Hunting in France

WE have a wonderful tradition of hunting in this country and being associated with this heritage is, one suspects, one of the more emotive ties that binds hunting people together. However, it might surprise many hardened British hunting folk that it is only when one visits France to hunt that we really see where our own traditions stem from – and anyone with an interest should engineer a trip across the Channel to indulge in this history.

Hunting in France is a broad subject. One of the great political advantages in France and wider Europe is that if you are a chasseur, you are as likely to be a mounted stag hunter as you are a pigeon shooter, and thus hunting benefits from considerable political clout, headed by FACE, the European Federation for Hunting and Conservation.

For the purposes of this article and the hunting editor’s stern instructions as to word count, we will take a brief look at hunting with hounds as we know it, what is known as chasse à courre.