eddie007

Wring its neck

Same with any bird... Quick flick of the wrist and its all over... Problem with pheasants is that they're never bloody tame enough to pick up and do that to.

Bermudashorts

I don't really know what the attraction is, but I am always loathe to criticise anyone that does participate because I am not a vegetarian and it seems hypocritical to criticise this particular act of cruelty when I believe there are other examples of cruelty involved in bringing food to our table.

I try to buy organic but don't always know the source of my food and I suspect that the conditions many animals are kept before they are slaughtered are just as cruel as hunting. I think until I am ready to speak out about all forms of animal cruelty that it would be hypocritical to single out this particular form. We don't need to kill animals for food, clothing or "sport" after all.

Seems like there are one or two on the thread that are more bothered about toffs having fun than the actual activity. I don't think it is just toffs, our house in UK is in an extremely rural location and hunting is a normal part of life (for them, not me) regardless of class.

Dreamy

It may be toffs in parts of the UK but it definitely wasn't just toffs in the village in Yorkshire where I lived.

We lived across the road from a pub from which the local hunt rode on Boxing Day (did that sentence make sense? I haven't been eating properly and my diabetes is making me feel zogged out this morning!) There may have been a major proportion of white collar middle class riding out, but there were an awful lot of working class people there too and not just in subsidiary/support roles. Didn't see any toffs

In the lead up to the hunting 'ban' being introduced I had the deep joy of moderating a hunting forum. The 'discussions' didn't seem to have any class basis on either side of the fence. (Some of the language was a bit choice though)

cresta57

Much the same where I lived in Lincolnshire. The Brocklesby Hunt was run from the Earl of Yarborough's estate. Many of the kids I went to school with took part anongside their parents. The "blooding" with the fox tail was the talk of the day after a hunt. Certainly not a sport limited to the landed gentry, though many considered you a snob just for owning a horse.
I knew the gamekeeper quite well & it was his job to block the fox holes up with fertilizer sacks, hardly a sporting chance when you race home to safety & find some bastard has locked your door

calliope

You say not limited to the landed gentry but in the same post you say how the hunt was run from an earl's estate, which is the whole point really. Hunting with hounds is about supporting a tradition which has grown up around the aristocracy.

cresta57

It may be your whole point, however others have declared it a sport of toffs. It is kind of difficult to keep a full pack of hounds [60] in the average terraced back yard though.
Some packs were kept at the hunts own private kennels, I specifically used the Brocklesby hunt as I know it well. Disapprovingly well

Turban Explorer

That's so sad and cruel. Taking pleasure in the death of any creature is utterly abhorrent - it's so not a class divide debate. That just serves to justify it.

roaringmouse

Even if that creature is a Rottweiler or similar which is attacking a child?

Turban Explorer

What a daft example!

Well yes. If the only way to protect the child is to kill the rottweiler fair enough but feeling pleasure in its death would be pretty perverse wouldn't it?

roaringmouse

Not a daft example at all - you said taking pleasure in the death of any creature is utterly abhorrent. The example given is something that does happen.

I'm not sure everyone would agree that it would be perverse to feel pleasure in the death of the animal, say for example a parent of the child who is being maimed? Pleasure might be one of the emotions felt by the parent once the animal, which had it's jaws around a childs head, has been killed.

sheene

You just don't seem to get it - whilst it would be a relief to see the Rottweiler dead, you may even be pleased that it is dead - but to derive pleasure from the action of killing, whether it be animal or human - is simply sadistic.

Turban Explorer

You took the words right out of my mouth and all that.....

Unprovoked sadism and relief/revenge (however misguided that may be) are two very different things.

ukecadet

I've done that twice...never again!.I worked on a fish quay in Plymouth.There was an old bloke who used to feed the gulls and pigeons.He handed me a sick pigeon one day. He was very upset and asked me to put it out of it's misery.I gently took it from him and with a quick flick of the wrist it's head came completely off.Not good!
You would have thought he'd learn t his lesson but no.
Next time he asked me to get a gull down from a lamppost .
It had a discarded fishing hook and line caught in it's mouth and was hanging pitifully in the air.
It had been there a long time and was almost dead.Once again he asked me to wring it's neck.
It was a big bird.I put it under my arm and pulled it's head.
There was a succession of pop sounds"think bubble wrap"as it's neck extended like a car aerial.The bird burst into life,frantically squawking.I panicked and started twisting it's now long neck with both hands like a yachtsman raising the mainsail. Head came off again!Nightmare!!! When I'd finished a crowd of horrified tourist had gathered and were looking at me baying for blood.So if you want anything necking don't give it to me.

Swerv-o

That's pretty much my stance on activities like rough shooting. Providing the spoils are going to be used productively in feeding people, then I have little problem with hunting. Even with driven shoots for pheasants, the spoils are usually divided up amongst the beaters and shooters at the end of the day. All of the pheasants will end up either in a beater's pot, or a butchers window.

Rough shooting for food is an everyday part of country life, and one that I have taken part in on many an occasion, from rabbits to partridge. But at the end of the day everything shot is preserved and consumed - even squirrels and crow. I'm quite happy to pick up a recently dead pheasant from the road, providing it's not too mangled. It's such lovely meat that it's a real shame to put it to waste. I don't approve of killing for the sake of, however, and I find the Australian bogan ute based chaotic kangaroo hunt free for all kill fest to be quite distasteful, as well as African big game hunting - there's absolutely no point in that whatsoever. If you're not going to eat it, then don't shoot it.

As for fox hunting with hounds, well, that's another thing that I have grown up with over many years, but I'm not sure it's something that I would take part in myself. I don't think that it's necessarily a 'toff' related activity - though it does attract more of those folks than not, but I have mixed with many hunt riders - including my SIL - few of which could be described as toffs. And another point worth mentioning is the fact that most hunts don't result in a kill. I have known my now SIL for 11 years, and she has never once reported a successful hunt - it largely seems to be a social opportunity with the capture of the fox as being a secondary concern.

Interesting that nobody has really commented on driven shoots - Personally I find these to be rather manufactured affairs, requiring no real skill on the part of the hunters. Just stand on a hill, and shoot at the birds when they fly past. Nowhere near the skill required in rough shooting. Driven shoots are another thing that until recently has been a 'toffs' only activity, but with more of the traditional shoots now becoming commercial, it is rapidly becoming the preserve of CEOs and dentists at the weekend, not necessarily the landed gentry. On the plus side, as I mentioned before, everything shot at a driven shoot is always divvied up between the shooters and the beaters, and ends up in the pot.


S

eddie007

Ok.. I'll admit it... Riding to hounds is bloody excellent sport, its pure adrenaline... Think cross country but without the safety features.. You have to VERY quickly assess your own and your horses' capeabilities ...you have to have confidence in your horse and he has to trust you not ot overface him... Judging route, height width depth of obstacle.... And how to tackle it... On the hoof... So to speak...
You have no real idea where the chase will take you.... You have to have a bloody fit horse and you dont have to be too shabby yourself... Knowing the land you're riding, the shortcuts, what is rideable, what isnt etc is a biggie too....

Yup... It wasnt THAT often we got a kill, but it was a bloody excellent day's riding... Which isnt possible to recreate in any artificial manner....