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Hunting Rabbits With Dogs Your Views

It's very worrying the way this worlds going ......and there seem to be a growing number of anti's as well as the dog haters :(
 
Must agree with Rae here .......I think this should be on the coursing section aswell :b
 
must admit i find the pics upsetting.call me a bunny lover if you like or a fluffy or any other 'tag' youd like to put on me, but i dont find these pics suitable for general viewing. :(
 
Hi Mike after a couple of request from members i've moved the topic here as it's probably better suited to this section on K9,

Hope you don't mind.
 
What nonsense. There are moving pictures on TV at the moment of real human corpses floating around in New Orleans!!! Get a grip all those namby pamby nincompoops that are offended by pictures of dead rabbits.............stroll on :blink:
 
Rabbiting using dogs is an enviromentally friendly way of controlling the rabbit population. If Blair and his anti pals decide to stop us ferreting and rabbiting then I reckon this country has finally had it. It`s bad enough not being able to go coursing or watch a pack of fox hounds or even beagles. Slowly but surely all our personal liberties and freedoms are being eroded by Blair and his middle class do-gooder mentality.

This country and government is full of narrow minded prats who want to change us all into fluffy bunny huggers, if you don`t like hunting then don`t take part , simple as that. It doesn`t give you the right to stop it. It makes me really sad how f----d up this government is , they say that they want to reduce violent crime and the yob culture, then they allow pubs to open 24/7 . The hunting law is the same , just a mess , how can adog tell the difference between a rabbit and a hare !!!!
 
nigelmcfc said:
Rabbiting using dogs is an enviromentally friendly way of controlling the rabbit population. If Blair and his anti pals decide to stop us ferreting and rabbiting then I reckon this country has finally had it. It`s bad enough not being able to go coursing or watch a pack of fox hounds or even beagles. Slowly but surely all our personal liberties and freedoms are being eroded by Blair and his middle class do-gooder mentality.
This country and government  is full of narrow minded prats who want to change us all into fluffy bunny huggers, if you don`t like hunting then don`t take part , simple as that. It doesn`t give you the right to stop it. It makes me really sad how f----d up this government is , they say that they want to reduce violent crime and the yob culture, then they allow pubs to open 24/7 . The hunting law is the same , just a mess , how can adog tell the difference between a rabbit and a hare !!!!

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i totally agree....
 
Paul Melia said:
What nonsense. There are moving pictures on TV at the moment of real human corpses floating around in New Orleans!!! Get a grip all those namby pamby nincompoops that are offended by pictures of dead rabbits.............stroll on :blink:
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I wonder how on earth this comment would encourage an open debate from both sides, which is what Mike had asked for. Intimidating others so that they do not feel able to share their views is not a pleasant characteristic, nor is it condusive to a fair exchange.

What would I would find interesting on this subject, if anyone would like to answer is:

Why rabbits need to be hunted -ie if their numbers are not controlled what happens to the land?

If you think that hunting them moves them on , and this is one of the ways that mxyi can spread.

Or is it just for 'fun'?

My own experience is that they do not damage the actual fields where they graze, they only burrow in the hedgerows and banks where they build their warrens. So I dont understnad how they can be accused of damaging the land. They also dont eat enough of the grass to mean that the livestock is deprived. I have no experience with them eating and damaging crops though - I presume they can cause a lot of costly damage? I counted over 100 rabbits in the field a few weeks back and within a few weeks they all had myxi. I wonder if numbers getting out of control encourages this virus? (Although it is the right time of year for it now anyway)

Although I would not go off hunting healthy animals I am interested in the other viewpoints.
 
The rabbit can inflict a large amount of damage; there is not many crops or cereals that these little creatures haven't got a taste for. It has been calculated that on a field of winter wheat the rabbit can inflict a 1% yield loss per hectare. That is a staggering 65kg of wheat per rabbit. This is based on the number of ears lost and the loss of grain per ear. That's just crops six rabbits will consume the same amount of food as one ewe so the other day when you saw well over 100 bunnies they were eating the same as nearly 17 ewes now if you were a smallholder that would have a massive consequence on your yield. As for damaging the actual fields yes I agree many rabbits do live in hedgerows but there are also many open buries too and a friend of mine has shot quite a few horses/cows etc: that have broken their legs after falling in rabbit holes.

With regards to hunting healthy rabbits yes I do hunt healthy rabbits as I wouldn't personally like to eat a coney with myxi there is never much meat on them anyway.

All the best, these are just my views :)
 
Rae, go onto an agricultural website amd read up on rabbit damage. DEFRA is a good place to start.

This thread was moved because some members felt that dead bunnies weren't suitable for "general viewing"!! Hogwash that isn't conducive for hunters to put forward their views......sorry I forgot we aren't allowed any because we don't have a problem killing animals with dogs or we can only express them in a secluded arena or forum.........
 
Thankfully over here in Northern Ireland you are still allowed to hunt foxes with dogs, well at least i think thats correct, even though i don't use my dogs to hunt foxes as i am only interested in the pursuit of rabbits. I don't get any pleasure out of culling the rabbits as somtimes i feel guilty about it but it's strange that i enjoy out in the countryside with my dogs and ferrets....does that sound weird? :wacko:
 
I find that quite a few people I have spoken to in Scandinavia can understand my point of view when I think that hunting hares and rabbits with sighthounds is a humane, environmentally friendly way of hunting, and that it should really be allowed (it has never been allowed over here).

However, I think most Scandinavians (myself included) have problems seeing traditional English fox hunts as anything but cruel. The way I see it, foxes are not natural prey animals for dogs, and the costly spectacle made out of the fox hunt seems rather grotesque. Also, as far as I have heard, fox hunts can go on for quite a long time, and the foxes are basically tired out and undergo a lot of stress before being killed - whereas rabbits and hares are either caught and killed rather quickly, or escape - just as when they encounter wild predators.

As British people seem to be either pro- or anti-hunting altogether, I was just wondering if anyone holds similar view to mine?
 
No... hunting rabbits with dogs shouldnt be banned, but, it is going to be, and if anyone on here defends such a ban they should be ashamed of themselves, :angry: the road this ban this ban that attitude is taking this country is leading to a ban pet ownership, think Im joking!!! I am involved with caged birds, already here we are see-ing the banning of bird shows etc, do you think the antis teeth are going to stop there, I think not...We all keep dogs for different reasons, ALL these interests are under threat, not just the killing of rabbits
 
Thought i'd mention something i have witnessed in my area- mid-wales.

When there were regular hunts happening every weekend we rarely saw dead foxes or badgers on the roadside. But now in the distance of 10 miles i saw 6 badgers and 3 foxes- i noticed that they were really large- probably the males.

I told my father this- who is/was a huntsman, and he said, well when there was a regular hunt going these animals were kept in their boundaries, even though the badgers weren't hunted the smell of the hounds would keep them to one or two dens- but now without this threat upon them, they are venturing out of their usual boundaries and getting killed on the roads.

The other disadvantage of the ban is that if the badgers are moving they will spreading the TB infection- when hunting was occuring at least the spread was controlled?

If they ban hunting rabbits then i would expect the same to happen.

I used to be a total anti, until my dad made me go on a hunt with him, i saw that obviously he loved hunting as a sport but also if they shot a fox in the leg and limped away to die slowly, i know he would spend all night looking for that fox if he had to and kill it quickly. Its not a hobby- its your lifestyle.

For anybody who is anti i would really try and bring yourself to go on a hunt and see for yourselves what it is like- :- "
 
Paul Melia said:
Rae, go onto an agricultural website amd read up on rabbit damage. DEFRA is a good place to start.
This thread was moved because some members felt that dead bunnies weren't suitable for "general viewing"!! Hogwash that isn't conducive for hunters to put forward their views......sorry I forgot we aren't allowed any because we don't have a problem killing animals with dogs or we can only express them in a secluded arena or forum.........

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Do you know what, the only time you ever post on here is to stir ........My dog's kill very reguarly, but it dosn't mean I want to see photo's of dead rabbit's/foxes (not that I object btw :b )......but there are people who don't look on this coursing forum as they know that picture's like this will upset them........Everything has it's place, and we should respect that, this is how and why this site works so well ............
 
Why is it that some people are incapable of putting their opinions across without being rude and resorting to being a bully? :angry:

I have not been offensive to anyone on this thread. Hannah is right, if it had been started in coursing I wouldn't have read it. I can understand why Mike started it on dog discussion as he hoped to get views from both sides.

Views are one thing, pictures of dead animals are another. I already said that my dogs had been killing for the last few weeks and I have been collecting up the bodies and giving them to a friend to feed her birds of prey. However I still think it was uncessary to post the pictures.

I am not anti hunting, I am anti CRUELTY to animals.
 
I have heard a theory that I think has some truth in it. It has been noticed that in populations that are well controlled there is a much lower number of mixie cases, and that where the population is getting too large mixie spreads quickly. Certainly this is true of many diseases and is a negative feedback 'method' of natural population control, including in the human population. So possibly, in theory, the spread of mixie could be controlled by keeping the rabbit population below a critical level.
 
i'm going to ask Nigel to remane this section, on the lines of coursing/working site.

Suggestions greatfully recieved.
 
OEH said:
I have heard a theory that I think has some truth in it.  It has been noticed that in populations that are well controlled there is a much lower number of mixie cases, and that where the population is getting too large mixie spreads quickly.  Certainly this is true of many diseases and is a negative feedback 'method' of natural population control, including in the human population.  So possibly, in theory, the spread of mixie could be controlled by keeping the rabbit population below a critical level.
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I think you`re right OEH , in some places where I ferret , there have been very large populations of rabbits over a period of perhaps 2-3 years. Then, myxie strikes and reduces the population considerably. It seems to be a cyclical thing in my experience.

It`s a filthy disease where the rabbits die a slow and miserable death, how any one could say that hunting is cruel when mankind was responsible for the introduction of this disease into this country is beyond me, but then again some would prefer rabbits to be gassed with cymag than to be ferreted or caught by a dog , :angry:
 
Mark Roberts said:
i'm going to ask Nigel to remane this section, on the lines of coursing/working site.
Suggestions greatfully recieved.

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Good idea :thumbsup:

The reason this was not posted in coursing, because rabbiting is not coursing - but now it has a place (hopefully!)

I understand people may not have liked the photos but they are relevant to the thread, and what upsets one person is liked by another - the joy of individual personalities!! But I do think that this situation will be avoided now if we have a place to put working whippet/lurcher pictures.

Just because our current culture only likes animals killed behind closed doors (because we wouldn't actually WANT to see anything killed, but of course we are happy to eat it ) doesn't mean we all have to follow this blinkered way of life - IMHO :b Of course this doesn't apply to veggies! ;)
 
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