stag hunting
Huntsman Walter Perry Dead in UK
Retired huntsman Walter Perry died in his nineties on September 17, 2014 in Crowcombe, Somerset, UK. Walter hunted the Devon and Somerset Staghounds from 1963 to 1971, the Dulverton East Foxhounds from 1971 to 1978, and accepted his final post in 1978 as kennel-huntsman and huntsman for the Quantock Staghounds. He retired from the Quantock in May, 1991. Funeral services will be held on Friday September 26, 2014 at 3:00 pm at Exford Church, Somerset.
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New Book Explores Origins of Mounted Foxhunting
George Villiers, second Duke of Buckingham died of a chill caught while foxhunting. His mother bred some of the earliest Thoroughbred racehorses at Helmsley Stud. Portrait by Peter Lely, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.A new book on the beginnings of mounted foxhunting in the English shires—From the Deer to the Fox: The Hunting Transition and the Landscape 1600-1850—has been published by the University of Hertfordshire Press and released on September 15, 2013. Written by Bandy de Belin, the book disputes one commonly-held theory of why English sportsmen shifted from hunting the deer to hunting the fox as the primary quarry.
Traditional theory, according to de Belin, suggests that the disappearing woodlands and increased enclosures of the open space led to the decline of the deer population, so hunts, by necessity, turned to the fox.
New Hunting Bill to Be Introduced in UK
The British government is expected to introduce a new hunting bill in Parliament that would abolish hare coursing and stag hunting. The hunting of fox with hounds would be allowed in parts of England and Wales under a licensing system. Once the bill is introduced and the content is known, it will surely provoke controversy. FHL will report on this story as it develops. Posted June 5, 2012
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UK Huntsman First to Garner Two Convictions Under the Hunting Act
Huntsman Richard Down of the Quantock Hills staghounds has been convicted for a second time under the Hunting Act. He was convicted for hunting a wild mammal with more than two dogs. Down had three. Down’s first conviction was in 2007 when he was found guilty of chasing deer with hounds. In the five years since the Act came into effect, only four individuals have been convicted for hunting. Down’s latest conviction was based on video footage shot by The League Against Cruel Sports. Down claimed in his defense that he was looking for the stag, and more than two hounds are allowed for that phase of the hunt. Down, an experienced huntsman for twenty-one years, claimed that once the stag was found, he could not stop the hounds. The judge decided that Down could have called them back and fined him 2,920 pounds. For more details, read the BBC News story.
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Staghunting Banned in Ireland
Wednesday, June 28, 2010 marked a sad day for hunting in Ireland when a coalition government lead by the majority party Fianna Fail, the minority Green Party, and some Independent members of Parliament voted to end a 180-year-old tradition by banning the only pack of staghounds on the island, the Ward Union Staghounds. It is all the more remarkable, considering the extremely serious economic problems that Ireland has at the moment, that the Green Party chose to make staghunting a central issue in their renegotiated program for government.
