Trail hunting ban - would you hunt the "clean boot"?

[BootHunter]

Horsey people - with the talk of an upcoming ban on trail hunting, would you consider joining a clean boot hunt as an alternative?

YANBU - Yes
YANBU - No

IF YOU DON'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRAIL HUNTING AND CLEAN BOOT HUNTING THEN GOOGLE IT!

I'm a horse owner but I do not hunt because all there is locally to me is "trail hunting" packs. However, if there was a legitimate bloodhound pack hunting human quarry then I absolutely would join, and I can think of several friends who would too.

I personally feel that this could be a great opportunity for the local hunts to evolve into something that more people want to take part in, and probably the only thing that will stop the whole industry from closing down altogether.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/15/are-they-going-to-eat-me-alive-trail-runners-become-prey-in-newest-form-of-hunting

Your voting options don't make sense. But in general, yabu

I guess the issue is there aren’t many bloodhound packs? I know there’s one local to me, the others are foxhounds.

i don’t ride at all anymore. I used to work at a stables where my boss was MFH, this was in the 90s before the ban. If I still ride now I certainly wouldn’t trail hunt as I do think most of them are operating illegally. MFH of my local hunt was recently successfully prosecuted. Only today Beaufort hunt killed at least 3 foxes and possibly 4. 2 of which have been caught on film. So many foxes I suspect they’re using bagged foxes. I totally support banning trail hunting.

yes if people want the thrill of the chase hunt the clean boot which I believe is above board.

Yes and already do. It's great fun and the runners (Quarry) love it. Great for those cross country runners to keep fit over the winter and the bloodhounds are beautiful to watch working to follow their scent.
They get slobbered over when caught.

What I'm saying is if/when trail hunting is banned, if traditional hunts want to stay in business then they'll have no option but to switch to clean boot. I'm wondering if it will bring more people into the sport who were put off by the bad reputation of trail hunting (this includes me).

I saw a meet out not very long ago, and there weren't many followers at all - I counted maybe 10/12 horses. Nothing like as many as years ago when I used to see them.

I don’t know much about it - did hunt as a child.
I just don’t know if I completely believe that in clean boot hunting no wildlife can be harmed.
if a hare / fox hops out of the hedge - will the hounds really leave it alone?
I think it’s very sad that in the name of animal welfare hundreds of dogs are likely to be destroyed.
IMO (as someone who has a tiny herd of cows) there are many more areas of animal welfare that need to be tackled too….
intensive farming of any kind, badgers need to be controlled, deer need controlling too.
If I was a fox I would rather die quickly from a hound than slowly of mange / wounded by a crap shot!

I don’t see how you can make foxhounds - an ancient breed of dog - develop an interest in any scent other than foxes. The fox urine trail hunting seems to be a good compromise as it allows the hounds to continue to exist and follow their nose, but removes the need for a fox and enables the organisers to choose the route to avoid disruption.

If I was a fox I would rather die quickly from a hound

It's really not a quick, clean death

The foxhounds would need to be replaced with bloodhounds, I don't think there's any way around that. The "laying a trail of fox urine" (and where do they get fox urine from?) is the whole reason this mess has been allowed to continue, for many hunts (not all!) it's simply a ruse where they say they're laying a trail and continue to hunt as they always did. None of this would be an issue still if people weren't still illegally hunting foxes.

We need to stop anthropomorphising wild animals. Almost none of them have a quick, clean death whether they die young or old.

So you are recommending the killing of all foxhounds? No. I can’t find good in that. Maybe you should find a clean boot hunting group to join and let foxhounds continue to do their thing.

You can absolutely train foxhounds to follow a different scent. I work with some who are trained on scents like gun oil, red Kong and the other standard scent trial scents.

While I agree with you, if they ban trail hunting completely then there won't be a job for foxhounds any more - what do you think will happen to them all?

There are no clean boot hunts anywhere near where I live otherwise I would join one.

There is a large, very active clean boot hunt near me. Great community, still traditional. Genuinely clean boot. Routes advertised in advance. I would join if I could.

The whole pack, or is it more like gun dog training or guide dog training, where they require individual teaching, with some passing and some failing? Foxhounds are pack animals. They live in families. If they can’t be trained as pack then they will have no future. We’d be talking about the extinction of a breed and a disgusting level of slaughter, all for a style of hunting that, I suspect, is more likely to lead to the hounds being distracted by naturally occurring fox scents than when they have a strong scent trail to follow.

I know they get ripped apart - but they are dead from the first bite from the first hound.
while I’m not saying it’s pain / suffering free - it’s definitely quick. Quicker than a snare, mange or a wound.
I agree that fox hunting should not be happening any more - any foxes killed post ban are killed illegally, but hunt saboteurs are the lowest of the low and have definitely got blood on their hands too.
Diverting hounds onto railways and roads, spraying stuff in their faces - I even know of a case where a pony was stabbed in the eye with a stick ( and was later put down because of its injuries)
Hounds are beautiful - it really will be a sad day if they are all destroyed.

From looking online it appears fox urine or synthetics fox urine is available for reasons other than trail hunting.

@BootHunter So we exterminate all the foxhound packs and get rid of the breed then? Really? I don’t believe vast numbers of foxes are killed by hounds. It’s hardly a major cause of animal deaths in this country. Poorly looked after “pets” are a far bigger scandal.

I’m not sure how bloodhound packs can multiply like topsy either. As there’s not many of them, that seems very difficult. This is just a political attack on hounds and people who ride to hounds. Most of whom just want to ride on a great route over interesting terrain. I hope the foxhound breed survives. The government has not even managed to eliminate dangerous dogs that kill babies and human beings but now prefers the political easy route of foxhounds.

People are naive about wildlife - we have loads of badgers round here -which is why there’s no hedgehogs-and the badgers get killed or injured regularly on the road. Lots of cutesy protected badgers means lots of mangled corpses.
Why do people think shooting foxes is the best way? Not easy to kill a fast moving fox with a clean shot.
Id rather animal lovers stopped the over breeding of bitches for the very lucrative dog trade. Or did something about dogs being left all day unattended whilst their owners worked. Leave the countryside alone.

I don't know the answer to that, and yes it would be incredibly sad - but looking at it from an entirely black and white perspective, surely if it's banned and packs cannot legally operate any more, there won't be a job for the foxhounds. There are many ancient breeds of dog that became extinct because they no longer had a purpose.

@Daisymay8 Could not agree more! All this fuss for a few foxes. They are 10 a penny here. As a badgers. We are ludicrously sentimental and look at the giant foxes in London encouraged by idiots. Here we have reintroduced red kites scaring all the other birds and attempting to rob their nests.

Requiring animals to have a purpose to exist is barbaric and inhumane. It also doesn’t sound like the language of a true animal lover. There’s no evidence that trail hunting is being widely abused. Leave them to do their thing and get on with doing your thing.

Foxhounds have existed in England since at least Roman times. They have as much right to be here as people like you who want to destroy them.

For the record I agree that foxes need to be controlled, absolutely!! But think the whole business of hunting with hounds and terriers, digging them out and ripping them apart etc is abhorrent. A skilled marksman could do a better and more humane job (note: skilled - someone who won't miss).