HUNTING with hounds has been practised as a sport and been well documented since the time of Ancient Egypt, but the hounds we know today started to be formalised into breeds in the 18th century. Different types and sizes of hound were more suitable for different quarry species and, with the advent of the enclosure acts from the late 1700s, many forests, chases and parks gave way to fenced fields and grassland, which was more conducive to hunting as we know it.
All of the hounds mentioned here now trail-hunt, or operate under exemptions to the Hunting Act, but how has each type been bred and developed to become what we see on a hunting day?
THE BEAGLE
THE beagle evolved as the hound of choice for hare-hunters to follow on foot. A hound larger than 16 inches at the wither was deemed too longlegged and hence too fast; less than 14 inches too slow.
The perfect hare hunt for a beagling aficionado was a series of large
