My daughter hunted a couple of times with the Rockwood Harriers when she was in The Pony Club. They were hunting hares and on the occasions when she rode with them and I followed on foot and in a Landrover (in case she fell off), they never even saw a hare or a fox. It was about chasing around all over the countryside jumping ditches and hedges having a fantastic time. No-body ever seemed disappointed that nothing had been seen, let alone caught. All the talk and laughter was about the events of the day, such as Kat's pony bolting and overtaking the important chaps at the front wearing red jackets. Control of foxes? I don't think so.

but why try to make it a hunt... why not just enjoy a ride? there is no need to make it a 'hunt'

I don't like snaring, as I find that cruel, and I believe the laws for that are so fudged up, you only have to check the snares legally one every 24 hours, that could be a long time that a animal is in pain, also the legal ones are 'free running', but what animal is going to stop and think, ok if I stop struggling it would get looser, or stop getting tighter, and even worse what happens if the animal gets out and is left to wonder in pain until it dies, or its skin becomes dead because of the tightness around it (I can't remember what its called) but there has been plenty of this at work, and the area that have had things like this happen can actually fall off

Although I do wonder why most people think of Fox hounds when talking about this, what about Lurchers? Diesel's parents was bred to be fox hunters, and so was Diesel's litter he would of been used illegally to hunt and kill Foxes if he was sold to the people who his breeder and seller wanted him to be sold too, and I'm sure that some of his litter mates are being used, but they would not chase for a long time, but could be slipped and catch a fox quite quickly.

Also I saw someone else mention foxes freezing, the ones that have come through work, and the permenent ones might freeze for a second at the most, but will run very quickly to get away from people.

You need to call it a "hunt" to get land owners to agree to you charging around their land "hunting" for vermin. There is a lot of tradition attached to it. For example the hunt kennels collect all the fallen stock for free even though they may not actually be fed to the hounds. It saves the farmer the hassle of disposal. No land owner is going to agree to a bunch of riders whooping and galloping around, churning up their fields just for fun.

I'm sorry but if my dogs did this I would muzzle them, I don't think that it is right, even when Honey killed the squirrel she did it cleany, as when she came back minus the squrriel and a bloody face (sharp teeth) I checked it, and there was hardly any blood on it, and she has never done it since, as I learnt to be more careful.

Great, pleased for you. Ive loved hunting for over 20yrs.

Ahh but its one rule for Nikki and something for everyone else, its natural for her dog to kill a perfectly HEALTHY animal who DOES have natural predators, but not people to hunt and kill UNHEALTHY predators that have NO predators other than us!

Imagine all those little Bunnies being tortured by her dogs through lack of control and her ignorance in the chain of predation! But hey, some folk are even irresonsible enough to release pet Rabbits into the wild, can you believe THAT!

Why? there is absolutely no way (except possibly my friend herself) that anyone could identify my friend from what I have said. Sadly Galty, with Miss Pedantic, it is very necessary to go into such unnecessary and doubtless very boring detail, otherwise she goes off in a diatribe about my ability or otherwise to prove something.

A good question you pose though about the hunting with dogs law. Personally, although I think it totally unnecessary to control foxes as they are not vermin, if I had to choose between hunting a fox with hounds, or shooting it with a gun, I would definitely choose the former. Whereas death by hound is a very unpleasant one, it is nonetheless reasonably quick and on the whole it is only the unhealthy ones ... the old and/or the infirm ... that are caught by hounds. Many a time I have seen a healthy Charlie sitting and watching the hounds he has outwitted ... once one went to earth in our garden under our shed! Clever fox, he knew he was safe with me.

However, shooting a fox ... unless a very sick or elderly one ... is not an easy thing to do cleanly, however good a shot you are. A long, slow, painful death must frequently be the lot of the post-hunting ban fox ... and often these are healthy beasts. I still maintain that it is completely unnecessary to cull foxes, and totally unacceptable to advocate their hunting by hounds whilst at the same time lecturing to native Africans how they must not kill elephants for ivory.

Umm, yes thats a bit strange isn't it, that rabbit could of made a nice dinner for a fox and it doesn't matter what the death is as long as its natural.

Drag hunting I am told is the most fantastic fun, and of course there is no killing involved, just lots of galloping and jumping! When a live fox is being hunted, there are frequent stops when hounds lose the scent, but with drag hunting there are no stops! It is the most amazing fun if you are a good enough rider to gallop for miles without stopping! I was not, and am not, so never did it.

So as you say Lozzi, there is no need to make it a "live" hunt ... it can just be hounds following an aniseed trail.