There seems to be an awful lot of doubt about trail hunting…
Hunts say they are “hunting legally”. They claim to be “trail hunting” which (they say) doesn’t involve a live animal. But, there are many reasons why you should doubt that any of this is true. These are some of the reasons:
-
There is a huge amount of online video evidence of regular fox kills
-
Monitors and saboteurs all tell us the hunts are killing, and campaigning groups (like AAF) want hunts banned completely
-
The presence of terrier men
-
Hunts banned by major landowners – National Trust included
-
High-ranking hunters call “trail hunting” a smokescreen
-
Secrecy of hunts, and violence against sabs and monitors
-
Number of recent prosecutions under the Hunting Act
Please click on the boxes below to find out more.
Any questions? Ask Pip info@actionagainststaghunting-org.stackstaging.com
TERRIER MEN AND DIG OUTS
When discussing how successful they were in duping the public and the police about “trail hunting”, the hunters described terrier men as their “soft underbelly”. In other words terrier men are their weakest point because they indicate that the hunts are hunting live quarry.
Terrier men have no reason to be with the hunt other than for “dig outs.”Some hunters have said that they are there to “mend fences” and call them “country men”. But we know that isn’t true. Yes – the hunts do smash down people’s fences (sometimes deliberately) but they come back to repair them afterwards and not at the time. The tools the terrier men take with them (spade etc) are for digging out foxes, and not repairing fences. Different tools, obviously. They also carry terriers on their quad bikes – you don’t need a dog to mend a fence.
For more about digouts, click here
dig outs, cub hunting, bagged foxes and tearing foxes apart
Cub hunting
This takes place from the end of August, before the main hunting season. Hunts call it “Autumn Hunting”. Hunts need to train their new hounds to kill, so they get them to practise on fox cubs. The cubs were born in Spring, so they are growing up. The hunters go out early in the morning, wearing “rat catcher” jackets (tweed). The know where cubs are, so they head for the right place immediately. The cubs are usually sleeping in the den with their parent. The hunt sneak up, and surround the wood, on point. Suddenly, they make a terrifying noise, shouting and slapping their saddles, in order to wake up the foxes. The foxes scatter; the huntsman sends in the hounds and they kill as many cubs as possible.
dig outs
This is why the hunts take terrier men with them on hunts.
Terrier men have no reason to be with the hunt other than for dig outs. They are a clear sign that hunts are hunting live quarry.
The boxes on the front of the quad bikes contain terriers and the terrier men carry spades. When a fox is being chased, he will often take refuge in a badger sett. Terrier men send their terrier in after the fox to keep it at bay, then the terrier men dig down through the top of the set to get to the fox. On one occasion, terrier men were seen to dig out the same fox FIVE TIMES and put him in front of the hounds again.
https://capture.dropbox.com/gzjh7J4gXCkxRQfI
Bagged Foxes
The hunts want to have fun during the day, and if they don’t find a fox, they go home disappointed. Terrier men are tasked with finding foxes in advance, often from “artificial earths” (AEs). This terrier man was caught on film doing just that. He was prosecuted and found guilty.
https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=212371114423389&_rdr
The fox is kept somewhere, then taken in a bag on the quad bike to the hunt and released for the hounds to chase. The fox is often deliberately wounded, so he can’t run far.
Tearing foxes apart
This is the aim of the hunt. See below for evidence of kills. Here is a picture of a fox that the Royal Artillery Hunt admitted to killing on Christmas Eve 2021 
Online evidence
One of the worst videos of a fox kill can be seen here. This video, taken by Nottingham Hunt Saboteurs, shows a graphic kill by the Belvoir Hunt on 18th January 2022
https://www.facebook.com/nottssabs/videos/966739314275731
There are more videos available here:
Hunt Secrecy
Fox hunts act in secret. They do not publish the dates of their meets and they don’t want anyone to see what they are doing. As far as transparency is concerned – they are as dark as a black hole. We should all question why. Is it because they are hiding something? Drag Hunts, and Clean Boot Hunts, neither of which hunt live quarry, are quite the opposite. Google all of them and you’ll see the difference for yourself.
Hunt Violence
Some of the prosecutions (see below) are for assaults on sabs and monitors.
Here is a link to a collection of incidents of hunt violence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqdPRX7xNgc&t=78s
Bans by Major landowners
Last year, National Trust members voted to ban “trail” hunting on National Trust Land. Hunts were banned because they simply could not be trusted. This ban remains.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/national-trust-trail-fox-hunting-vote-b1964229.html
The Lake District National Park also banned them:
Forestry England – same ban
https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/forestry-england-confirm-hunting-ban-to-remain/
And Natural Resources, Wales
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-59337295
If none of these landowners trust the hunts, SHOULD YOU?
Trail Hunting is a “smokescreen”
This statement was make by a high-ranking member of the now defunct Hunting Office. Mark Hankinson, director of the Masters of Fox Hunting Association, along with some others, held some online training sessions concerning “trail hunting”. In it, he called trail hunting a “smokescreen”.
Trail hunting is a smokescreen for fox hunting.
Even before this training session was exposed, we already knew that trail hunting was a cover. Hunt DO NOT consent to the law – and said as much when they all vowed to defy the ban when it was imposed in 2005.
Here are some more details:
https://www.huntingact.org/wp-content/uploads/ifaw-uncovering-the-trail-of-lies.pdf
https://actionagainststaghunting.org/hankinson-and-the-webinar/
Prosecutions
After the “Trail hunting is a smokescreen” scandal (above), some police forces started looking harder at the hunts. Evidence came in from hunt saboteurs and monitors. It resulted in a rash of prosecutions.
Here is a list:
https://actionagainststaghunting.org/investigations-prosecutions-convictions-and-bans/
NB – this doesn’t mean that the Hunting Act is working well – it most certainly isn’t. It is weak and full of loopholes. We will never stop asking for it to be strengthened.