Who, what, why, where & when?
The Wessex Bloodhounds are one of the very few privately owned packs of hounds in the country, the pack being formed by Jeremy Whaley in 2002 as The Borders bloodhounds, in Scotland. In 2004, Jeremy brought his hounds down South and formed the South Downs Bloodhounds where they hunted for 20 years before being rebranded as The Wessex Bloodhounds in 2025. The new name better reflects the very wide area over which the hunt regularly operates, which includes Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Surrey, and Wiltshire - although the hunt is happy to accept invitations from any landowner/farmer willing to have them. We are hoping to venture into Somerset during the current season.
Unlike drag or trail hunting, which follow manufactured liquid scents that are applied to the ground either on a piece of cloth dragged across the ground, or dripped onto the ground, our bloodhounds hunt the natural scent of human runners that neither wear nor drag any form of manufactured scent. These human runners are known as 'Quarries' and this form of hunting is known as 'hunting the clean boot'.
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This very distinct difference, makes our sport not only a riding sport where you get to enjoy galloping and jumping across country you would not normally have access to, as you would with drag or trail hunting, but you also get to watch the hounds as they puzzle out where the Quarries have gone. The Wessex Bloodhounds are a member of the Clean Boot Hunting Association (CBHA), which is the only hunting association that has a publicised set of rules that ensures the hunt follows legal, humane, public verifiable practices.
