[NEWS] Deer hunt item on Joe Duffy RIGHT NOW!

Rovi

Not strictly 'shooting', as the incident involved a mounted stag hunt, but it's all grist for the mill for the antis. :mad:
Stag + hounds + horses in a school playground.

It sounds like a P.R. disaster, to be honest.

johngalway

Pay no mind to JD, the amount of cranks and whingers that ring into that place. Do what you do and enjoy it There are some folks who will never be on our side no matter what.

Rew

Joe is the irsh Jerry Springer... he's trash radio.

Sparks

Rew wrote:

Joe is the irsh Jerry Springer... he's trash radio.

With only 320,000-odd listeners.

Vegeta

yeah it is national radio and will do no good for country sports

I didn't hear it but did a hunt really chase a stag into a school playground? What were they thinking?

maglite

Vegeta wrote:

but did a hunt really chase a stag into a school playground? What were they thinking?

they were going to teach it a lesson
sorry could ent resist

johngalway

Sparks wrote:

With only 320,000-odd listeners.

As there's SFA else on

If I remember rightly even The Afternoon Show got close to 100,000 viewers last time I heard, again for the same reason.

People (like me) like to have something on in the car, I usually tune into RTE Radio 1 or some other talky radio station as mainstream music ain't my thing. Wouldn't put much faith in ratings with so little and such poor choice out there.

Rovi

It's now available on the Liveline page-
http://www.rte.ie/rams/radio/latest/Wed/rte-liveline.smil

I don't see an archive of older stuff anywhere there, so have a listen before it gets replaces next week.

Rovi

There's a thread with a poll on this over in Humanities-
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055045352

thelurcher

Got a few texts there that duffy will be on about this again today.

Terrier

An interesting follow up to the "Joe Duffy Show" and the hunting divide within the country.

[FONT=Arial, Verdana, Arial] HUNTING: THE GREAT[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial] Irish Independent Tuesday February 6th 2007[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial] Do you ever listen to the Joe Duffy liveline on RTE radio? It's on every afternoon during the week and people phone in from all over Ireland to talk and mostly complain about issues that affect them. Joe is a Dubliner and I always feel that the programme has a very urban bias in the way some issues are handled and this was never more obvious than in the recent Ward Union hunt and Kildalkey School controversy in Co Meath.
The phone lines were hopping and as usual Joe fielded the calls brilliantly, stirring up the controversy as mothers phoned in to say that their children were terrified, that the "dogs" were dangerous, the deer the hunt was endeavouring to recapture was supposedly close to death and covered in blood, the horses were said to be also covered in blood and falling on the road, on and on it went and the more I listened the more I realised how huge the urban/rural divide has become. Why on earth should schoolchildren or their parents be afraid of horses or hounds?
Why should they be afraid of an adult or child on horseback? Not so long ago everyone in rural areas was familiar with horses, cattle and other animals and everyone knew that hounds were not dangerous to people. Children would sometimes find a stray hound and keep it for collection and receive a reward from the huntsman. Yet the callers to the Joe Duffy show portrayed the hounds as creatures from hell. Many children are now fed solely with food from supermarket shelves and the local takeaway. They don't know where an egg comes from and think meat is something that appears, shrink-wrapped in plastic and ready to cook. They fail to make the link between a rasher and a live pig and milk comes in cartons so the rearing of calves and milking cows are things totally foreign to them, as is the ancient sport of hunting.
Thirty or 40 years ago, if the hunt passed near a school, the children would be given time off to run out and enjoy the spectacle.
Like so many towns in Meath and Kildare, Kildalkey is now almost a suburb of Dublin and the accents of many of the callers to RTE confirmed this. Huge numbers of people have moved from Dublin and now live in towns within commuting distance of the city and send their children to the local schools. This can bring great benefits to previously small communities but these people, new to the countryside, have often never seen a hunt and frequently have no understanding of rural sports or the way in which those who farmed and worked in rural areas have for centuries taken part in and enjoyed pastimes like hunting, shooting or fishing as part of normal recreation.
Nowadays, hunting is seen as something terrifying and the callers to the programme all had this viewpoint.
One unfortunate man had the task of acting as spokesman for the hunt but his was a lone voice as the controversy raged around him. He got little help from Joe who even commented: "Do these people not have jobs to go to?"
Of course they have jobs. We all have to work for our living but would Joe have made the same comment about the crowds that flock to a major soccer match in the middle of the week? Somehow I doubt it.
I remember my father telling me of once travelling to a fair by bus and how the bus suddenly stopped on a country road and everyone got out to watch the hunt as it passed by. This was before television and other forms of entertainment were available and to see the hunt in full flow was a moment of excitement and pleasure. Stopping the earths and ensuring that the horses had a clear run across the countryside was a further paid job and brought in some much needed spare cash to many a herdsman on the numerous cattle farms around Ireland.
The hunt was and is fun and entertainment and created a huge and valuable rural industry around it. But try explaining that to Joe Duffy and his urban listeners.
Huge numbers of farmers ride to hounds or follow the hunt and I enjoyed the sport myself for many years. Not only was it a wonderful day out but it also gave an opportunity to school young horses and show off the merits of a horse for sale.
The hunt always provided a valuable service in collecting any dead animals from farms and the annual point to point was and is a great social event where the hunt would be able to thank the farmers whose land they crossed with admission tickets and refreshments.
Man has hunted with hounds since the earliest times and the skill of a good huntsman is a joy to behold. Modern political correctness and pure ignorance of the skills and merits of country sports has led to objections and abuse from people who know little or nothing about hunting or country life.
The hunts themselves are not totally blameless. There used to be an unwritten rule that you looked after your animals first and yourself second. This meant that immediately after the hunt you brought your horse home and made sure he was comfortable and his needs taken care of before your own needs for a hot bath or whatever were dealt with.
The same applies to shooting where the care and welfare of your dogs is the first priority, once they are dried down and fed and checked for thorns or scratches, only then can you relax yourself. Sadly nowadays one sometimes sees horses left standing in trailers for hours after a hunt while the owners enjoy a warm fire and refreshment.
Masters of hounds should stamp out this practice as it demeans the hunt and only shows the ignorance of these few owners who are so careless towards the needs of their horses. The many people who so enthusiastically follow the hunt should also be aware of the needs of other road users. I must also admit to having reservations about the ethics of hunting a carted deer in the same way that I have reservations about the ethics of some driven shooting where reared birds are driven over the waiting guns. When you go out in pursuit of wild game with either a pack of hounds or a few gundogs, you are taking on your quarry in their own territory and pitting your wits against theirs. The fox or pheasant then has the edge and more often than not, uses its natural ability to show a clean pair of heels to the dogs or hounds. This in no way lessens the fun of the chase but rather adds to it as the hunted animal; by knowing every inch of its territory has the odds firmly in its favour.
A little thought would do a lot for the image and popularity of the hunt. It's a super sport, one that Irish farmers have enjoyed for centuries and with proper care and attention will, I hope, continue for centuries to come.
I have known people who were almost violently anti-hunt but then bought ponies for their children and in time became enthusiastic followers as they watched and partook of the fun and excitement. Perhaps the callers to the Joe Duffy programme should start by joining a foot pack and spend a day hunting with beagles. A day spent taking exercise out in the countryside might change their attitudes and allow them to see how exciting and enjoyable hunting really is.
[/FONT]