Tally Ho! A Hunting We Will Go!

Tally Ho! A hunting we will go! The new hunting season has opened and I am sure that whilst this country is rapidly being reduced to third world status, the great and good will be spending a grossly disproportionate amount of time campaigning against hunting. I can imagine the conversation in Downing Street now – "Yes, the health service is falling apart, education is worse than 30 years ago, immigration is out of control and our soldiers are dying in foreign wars, but let’s first discuss that very important issue of fox-hunting".

I’m looking forward to following the Avon Vale Hunt this season as it moves around the countryside in North Wiltshire where I live, and also my occasional visits to support the South Herefordshire Hunt where I have connections. It is certainly a real thrill to see so many horses and riders, some wearing the traditional hunting attire and the eager hounds all charging across open fields in pursuit of the fox, oh sorry, I meant to say trail, accompanied by the distant sound of the hunting horn. The hunt itself is a great British tradition but much much more takes place behind the scenes with the running of pony clubs to the removal of dead stock from local farms.

If you are against hunting then that’s your choice but it would be interesting to analyse why that decision has been made. Most people that are anti-hunt consider it cruel to chase, catch and tear a fox to pieces. Of course, as a result of the legislation imposed by the Labour government that doesn’t now happen. Even if it were allowed, the truth of the matter is that, of all the hunts I have witnessed, I have never seen a fox caught. I have seen foxes but they haven’t earned the reputation of being wily for nothing. I particularly remember the Boxing Day outing at Lacock a couple of years ago when there were hundreds of supporters present. The hounds were pacing up and down a hedgerow in the knowledge foxes were close by, when two foxes appeared from the hedgerow and ran in opposite directions from each other across the fields whilst the hounds were still looking. The foxes were young and healthy and of course, got away. That’s part of the story really as the fit and healthy foxes were not the ones that got caught, the unlucky ones were usually the old, diseased and decrepit ones whose useful life was pretty much over. To farmers and land-owners all foxes are vermin. They hunt for food and will kill chickens and young lambs for food but they don’t just kill enough to eat, they will destroy many others in the process just for fun. They are a nuisance and need to be controlled. The fox is a pleasant looking creature, if it looked like a rat the anti-hunt movement would not exist. You only have to look at this Labour government to see that appearances can be very deceptive.

One other major reason for choosing the anti-hunt side is that it’s a pursuit enjoyed by the upper class. Admittedly you have to have a few bob to own a horse and land but for every "toff" there are probably ten or more working class people as well. Someone has to look after the hounds, muck out the horses and so on, no one can truly believe his Lordship would do that. But that’s pretty much the crux of the argument. The anti-hunt movement exists and is fuelled by liberal lefties simply to wipe out the hunt community and the livelihoods of country folk. They believe they have taken over the urban communities, now they want to take over the countryside. Judging by the ever-increasing support I have witnessed at hunts and the very strong anti-left message heard amongst this support the left certainly have a fight on their hands that they will not win!