Drag Hunting

Trail Hunting

Created : in the early 1800.

Follows a non-animal based artificial scent.

Created : in 2005 therefore not traditional.

Just a false name made up to disguise their real intent of hunting wild animals.

Considered a temporary name only undertaken while there is a hunting ban.

Claim to follow a fox based artificial scent although much evidence proves this is fake and a lie and trail hunts continue to illegally hunt foxes.

Objective :     is to follow hounds on horse back across country and over fences following a non animal based scent without the pursuit or killing of wild animals.

A variation of Drag Hunting is Clean Boot (chase hunting). Hounds follow a human runner.

Objective : is to make their activity look and feel as close to real fox hunting before the ban.

Trail hunts claim to just be following a trail but proven evidence and hundreds of prosecutions suggests this to be a fake claim.

The name trail hunting is just a disguise for actual real fox hunting which is against the law.

Type of hounds used : Drag hunts mainly use blood hounds but can also sometimes use fox hounds, which throws the excuse out the window that trail hunts can not retrain their hounds to follow a non animal scent.

Types of hounds used : Trail hunts continue to use fox hounds, which are bred and trained to follow a fox scent and kill.

Trail hunts have had 13 yrs to retrain their hounds to follow a non-fox scent but “choose not to” as they claim their hounds will only follow a fox based scent. Their stubborn defiance & determination only leads to illegal hunting.

Rules : Specific rules created by the MDBA

Rules : Trail hunting has no written rules or governing body, therefore can not be classed as a sport.

Many trail hunts are totally unregistered.

Trail scent : Non-animal based scents ie aniseed or chemical crystal mixed with water and oil. A human runner drags the scent cloth behind him.

If blood hounds are used they can normally just follow the human scent as have more acute sense of smell.

If fox hounds are used they normally follow the scent of the cloth.

Trail scent : Follows a trail of lies.

Fox (trail) hunts claim they lay a trail i.e. fox urine to follow.

Although this has to be questioned for a number of reasons :

* The UK does not manufacture fox urine.

* Hunts fail to produce evidence of where they are importing fox urine from or any scents, which once again questions if any of their scent claims are true.

* Considering there are over 250 fox (trail) hunts in the UK all hunting approx twice a week, thousands of gallons of fox urine would be needed, which dismisses their fake claims that they use fox urine or even lay a trail at all.

* Some have now changed their claim to say they now follow a non-fox based scent. If so why are their hounds still chasing foxes.

* If they have changed to a (non-fox) animal based scent, this contradicts their other false claim that they are unable to re-train their hounds to follow anything other than fox scents.

* Hunts claimed they have experimented with various fox based scents ie ground up liquidised foxes, until someone questioned where they are getting all their foxes from.

* For example if they really do lay a trail then why do they spend so much time on roads, on railway lines, in dense woods, riding through bogs and over ploughed fields, in peoples gardens, on private property, in areas totally unsuitable for riding.

The truth is fox (trail) hunts don’t actually lay and follow an artificial trail. They lie so much to cover up their illegal activity, once one excuse has been exposed as a lie they move onto another lie excuse.

Hound training : Hounds trained NOT to follow or kill live quarry

Hound training : Trained to seek out and follow live quarry with intention of killing.

A huge scandal has been following fox (trail) hunts for many years on their methods used to train their hounds to follow fox scents. Hunters have been arrested and prosecuted for rearing fox cubs, which are usually thrown alive to hounds to teach them to kill.

The activity of “cub hunting” or autumn hunting as the hunts have renamed it to make it sound more publicly pleasing.

Cub hunting involves : lots of riders surrounding a wood containing a fox den, sending a pack of hounds in to kill the fox cubs to teach the young hounds to kill, any cubs that try to escape the riders chase them back in forcing the cubs into the mouths of the hounds to be ripped apart.. which the hunts claim innocently they are only exercising the hounds.

Many hunts pre kill the adult fox which then allows a loop hole in the law to kill the cubs.

Any cubs which hide in the dens are either dug out and terriers are sent in underground to fight and drag the cubs out so they can be thrown alive to the hounds to rip apart. Some cubs are bagged to be reared to hunt at a later time.

This activity is usually done in complete secret and is totally un-policed or investigated.

Area : Do not use areas, meets and fields where pre-ban foxhunting took place

Area : Uses the same areas, meets and fields where pre-ban foxhunting took place, therefore increasing the risk of wild animals being hunted & killed.

Route taken :  Pre determined route to include the most enjoyable ride and safest going over terrain & fences in an area where the presence of live quarry is unlikely.

Huntsmen and whipper-in always know where the artificial scent was laid thus ensuring :

* Health & safety and risk assessments can be completed.

* Risk to horses reduced.

* Risk to hounds running on roads and railway line reduced.

* Risk to hounds & hunts trespassing on private land reduced.

Jumps are taken in lines, rest, then move onto next line. A line of fences maybe spread out over 2 miles. Its fast with jumps up to 4ft.

Generally not for kids or inexperienced riders.

Most city folk who come in to the country to hunt for the day haven’t got the riding experience or ability to drag hunt, therefore choose fox hunting where you can have more of a social chit chat

Route taken :  Hounds are taken to an area to search for scents where live quarry and animal presence is likely.

Trail hunts claim to deliberately not know where these myth trails are laid to simulate the real feeling of hunting foxes.

Although if the truth be known the reason they cant tell anyone where a trail has been laid is because a trail hasn’t actually been laid.

With this type of hunting you can spend most of the day either galloping on roads or just standing around waiting.

There is little planning and trails are certainly not laid. Hunts spend most of the day going from area to area trying to find a scent to chase (fox). Hounds often go missing.

All trail hunts are based around hunting live quarry although the hunters don’t want the public to know this.

Focus : is on the riders following the hounds, who are encouraged to find the artificial laid scent quickly (ie. human runner or rag trail for example).

Focus : tends to be the riders sitting around waiting for the hounds to find a fox trail scent moving from one known fox area to another.

Cost : Drag hunting is cheaper than fox hunting. On average the annual subscription would be around £360 plus cap on the day £5-£15

A days subscription is around £40

Cost : An annual subscription can cost up to £1000 plus cap on day £5-£15

Insurance : Yes as insurance companies are more willing to insure sports that are regulated, have rules and cause minimum risk and disturbances.

Insurance : Questionable. Any insurance company that would risk insuring a group of non regulated hunters with no rules, possible previous illegal convictions, hounds out of control all over main roads, invading peoples gardens etc runs a high risk.

Trail hunts rely on loop holes in the law to get away with prosecution & insurance claims.

Insurance of hunts are not a legal requirement only an advisable one.

Considering the amount of potential accidents that hounds could cause running riot over roads this certainly needs to be addressed.

Scent laid : Laid around 20 minutes before start to ensure hounds can clearly follow pre-laid trail.

Blood hounds tend to have more acute sense of smell than fox hounds.

Scent laid : Who knows ?. In 13 years never has it been witnessed a trail hunt laying a genuine trail with the hounds actually following it.

They did once attempt to recreate this myth for the camera but embarrassingly the hounds ran off in another direction completely ignoring their laid trail.

Many trail hunts claim to still be following a trail way into late afternoon long after the scent would have disappeared.

Scents usually last for approximately 3-4 hours depending on conditions.

Hounds on roads : very rare as hounds are actually following an artificial controlled trail

Hounds on roads : There has been a number of incidents of hounds running riot on roads & railway lines, being killed or dodging in between traffic.

Some hunts do not micro chip their hounds (especially un-registered) therefore it is hard for the police to identify which hunts the hounds belong to. If there has been a incident of a hound on the road, the hunt quickly hide or disappear, claiming it wasn’t their hound on the road, usually making up the excuse they were miles away. Checking if hounds are microchipped “as required by law” is rarely enforced.

Control of Hounds : Hounds kept under close control and kept on the line of their pre-laid trail.

Control of Hounds : Fox (trail) hounds can be reckless, uncontrolled and run riot all over the place as they are whipped up into a frenzy of blood lust.

Fox (trail) hunts seem to have little control over hounds although this tends to be selective control when it suits the hunts. They can easily call off hounds chasing a fox if they choose but allow them to kill and claim it was an accident.

Fox (trail) hunts encourage hounds to seek out and follow fox scents regardless of where this happens to be ie main roads, private property, in peoples back gardens, railway lines.

If they really where following a pre-laid trail they wouldn’t need to be anywhere near these dangerous places.

Terrier men present : No because they are not chasing animals so therefore do not need terrier men.

Terrier men present : If fox (trail) hunts where staying with-in the law and just following a trail (not killing) as they claim, then terrier men would not be needed.

Just the presence of terrier men on hunts indicates illegal activity.

Terrier men are employed to follow the hunts and pursue any foxes which go to ground. They dig them out, sending in a terrier dog below ground (dog fighting) to kill or drag foxes out of their dens.

They then throw live foxes to the hounds to be ripped apart.

Terrier work has to be the ultimate form of cruelty and takes a very cruel twisted person to under take this sort of work.

Hunts also use terrier men to prevent any filming by monitors which expose the hunts lies and illegal activities. Terrier men are basically employed hunt thugs.

Transparency : Because Drag Hunts are not illegally chasing wild animals they have nothing to hide, therefore are open and transparent about date of meets.

Transparency : Fox (trail) hunts go to great lengths to hide their activities. They do not want anyone filming them.

* If trail hunts are staying with-in the law and not illegally killing, then why do they have a problem with being filmed. ?

* Why do they hire thugs to attack monitors and try and steal their cameras. ?

* Why do they illegally block roads to prevent the public filming their actions. ?

* Why do they slash tyres of monitor vehicles to prevent them following and filming the hunt. ?

* Why do they refuse to supply evidence of trails actually being laid. ?

* Why can’t they supply any evidence of scents being used. ?

* Why do they have terrier men on so called legal hunts. ?

* Why cant they show more transparency. ?

Incidents of aggression : Unlikely as animal right protesters encourage and support the practice of non animal cruelty activities.

Incidents of aggression : aggression and violence seem to follow trail hunts.

Over 340 prosecutions and thousands and thousands of online evidence proving the fact of aggression towards the public and the lies they spout.

Cost to tax payer : Due to there being very few incidents, the police cost required is minimum

Cost to tax payer : Due to the aggression of fox (trail) hunts and their inability to control their hounds, remain with-in the law, police have to regularly be called.

This wastes millions of pounds of tax payers money and police time.

Reputation : In general drag hunts have a good reputation, although a few extreme fox hunting supporters with-in their membership could jeopardise this.

It’s a shame that these defiant foxhunters infiltrate drag hunting causing people to question their reputation.

Drag hunts have to continue to support foxhunts as many of their membership riders continue to ride in both drag & fox (trail) hunts.

Drag hunts would be best to completely disassociate themselves from fox (trail) hunts to keep their sport clean boot.

Reputation : Fox (trail) hunts have developed a self inflicted reputation of violence and illegal hunting for which is proven by the thousand and thousand of video evidence that is available online.

Many hunts have been prosecuted but not near the amount of hunts that should have been due to loop holes in the weak hunting act law which allow hunts to get away with it.

The future : While Drag hunts continue to not kill wild animals their future looks bright.

Although still need monitoring to ensure they stay with-in the law.

The future : With the public becoming more aware of trail hunts illegal activities, thuggery, blatant disregard for the law, cover ups, bias policing, cruelty etc, there is growing frustration at the failure of MPs, Police, PCC, CPS to ensure these hunts are brought to justice and do not make a mockery of our justice system.

example 1. : a recent Boxing Day hunt meet video showed a terrier mans quad bike illegally over loaded with men sitting on the rear mud guards, without a registration plate therefore not legal to be on road, untaxed, without insurance driving up the main high street past a police van with policeman watching and turning a blind eye.

This video has been shared across the internet to millions of people.

If a member of the public drove a bike in this manner they would be arrested immediately but hunts believe they are above the law.

example 2 : Police claim they haven’t got the funds to police illegal hunts but on 23rd December, Baronet Sir Philip Naylor-Leyland phoned police to falsely claim two members of the public where spraying acid around the area of a hunt he was organising. Clearly rattled after having his showpiece Christmas fox hunt ruined.

19 police cars turn up armed with pepper spray to threaten 2 members of the public (monitors).

These protestors were filming suspected illegal hunt activities and spraying citronella i.e. a herbal spray used to mask the smell of a fox (basically an air freshener).

What a complete disgrace and waste of tax payers money for police to over react in such an appalling way.

No arrests were made but clearly Baronet Sir Philip Naylor-Leyland should have been questioned for wasting police time and giving false information.

Do police think its their job to protect the over privileged but ignore calls from the public of illegal activities and assaults.