Drag hunting (also spelled draghunting) is a sport dating to the early 19th century. A group of dogs (usually foxhounds or beagles) chases a scent that has been laid (dragged) over a course with a defined beginning and end, before the hunt. The scent, usually a combination of aniseed oils and possibly animal meats or urine, is dragged along the terrain by a volunteer for any distance up to several miles to a designated finish line before the hounds are released at the start line by their owners.
Drag hunting emphasises the thrill of riding at speed in a natural environment, and tends to follow a relatively straightforward course, allowing for considerable speed, over well-marked obstacles designed or selected with the safety of horse and rider in mind.
A "Hunt" is divided into "Legs". Each leg is "scented" just prior to the Huntsman casting the hounds who find the scent and chase it. At the end of a leg, the hounds are held in check whilst the next leg is scented. Some hunts have human runners carry the scent, some use a quad and drag a scented rag tied to a rope, some apply the scent to the hooves of a lead horse who will go on ahead.
Read more about Drag Hunting: Trail Hunting, Replication For Hunting of Live Animals
Famous quotes containing the words drag and/or hunting:
“Dying smokers sense
Walking towards them through some dappled park
As if on water that unfocused she
No match lit up, nor drag ever brought near....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“As I drew a still fresher soil about the rows with my hoe, I disturbed the ashes of unchronicled nations who in primeval years lived under these heavens, and their small implements of war and hunting were brought to the light of this modern day.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)