Romance and the Wessex Bloodhounds

Now, for anyone who didn't hear the first episode, which I'm going to signpost to, tell me about hunting the clean boot, as it's called.

For someone who might not know anything at all about hunting, and it conjures up all sorts of images, I know that you've got lots of different people in your hunt, haven't you, that do different things.

Give us a quick...

Sam, give us a quick overview.

OK, so the difference with hunting the clean boot... clean boot compared to something like trail hunting or drag hunting trail trail hunting and drag hunting they they're runners they have human runners but their runners drag a scent along the ground whereas our runners don't drag anything the bloodhound sense of smell is so strong that they don't need any additional scent they can actually smell as a human you have a cloud of scent around you and that hounds can smell that scent.

So, yeah, our runners, that's the difference between other packs.

Right.

Which presumably means it's entirely lacking controversy.

Yes,

absolutely.

Which I always think is lovely.

I love the way that you publicise where you are, what you're doing, and anyone can come and turn up, and it is a beautiful sight.

Yeah, we are actually

well...

Yeah, and we're well supported by Hunt Saboteurs.

Well-known Hunt Saboteurs actually support what we do, and they see this as the future of hunting.

So, yeah.

little sense

yeah

so tell me about these hounds now how many you count them in couples don't you how many have you got at the moment

we've got ten and a half hunting hounds well ten and a half hunting hounds but with three couple of entries so new entries so what does that mean last year so there would be a year old ready to enter to enter the old old hounds to start learning the ropes of hunting and that's how the generations and the bloodlines carry on

So it's kind of like an apprenticeship model?

Basically, yeah.

That's the best way to put it, yeah.

And how do you breed yourselves within the pack? We breed