Some Appropriately Tentative Thoughts.
by Graham Cox | SCENT Some Appropriately Tentative Thoughts. by Graham Cox |
| Introduction Any casual observer could be forgiven for supposing that the situation regarding hunting is nearing some sort of endgame. The writing might even be said to be on the wall. Except that the wall is being continually reshaped: partially demolished and reconstructed time and again. Recognisably the same but different in ways which can be important. So a closer look reveals political and parliamentary processes which are far from concluded. There are many more bricks to be put in that wall. In 2000, I, along with colleagues at the Royal Agricultural College, was closely involved with one of the important earlier bricks because we prepared one of the eight reports which were presented to the Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs which was chaired by the former Treasury permanent secretary Lord Terry Burns. Specifically, we set out to review existing evidence relating to the practice of drag and bloodhound hunting and, drawing on data gathered from a survey of farmers and participants, we assessed its prospects, its likely impacts on wildlife, landscape and habitats and so on. I thought it important to include in our Report a clear statement of some key differences between what are, after all, exercises in simulation and what we might call the 'science of venery'. Hence my attempt to put together some of what we think we know about scent. Notice the careful qualifications. It's not a subject which allows confident assertion. I hope you'll find no hint of dogmatism here. At the public hearing in London on 28 April 2000 at which we presented our findings Sir Richard Body was kind enough to preface his remarks from the floor by saying that it was the best thing he had read on the subject of scent. Though we were unable to do anything about it, nothing matters more to anyone who works a Gundog. For, whilst it's certainly beyond our control it's equally certain that we have to try to understand it and take account of it as best we can in our training and handling. So, what follows is some of what I contributed to our Final Report on Drag and Bloodhound Hunting to the Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs. The Mystery of Scent It is impossible seriously to consider the scope and character of drag and bloodhound hunting without addressing, as far as is possible, the nature of scent and its impact on the quality of hound work and the sport associated with it. The qualification is important because it will quickly be apparent that the uncertainty and essential unpredictability of scenting conditions is at the heart of the challenge which those who seek to develop an effective working relationship with dogs have to confront. That is true whether we are speaking of hunting, or the often prodigious feats of detection which make the discovery of drugs and explosives possible, or the identification and rescue of earthquake and avalanche victims: to say nothing of other more recondite competences which may be closely related to scenting abilities (Sheldrake, 1999). |
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