Autumn (cub) hunting is “secret” and the purpose is to blood young hounds by killing small cubs?
A. No, fixtures are not secret. Many hunts publish their meets in the sporting or local press. However, many fixtures may be arranged at two or three days notice dependent on farming reasons, such as unharvested crops. Foxes will reach maturity at six months. The foxes born the previous Spring will be hunting and fending for themselves by the Autumn which is the time of year when the adult fox population is at its highest. It is also probably the most difficult time of year to hunt any animal by scent, because there is still a huge amount of summer growth, which makes the progress of hounds difficult and laborious. Often the weather is not conducive to hunting with sometimes only an hour or two in the early morning when it is cool enough to be satisfactory. The objectives of Autumn hunting are: 1. To cull a reasonable number of foxes. 2. To disperse the concentrations so leaving an even spread of foxes across the country. 3. To introduce the young hounds (12-18 months old) into the pac
