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Hunt Calendar

February 18th, 2010
Fifth anniversary the enforcement of the Hunting Act 2004

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∴ Hunt Monitors

∴ Glossary of Terms

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• Deer hunting

  • In stag hunting the intention was to select, hunt and kill a particular stag. The huntsman accompanied by a small number of hounds would flush the stag from cover. The animal would then be given a head start then the whole pack of hounds would pursue it. If hinds were to be hunted the huntsman would try to separate one from a group to be pursued.

    Most chases lasted for about three hours and covered ten miles or more though some could go on all day. If the hounds were successful in pursuing the deer it would eventually stop and face them or just lie down. The animal would then be shot using either a short-barrelled shotgun or humane killer.

     

• Hare hunting (also called beagling)

  • Hunts which hunted hares would use beagles, bassets and harriers. Some of these hunts operated on foot, others were mounted and the methods were very similar to those used in fox hunting. Hares try to stay in the relatively small area of their home range and do not go underground so terriermen were not used in hare hunting.

     

• Hare coursing

  • The object was to test the skills of greyhounds in a competition. Coursing would involve a number greyhounds competing against each other, two at a time, in a series of knockout rounds. The dogs were awarded points for their speed and skill in making the hare turn and a point was awarded if the dog caught a hare.

    Beaters, namely people using instruments, such as plastic bags, to flush hares from cover, would drive hares on to the coursing field one at a time from surrounding fields. The slipper, positioned in a shy, would hold two greyhounds on a leash and release them when the hare was at least 80 yards past the dogs. The hounds would chase the hares, gaining on it quickly. The hare would try and evade the dogs by turning rapidly. The hounds would sometimes lose the hare if it had found cover. The chase would generally only last around half a minute. One or more judges would assess the skill of the greyhounds and identify the winner of the pair.

    Hare coursing is not a field trialling activity and is therefore not exempt from the Hunting Act.

     

• Mink hunting

  • Mink hunting started when the practice of otter hunting was banned. It was carried out on foot along river banks and was carried out along the lines of other types of hunting with hounds. Because mink sometimes go to ground a terrierman might have accompanied the hunt in order to bolt it or dig it out.