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Is Fox hunting common in places other than the UK?
Not something im for i must say, but now that it's been banned for the dogs to kill the fox, what are your opinions on it?
im 100% against, but just spoke to someone who does this on a regular basis, and keeps sugar gliders, reptiles, dogs and cats. odd!
James

I AM SO AGAINST ALL HUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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You can do it over here. I wouldn't say it is common as such, but it is available and there are hunt clubs. Mostly they do mock hunts. The dopgs always look well fed and the horses are always in top nick. Even if they did chase a real fox, providing they killed it, I'd be happy enough as they are a real pest over here. Considering the whole poisoning thing with foxes over here, they probably wouldn't chase or catch it anyway, it'd be slow and inedible and probably have a very ordinary pelt.

The only thing that gets up my nose about it is that English tradition says that the riders must be attired in a certain fashion, which completely goes against the climate here. Having riders out in full woolen hunt jackets in summer is just insane. It is bad enough that they require it at other competitions, but hunting is fast and energetic, I'm stunned more people don't just wilt off the horses.

If I had the means, I'd probably do it, but my local hunt club only does mock hunts so I suppose it is just really a very fast trail ride with some XC jumps and a bunch of dogs.



For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Dont get me wrong please but in Aust they are a real pest in Tasmania our most southern state ( it is actually a large island) are spending millions of $$$ to totally remove it. Where I live in Victoria it is a pest they are actually very cheaky and come into the housing areas we have seen them several times in our small court looking for food I often see road kills. In my opinon the only good fox is a dead fox. The English brought them to Aust so they could have the traditional fox hunt I wish they would come and fix the problem, they are killing too many of our native and rare species of animals.

Keith

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I am against hunting foxes for sport where foxes are native (like in the US and UK), but like Keith mentioned, foxes are a huge problem in Australia. They compete with native carnivores such as quolls and prey on native possums, threatening both groups of animals. Extermination of the Red Fox in Australia is necessary in order to better protect their unique ecosystems. While I do support this, I feel that it should be carried out as humanely as possible (preferably by rangers or scientists) and not by power-hungry trophy hunters who just want to see their dogs rip apart a living animal.

There is a similar problem going on where I'm from... The populations of introduced Fallow and Axis Deer from Europe and Asia respectively are growing by the hundreds in Point Reyes National Seashore and the surrounding area. There they are competing with (and potentially outcompeting) our native deer species, Black-Tailed Deer and the endangered Tule Elk. In the past there have been programs proposed where the invasive deer would be wiped out through a combination of injected contraceptives and traditional shooting (the meat would be donated to homeless shelters), which I fully support.

Unfortunately, the local hippies and vegans have prevented these actions from taking place because they don't want the non-native deer to be killed/rendered sterile, and so the Axis and Fallow Deer continue to expand their range rapidly at the expense of our local ecosystems.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

There are quite a few fox hunts here but I haven't been on one since I mostly ride western. All but 1 of my horses is too thick and short legged for jumping. They are stock horses built for carrying weight and facing down cows not leaping through the air. Only one of my young ones that is just now old enough for riding is built for jumping. I was thinking of trying fox hunting on her eventually but it takes years to train a horse to go over jumps and years more to train them to go over large jumps at a fast pace. All the hunts I've seen here were with fake scent trails and not real foxes. I never really had a problem with hunting so long as the species had a good population and the killed animals are used. Not just killed only for the killing and then left to rot. Sometimes here you have to kill things for your safety or the safety of your animals. Fox hunts originated from a purpose and in some places still have a purpose. Although in other places it's entirely unneccessary and a fake scent trail would work just as well.


Attire is one of those reasons I never got into english. It's such silly clothing and I feel so stupid wearing it. Luckily it's not as strict here since lots of people ride western where there isn't much of a dress code. I've found ways around the silly clothes while still looking like I fit in.

I AM SO AGAINST ALL HUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even when the animal is pest that is threatening to permenantly destroy an ecosystem?

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calla, i knew someone that went fox hunting in texas in the middle of summer.

never again she said.

hey, i'm not against hunting. just so long as it is for a purpose and not just for trophy hunts.

but since i'm an aussie, if its a feral critter (which foxes are) they need to be hunted/shot/culled because they are destroying and preying on native wildlife that are generally already endangered.

foxes (and wild cats/dogs etc) just exacerbate the situation.

Foxes used to be hunted here in the US, but aren't so much anymore because their pelts aren't worth as much. My dad used to hunt them with his father (the family wasn't very well off, so selling pelts helped out financially), and has a story of sitting in weather with a -40 degree (F) wind chill factor hunting fox. It's not necessarily done with dogs and horses over here.

EDIT: Also, the jury is still out on whether red fox are native to the US or if they were introduced by European settlers very early on.

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EDIT: Also, the jury is still out on whether red fox are native to the US or if they were introduced by European settlers very early on.

From what I've been reading on the subject, it seems that both scenarios are true. North America does have ten subspecies of Red Fox that are physically distinct from living European subspecies, and apparently fossils of the species found in North America have been dated to thousands of years old. British settlers did, however, introduce their own subspecies of Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes crucigera) to eastern North America where they spread and gradually interbred with native subspecies. It would be interesting to read some actual scientific material on the situation, however.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.