Get in touch with us at secretary@wessexbloodhounds.com
How To Get Involved With The Wessex Bloodhounds
The Wessex Bloodhounds is a welcoming hunt with a broad appeal, offering involvement for people with many interests, not just riding.
Read on for information about the Hunt Club, quarrying, jump building and hound sponsorship!
Hunt Club
The Hunt Club is your chance to become part of the Wessex Bloodhound community!​
​​Members of the Hunt Club enjoy a range of benefits. In addition to a membership car sticker and tote bag, you receive maps of the hunting route via email each week during the season and invitations to events such as the Puppy Show.​
​Subscribers automatically become members of the Hunt Club.
​​Other riders and foot followers can join the Hunt Club for only £30 for the whole season - this includes all adults and children in your household. Please click on the button below to make your payment and then email secretary@wessexbloodhounds.co.uk to get yourself added to the mailing list.
A huge thank you from everyone at The Wessex Bloodhounds for your support!
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Quarrying
Hunting the ‘clean boot’ means that we need several pairs of boots to hunt. An ideal quarry team consists of between 1 and 6 runners.
The Quarry are an integral part of the Wessex Bloodhounds hunting day; they join us at the meet before setting off, and often a brief chat in between hunts. The Quarry always set off in good time ahead of the hounds and the ideal is that they aren’t ‘caught’ until the end of a hunt, when they are warmly greeted by the delighted hounds!
Quarrying is an exclusive opportunity to run across some of the most spectacular country in the South of England, and running off tracks where most people just aren’t allowed to tread. Whilst you need to be fit to run the 12 or so miles during the Open Season, the Training Meets, averaging around 6 miles, are an ideal opportunity to develop that fitness along with the hounds, horses and riders.
The Quarry team have a map of the route for each hunt and a 15-20 minute head-start. It is up to them, under the leadership of the Quarry Captain, to put in the checks and turns to make the hounds really work in hunting them down. And when they are finally caught, they are rewarded with a friendly lick from their hunters. If you enjoy cross country running, being pursued by a pack of jolly hounds adds a completely new and uniquely exciting dimension to it!
For more information and to join the Quarry team, please contact contact our Quarry Captain, Nick Hudson on 07973 550741.
Jump Building
Over the summers, we leap into action to renovate existing jumps and build new ones in our hunt country as a way of thanking landowners and farmers for allowing access to their land, and to ensure that riders have the opportunity to get airborne during the winter months! Our team of dedicated workers is always looking for new recruits. Previous experience is not necessary, just a willingness to carry out physical tasks in a very sociable environment. We also welcome donations towards materials for jumps: building an upright jump costs £80 and building a tiger trap costs £140 in timber, so any amount is gratefully received!
If you'd like to join the jump building team, or make a donation towards materials,
please contact Graham Bamber on 07359 096402.
Hound Sponsorship
The Wessex Bloodhounds are very well looked after at kennels, but food, vaccinations, microchipping and other necessary requirements are not cheap. We want to ensure the hounds have a long and healthy life and a great way of supporting the Wessex Bloodhounds is to become a hound sponsor where your money goes directly to the upkeep of the hounds. Sponsorship costs as little as £TBC for the year, although some of our sponsors are happy to contribute a bit more, and some pay a monthly direct debit of £5. In return sponsors get a personalised hound update three times a year and an invitation to the Puppy Show each August. We also encourage you to come out on hunting days, either on foot or on horseback, to see your hound in action!
For more information about how to become a hound sponsor, please contact
Joanna Smith on: sponsorship@wessexbloodhounds.com
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When one of our bloodhounds decides that hunting humans is not for him or her, we are always able to find a loving family home for the hound to retire to. Bloodhounds are very loving and versatile animals and really do make the most incredible house dogs. All potential rehomers are carefully reviewed to ensure hound and new owner are compatible, and our success rate is exceedingly good. If you are interested in rehoming a hound please contact Master Huntsman Jack Jennings 07955 222609.
