Hunting across the pond...

Seeing as everyone on here is like minded, within reason, I'm interested to know people opinions of certain hunting practices around the world.
Right now in England there is a huge debate/argument/fight whatever you want to call it about hunting with dogs. Now fox hunting is an age old practice which I'm sure many of you know. The basics are a group on horses, following a pack of hounds pursuing a fox, until the inevitable where the fox is caught and dispatched by dogs. The antis managed to push for it to be banned with the last government but it's now up for appeal and the possibility of being over turned.
Not only the fox hunting but the antis have set their sights on driven grouse too. Claiming the management process is detrimental to habitat and all other wildlife, it's unethical, there are by-catches (dispatch of pests for management purposes) and any other arguments they can get their hands on.

What are people's thoughts. Do you have issues with some hunting practices that you know of around the world? Do you think the use of hounds to dispatch fox is wrong? Interested to hear everyone's opinions.

Fox hunting that way goes back centuries. Leave it be.

Unfortunately it's not seen like that in England. The people opposed to it that call themselves animal lovers have been known to pepper spray hounds, set trip wires at horse neck height and even stab horses with screwdrivers, attack huntsmen with steel bars and they have no regard for private property. They are relentless in trying to stop any sort of hunting.

that's how hunting was done then, it's a tradition

I support it 100%

now, if the population of game is diminishing then some measure of harvest limits should be enforce to ensure future harvest

carry on

any season on the antis ?

They're on the pest species list, open all year

Stab a horse with a screwdriver? I don't own horses. I think they're a time and money drain. I tried to avoid hiring anyone who owned horses. I think they can be dangerous if handled improperly. All that being said, if I see someone stab a horse with a screwdriver, I will subsequently be headed to jail for what I did to that person. How "evolved" is stabbing an innocent animal?

I hope to watch a driven shoot while I'm over there next month. I would think that driven shooting is quite a decent business in the UK and I hope they push back hard on that. Just like the Zim lion debacle, I think there's quite a bit of class envy involved in the fox hunting controversy.

If they stab horses, pepper spray dogs and try to hit hunters with steel rods then they should be jailed. After they had their arse kicked...hard.

Hope hunters over there don't give an inch(I guess CM over there) to the anti's!!!! because they are never satisfied and will keep going after more and more. I do agree with monitoring the population so they are not over hunted, that may involve some limits on harvested animals.

Hurt someone's horse in Texas, there is a pretty good chance that individual will wake up on the wrong side of the dirt.....

I find nothing unethical about it. And even if I did, we all have are own ethical standards that apply to us, and we need to keep our nose out of others. Carry on.

The English anti-hunting thing is mostly class warfare in disguise.

In general I try to support all forms of hunting even if it's not something I am interested in doing. As hunters we need to stick together to fight off the idiot anti's.

Is this fox hunting where the fox is first released for the hunt or fox hunting where the hunters go out and try to find a fox? The former is not ethical to say the least. You already have the "pest" to dispatch, so releasing it to run it down isn't cricket. Going out and finding a fox not already captured is another matter all together.

No the fox isn't pre released. It's all the dogs work. It's been banned for quite some time now but they will be voting to over turn the ban some time soon.

It is a class war. Narrow minded antis seem to think it is a sport for the wealthy. Years ago, maybe but now not so much. Monitoring foxes to maintain a healthy population isn't done but also isn't necessary right now. They are everywhere. They have moved into cities where they have been known on several occasions to attack young children.

Population of most hunted species is managed quite well in England.
Creekrunner - month of September will only be partridge season, depending on where you'll be there will be some good days had. An estate near to my parents rears and manages 40,000 birds a season and put on spectacular days.
Seeing the comment about releasing a doc to hunt, when I say they release birds, they aren't released in front of the guns. These are birds who since 6 weeks old have been in release pens in the woods and once fully fledged come and go as they please, while everything around them is managed by the gamekeeper. It can be a very profitable income for an estate. Some large estates shooting 3 days a week, £40 or there abouts per bird on a 500 bird day... Do the math but with a team of 9 guns you're in at £2400 per person per day and the estate income is around £60,000 a week. Now there's plenty cheaper too, paying £150 for a good day can be as much fun.
Notice all that is in £ not $!

There is something for everyone so the "class warfare" that is spoken about is nonsense. My old duck club was £200 a season and I could shoot any day I wanted between September 1st and February 20th. That was some cheap hunting!

I think the class warfare was not a slight on hunting, but explaining how the anti's over there are targeting the upper class mainly. As this will get the most attention with the smallest chance of getting their teeth knocked out. The hunters I know from the UK would beat the day lights out of one of these protestors if they spoiled their hunt.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-90246/Fox-hunting-resumes-ban.html

The first hunts were today. How did they go?

Bloody well I suspect...

That article was written 14 years ago... It was after a ban put in place because the country had foot and mouth. Devastated a lot of farms with thousands of animals being destroyed.
Most hunts these days that still run, hunt a man made scent trail. No fox involved. The laws are such that if you were to be walking three dogs and they caught a rabbit, they could find a way to prosecute you.

On another note, if people are interested in all things British hunting, then there is a weekly show that is aired on YouTube that is very tongue in cheek and down right awful at times (you'll see what I mean) but is also very informative. Covers everything and even international hunting too.

Search for Fieldsports Britain.

Interesting, the date at the top was today, but sure enough, the article was from 2001.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/hunting-season-gets-underway-6335042.html