Hunting the clean boot, also called clean boot hunting, is a term that has been used in the United Kingdom to refer to the use of packs of bloodhounds to follow a natural human scent trail.
The term 'clean boot' refers to the absence of either an artificial scent such as aniseed, as used in drag hunting, or animal urine, as used in trail hunting.[1][2][3] Whilst today the term has become synonymous with the use of bloodhound packs, most breeds of dog can be taught the skill individually with varying degrees of success.[4]
Typically, clean boot hunts are run along similar lines to fox hunting (now prohibited in Great Britain), with a field of mounted riders following a pack of bloodhounds which trails the scent of a runner. Like other forms of mounted hunting with hounds, hunting the clean boot usually occurs in the autumn, winter and early spring.[5]
Clean boot packs are purpose-bred and need different abilities than the bloodhounds who work as leash hounds for law enforcement and search & rescue teams. In order to improve the speed, agility, biddability and pack hunting instincts of the bloodhound, foxhounds such as the Dumfriesshire Hound were used by several packs as an outcross.[1]
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 Brian Lowe, Hunting the clean boot: The working bloodhound, Blandford Press, Poole, 1981, ISBN 0-7137-0950-2.
- ↑ "What is clean boot hunting? - Protect the Wild". protectthewild.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
- ↑ "Team Fox - Hunting the Clean Boot". teamfox.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
- ↑ L.C.R Cameron, Minor field sports: Including hunting, dogs, ferreting, hawking, trapping, shooting, fishing and other miscellaneous activities, G. Routledge & Sons, London, 1920.
- ↑ Nicholas Goddard and John Martin, "Drag hunting", Encyclopedia of traditional British rural sports, Tony Collins, John Martin and Wray Vamplew (eds), Routledge, Abingdon, 2005, ISBN 0-415-35224-X.
External links
edit- Masters of Draghounds and Bloodhounds Association, bloodhoundhunting.co.uk Archived 2006-08-27 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 17 August 2017.
- Masters of Bloodhounds Association, whaleyonline.co.uk Archived 2014-12-22 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 17 August 2017.
- Belgian Clean Boot Hunting, cleanboothunting.be (only available in Dutch and French), retrieved 17 August 2017.