Gwenaerezh e 2014 e Bro-Saoz (indeed!)
Yes they still hunt fox around here, and while some people object to that, I am not one of them. Let me explain. As far as I can observe the following list show how fox normally die around here. 1.Hit by a car at night 2.Hit by a car in the day 3.Poisoned by eating poisoned rodents 4.Shot by locals for any number of reasons, mostly bad ones 5.Trapped by trappers for money 6.Trapped by farmers in retribution for the loss of one or more of his chicken, geese, pea fowl guinea fowl, or ducks, all of which he tends to let run loose. 7.Trapped by farmers in retribution for the huge hole the fox digs every February right smack in the middle of a perfectly good corn field, in which the fox raises more fox who dig even more holes. 8.Hit by lightning 9.Drowned in a flash flood resulting from the collapse of a beaver damn. 10.Drowned in a flash flood resulting from the collapse of hydro-electric dam. 11.Killed by numerous women and a few men, mostly over forty, some decidedly so, who are galloping about on horseback accompanied by some of the loudest dogs ever created. In my experience the very best way to get a good look at a fox, is to wait for hunt day. Then get yourself a beer and a comfortable folding chair (if such a thing is not an oxymoron). Place yourself and your beer in that chair with a large woodlot and an even larger field between you and the "first field". Now that's not the field that is between you and the woodlot. That would be the "near field". No... the "first field" is the group of fox hunters with all the dog around them. This is the field that makes the most noise and the best pictures. The first field will be in the "far field", the one on the far side of the woodlot. Once you have your geography all squared away and you know for sure you are in the right field, by which I mean the near field, you won't have to wait long. About the time you finish off that beer you will likely see a fox emerge from the woodlot, sniff the air and slink off across the near field, leaving all his uninvited guest galloping around the far field, traipsing through the bottom land, and scouring the woodlot in search of he who is not there. You want to take this opportunity to get a good look at him because he won't be back this way until way after dark. No, in my opinion the fox could not have a better friend than the fox hunter. I did not actually see what I am about to relate to you, but since I have known this person for more than 30 years and have never caught her in a lie before I am pretty sure it is true. I heard her on the phone one day telling her other fox hunting buddy that she had been out on her morning ride one day earlier in the week. and had found a fox caught in a steel jaw trap. So, she gets off her horse, and throws her long riding coat over the fox so he can't bite her. She then releases the fox and let him run off leaving her coat behind him. Now this did not surprise me, because I knew this woman was a kind an good person, but what I heard next convinced me that a fox could never ask for a better fiend. After the fox was out of sight and could not witness this, in which case he was liable to tell all his friends and ruin this ladies reputation as an upright and proper lady of the manor, after he was gone, she urinated on the trap. She explained to her fiend that this was an old and trusted fox hunter trick. This way the fox would never go near that trap again and the trapper would never be any wiser, and that trap would never hurt another fox. Now you tell me if you have ever heard of any animal rights activist doing such a noble and selfless act, and with nobody around to witness it either. I think that fox hunters may also get a bad press for being sort of snobbish. This is not my experience at all, at least not around here. I would say just the opposite is true. What I am about to tell you may seem farfetched but it is the truth. Around here the fox hunters usually have one or more of their horseless friends drive around after the pack in a 4 wheel drive. You are welcomed to pile in with them and follow after the whole pageant in a comfortably dry and warm Subaru or something similar. But, before you are off on this merry chase, your host will give you a plastic glass containing a generous serving of port wine...really. And to top off the whole event they will feed you a delicious pot luck brunch. And best of all because you are not a member you don't have to even bring a dish, you are just considered a guest. In conclusion let me just observe that it is my firm opinion there would still be fox hunting in the UK if the gentry there had merely been a little more generous with their food and wine. I don't even think they would even have needed to provide transportation. I mean there are certainly enough bird watchers in the UK and I think most of them have to walk around quite a bit. Oh well that's enough of my ramblings....if only I had gotten a look at a fox this last hunt that would have been swell.