field sports

Traditional country pursuits of hunting, shooting, and fishing. They are regulated both by law and social custom. Increasing public concern has been expressed about the suffering they may cause to animals. The Hunting Act 2004 made the hunting with dogs of all wild mammals an offence.

The term ‘field sports’ refers only to selected activities. Hunting is the pursuit of quarry with hounds, for example fox-hunting, deerhunting, and beagling (hunting hares on foot). In coursing, hares are pursued by greyhounds or lurchers as a test of the dogs' skill. In fishing the term is confined to the catching of trout and salmon using artificial flies. Shooting is a highly organized activity in which pheasants, partridges, or grouse are specially reared and later released as targets. The common factors in all field sports are the expense and special etiquette involved.