I think you may have things a little wrong Mudman, your Keeper pal is a little confused, all that shouting at you beaters to keep a straight line has made him forget.
Fox hunting became illegal a little while ago, all Hunts are working within the law and not hunting foxs
Regards
Ian
Okay, perhaps not in the true sense of the word 'hunt', but in my area the local hunt still have regular meets on the shoot I look after and flush any foxes towards the standing guns, which is working within the law.
I find the theme contained within some of these posts quite sad. I cannot grasp why, as supposed conservationists and preaching about the ethics of deer management to those that don't understand or grasp why it is necessary, that some on here are happy to state that they would gladly see the last fox in this country dead.
I should state that I have been shooting since I was a young teenager and I am now 45. At no time though has my 'livelihood' depended on presenting birds. I have been responsible for killing hundreds of foxes (some for keepers) over years of lamping and took great pleasure from the 'sport' (at least that's how I saw it) this offered. I have also taken great pleasure from watching foxes albeit often before they were shot. They are an intelligent animal that deserves more respect than simply saying 'the only good one is a dead one'. I have no qualms about killing any animal if the circumstances are appropriate, that however does not include 'gladly' knowing that young cubs are left to starve to death at my hand.
In a previous post someone suggested that some deaths were better than others and a response stated 'dead is dead'. Well, I cannot find an argument that supports starving to death as an appropriate alternative to being shot and killed without any suffering.
For the record, I look after a small pheasant shoot as a way of repaying the landowner for the stalking I have on one of my area's of land. It's over about 1500acres. As they are keen hunt supporters I am asked to leave some of the foxes. I will shoot about 3 a year off the place and only when I happen across them when stalking. If they want to pay for pheasants and feed the local fox population that's their business. The ground marching with us is keepered on one side only. Do we see a lot of foxes? Hardly ever, nor do they run out of the woods when beating. We put down only 500 birds between two pens. Shoot 4 driven days and return on average 45%. I know they are there in places because I have smelt them and sometimes see their droppings.
This is not some invasive species to be eradicated. They were here long before someone decided to release thousands of pheasants to make a living out of it.
They need to be controlled and I will continue to do that on all the ground I shoot on but I would never want to be responsible for shooting them out of existence.
What a sad world if our kids grew up only being able to look at a picture of an animal instead of seeing them in the wild and their natural environment.
"The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please... (except foxes it would appear...)
...we must account for it to those who come after."
King George VI
