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)
“Signal smokes, war drums, feathered bonnets against the western sky. New messiahs, young leaders are ready to hurl the finest light cavalry in the world against Fort Stark. In the Kiowa village, the beat of drums echoes in the pulsebeat of the young braves. Fighters under a common banner, old quarrels forgotten, Comanche rides with Arapaho, Apache with Cheyenne. All chant of war. War to drive the white man forever from the red man’s hunting ground.”
—Frank S. Nugent (1908–1965)