Hunting and Hounds
Foxhunting
Foxes were referred to as beasts of the chase by medieval times, along with the red deer (hart & hind), martens, and roes, but the earliest known attempt to hunt a fox with hounds was in Norfolk, England, in 1534, where farmers began chasing foxes down with their dogs for the purpose of pest control . The first use of packs specifically trained to hunt foxes was in the late 1600s, with the oldest fox hunt being, probably, the Bilsdale in Yorkshire.
By the end of the seventeenth century, deer hunting was in decline as land was enclosed with fences to separate open land into fields, deer forests were cut down, and arable cultivation increased. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, people began to move out of the country and into towns and cities to find work. Roads, rail, and canals split hunting countries, but also made hunting accessible to more people. Fox hunting developed further in the eighteenth century when Hugo Meynell developed breeds of hound and horse to address the new geography of rural England.
The Hunting Act 2004
The Hunting Act 2004 came into force on February 18th 2005. It affects England and Wales but not Scotland, which has its own hunting legislation, or Northern Ireland. The legislation was the subject of huge controversy throughout the many years it was debated in Parliament. The 700 hours of parliamentary time spent considering hunting and massive demonstrations against a ban meant that the injustices and flaws of the new law were a matter of public record long before it ever came into force.
On 19th February 2005 every hunt in the country met and they have continued to do so ever since. There have been just nine attempts to prosecute MFHA hunts under the Act and six of them failed. The first, involving Exmoor huntsman Tony Wright, eventually reached the High Court where a very important judgment limited further the chances of hunts being convicted under the Hunting Act. There have only been three successful prosecutions involving MFHA packs and one of those is currently subject to repeal.
Foxhounds
The British Isles consists of vastly different types of country and therefore hounds have evolved over time to suit different countries. Thus a different a sort of hound is required in the steep fell of the lake district (inaccessible to the horse) than in the hard riding fields of Leicestershire. However, hounds require some ‘generic’ qualities no matter what sort of country they are hunting as shown below:
- Nose. Hounds hunt by following a scent rather than by sight.
- Stamina. Hounds hunt for many hours a day, two or sometimes three days per week.
- Cry. Cry or tongue is very important so that the hound can let other hounds (and the Huntsman and followers) that it has the scent.
- Pack sense. Hounds need to work as a pack and not become too independent
- Speed. When foxhunting was allowed hounds needed to able to put pressure on the fox during a hunt
- Drive. The ability to keep going forward and not to dwell on the line.
- Courage. The get back to the pack when separated, to enter thick cover and to kill his fox.
- Fox sense. Hard to explain but this is what makes certain hounds stand out from the others. Those who have it find and kill more foxes than others.
The Foxhound has been very carefully bred and in many cases pedigrees can be traced back to the early 1700’s, however the first volume of the Stud Book was not produced until 1841. The types of hounds mainly seen today are:
The Modern Foxhound
The Old English Foxhound
The Fell Hound
The Hill Hound
The Welsh Hound
The West Country Harrier
Most packs now hunt the Modern Foxhound but many have been bred using a judicious blending of Welsh blood. In some cases packs have out crosses to other types the most recent being the American.
