theHunter Classic Forums

In the US and Western Europe, UK etc, most places have pretty heavy restrictions on it, with the justification that no animal can really escape a pack of hounds. It's allowed in the US for fox, raccoon and I believe coyote, and obviously feral pigs; raccoons are hunted specifically with coonhound and feral pigs/coyotes are often seen as more of a nuisance than prey. But deer with dog hunting isn't allowed at all.

Caveat, I haven't looked into these laws in many years... may have changed

In Australia I think for deer at least the dogs are allowed to trail, but not attack.

Your definition of Western Europe is a bit surprising. Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy all do allow for driven hunts, but correct: the UK does not. But then again, the UK doesn't have boar.

That no animal can escape a pack of hounds is just utter nonsense.
Besides that dogs (mostly not of breeds that would classify as a typical hound type) are intentionally used in drives to spook the game and chase it slowly so that it may be shot at with well placed shots. Drives are specifically planned and dog breeds are specifically chosen to avoid dogs gabbing animals.

That these type of drives aren't allowed in the US has imo rather practical than ethical reasons. It would be a total nightmare to have drives on public land hunting. Imagine in rifle season not only every bush has an inhabitant clothed in blazing orange, but also half a dozen dogs.

I don't think it's allowed in Germany OR in France, as mentioned, but it's not about dogs chasing so much as the dogs actively engaging prey. In the US you can of course track some prey with dogs, that's not a problem, but not attack them. It's the same in a lot of places. I believe Germany has quite a few tracking dogs--it's a long-standing history here--but actually sending hounds onto prey was outlawed during the Nazi era.

I could not find laws for Spain, Austria, Italy though.

TheSheWolf wrote:I don't think it's allowed in Germany OR in France

Believe me, I am a German hunter and I have partaken in driven hunts in France. Drives are a big part of the hunting culture in both countries as well as the others I mentioned and are perfectly legal.

In Germany, we even have fenced training grounds in wich dogs are trained for driving wild boar, by constantly molesting them but not attacking. The boar in those grounds are kind of domesticated and well used to dogs. See e.g. this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsjhVsDxVsA

Interesting video, Knut. The boar doesn't look too impressed though.

In Russia for hunting hare, Fox use different breeds of hounds: https://youtu.be/egVaPWbtzlA
For hunting of wild boar huskies, hunting Terrier: https://youtu.be/frTLRg3vfKg