HUNTING OPTIONS AVAILABLE

After the hunting act comes into effect on February 18th 2005

From the 19th February to the end of the normal season it is up to the individual hunts to decide what they intend to do.

We are encouraging Hunts to continue hunting under the various Options for as long as they can.

These Options are as follows:

1.     To go on a hound exercise ride, providing an imaginative ride for the mounted followers.

2.    To go trail hunting.

3.    To use 2 dogs to flush to guns.

4.    A combination of 1 to 3.

5.    Flushing to a bird of prey.

If you choose to hunt in direct defiance of the law you must consider the possible consequences to your Hunt staff and access to farm land and appreciate that you will not have insurance cover.

Harriers, Beagles and Bassett packs have the same options of exercising, trailing and further ones of hunting rabbits or a hare that has been shot.

Trail Hunting 

Hunts must be perceived to have the intent to go trail hunting and the police should be informed of their intent, dates and venues.

Video evidence of the start of each trail day should be taken.

Quarry hunting should be mimicked as far as possible by allowing the hounds to draw and find the scent. On no account allow the hounds to move into the first field and take off flat out.

Communication.  We recommend that there is direct mobile telephone communications between the Master in charge (to the Huntsman) and the trail layer.

Records must be kept to show the Hunt's intent and that it has acted legally. The records should include date, venue, of meet, intended activity undertaken, police presence, anti hunt presence, notable incidents.

It may be difficult to convince farmers of the new policies and finding enough ride-able country. Please appreciate that one trail, say of 3 miles will only last for 15 - 20 minutes. Trail does require a much larger area to be opened by the masters on each day.  It will also be difficult keeping hounds occupied and steady. 

Trail hunting will have little attraction for the foot followers or mounted packs.

Stalking and flushing out.

This can only be done using not more than two dogs at a time.

The most pertinent conditions of the Act are:

a.    "reasonable steps are taken for the purpose of ensuring that as soon as possible after being found or flushed out the wild mammal is shot dead by a competent person". and

b.    "in particular each dog used in the stalking and flushing out is kept under sufficiently close control to ensure that it does not prevent, or obstruct, achievement of the objective in paragraph a".

We have been advised that there are two ways of using this exemption in the remaining weeks

1.    In response to farmers' call outs.

2.    Some Hunts might try a couple of hours with  hound exercising or trailing before boxing up the pack and going flushing with two hounds - also taking the mounted followers as additional flushers.  You will also need at least one person "visible" with a gun.