Hunts just go wherever they want to - MYTH

This allegation is not only untrue, it isn't even logical.

Hunts provide a fox control service, and farmers and Landowners are their "customers".

The majority of the income needed by Hunts to pay for the keeping of Hounds and Horses, the upkeep of Kennel and stable buildings and the wages and accommodation of Hunt Staff is raised by donations and social events, such as dances, dinners and parties.

If the hunts upset the local farmers and landowners by charging around without permission, the popularity of the hunt would die, and no one would attend the social functions and help raise the money.

Hunts do not charge around without permission - they cannot afford to.

Of course, as with everything else in life, mistakes can and do occur, but work hard to ensure that they are minimised, and also take responsible action to rectify mistakes that do happen.

This is the only way that they can retain the goodwill of their "clients".

How is this done?:

Each Hunt is run by one or more "Masters" (aka : Master of Foxhounds or MFH). It is the responsibility of the Master to liaise with all of the farmers, landowners, gamekeepers and suchlike with a view to agreeing when the hunt will visit each area of the "hunt country".

In the my local hunt country, for example, we have over 700 interested parties. On a typical day’s hunting, we might need to make arrangements with anything up to thirty of them, and we can have seventy or more days to arrange in a season.

Arranging hunting is a very complex and intricate business and it involves a lot of effort being put in by a lot of people. It is in this way that hunting has retained the support of the agricultural community.