, we all know that there are more foxes where there is hunting, because hunts need something to chase. It was actually one of the points that the Countryside Alliance made in favour of hunting, wasn't it?

The service of killing foxes without damage to land and fences or disturbance to stock on a farm can be done with a gun, as it is around where I live. Farmers allow us to hunt their land because of the fallen stock service and because they like to see us all enjoying ourselves, whether we are out to watch hounds work or ride horses.
 
I have never drag hunted, but have done lots of bloodhounding. IMO bloodhounding is fast enough, you are always moving, apart from when they have a rest between lines. I have been told that drag is very fast :crazy:

All the foxhunting I have done has been very uneventful, with lots of standing around gassing, with very little to see, but maybe thats just the pack/country/day of the week I've hunted. Give me a steeplechase any day!

Speaking of which, one of the places I have been bloodhounding quite a few times, there is a lovely long row of flat fields with beautifully trimmed hedges, 'tis just like the Grand National! :D
 
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