Trail hunting is a legal, although controversial, alternative to hunting animals with hounds in Great Britain. A trail of animal urine (most commonly

fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

) is laid in advance of the 'hunt', and then tracked by the hound pack and a group of followers; on foot, horseback, or both.

Background

By 2005, most forms of hunting animals with hounds had been made illegal across

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, although many remain within the law in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. To preserve their traditional practices, most registered hunts switched to trail hunting as a legal alternative. Trail hunting, while superficially similar to the established sport of

drag hunting Drag hunting or draghunting is a form of equestrian sport, where mounted riders hunt the trail of an artificially laid scent with hounds. Description Drag hunting is conducted in a similar manner to fox hunting, with a field of mounted riders fol ...

, was an entirely new invention in 2005 and one which hunts claim is designed to replicate the practice of hunting as closely as possible, but without the deliberate involvement of live prey.

Description

Trail hunting should not be confused with

; where hounds follow an artificial scent, usually

aniseed Anise (; '), also called aniseed or rarely anix is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to Eurasia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, such as star anise, fennel, licorice, and t ...

, laid along a set route which is already known to the huntsmen. In trail hunting, a scent trail is laid using the 'prey' animal's urine (foxes, hares, or other animals) and deliberately laid in areas where those animals naturally occur; ostensibly to recreate the experience of chasing a real animal. The trail does not follow a pre-determined course and those controlling the hounds do not know the route in advance.

Controversy

Anti-hunt organisations claim trail hunting is a smokescreen for illegal hunting and a means of circumventing the

Hunting Act 2004 The Hunting Act 2004 (c 37) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which bans the hunting of most wild mammals (notably Red fox, foxes, deer, European hare, hares and American mink, mink) with dogs in England and W ...

, which applies in England and Wales, and the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002, which applies in Scotland. Because the trail is laid using animal urine, and in areas where such animals naturally occur, hounds often pick up the scent of live animals; sometimes resulting in them being caught and killed. It has also been alleged that trail hunts rarely lay an actual trail; therefore encouraging hounds to pick up live animal scent. The League Against Cruel Sports has claimed that, of 4,000 monitored hunts, someone was seen laying a possible trail in an average of around only 3% of occasions. The Malvern Hills Trust, which banned trail hunting on its land in 2021, has said that, during the monitoring of ten separate hunts, only one trail was seen being laid. In recent years several major landowners have suspended or permanently banned trail hunting on their land.

Related sports

Drag hunting

Hounds follow an artificial scent, usually aniseed, laid along a set route which is already known to the huntsmen.Nicholas Goddard and John Martin
"Drag hunting"
''Encyclopedia of traditional British rural sports'', Tony Collins, John Martin and Wray Vamplew (eds), Routledge, Abingdon, 2005, , p104.

Hound trailing

Similar to drag hunting, but in the form of a race; usually of around in length. Unlike other forms of hunting, the hounds are not followed by humans.

Clean boot hunting

Clean boot hunting uses packs of

bloodhound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar and, since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is called, ...

s to follow the natural trail of a human's scent.