Close-range foxes: the work of the Terrierman

What do terriermen do? Terrierman Martin Clarke from Somerset explains the job from start to finish: how they are the backbone of the hunt, how they help landowners and gamekeepers dispose of problem foxes, and how they are essential to the countryside as a rural pest control service. He also answers the essential question: what's the best terrier breed for bolting foxes.
This film was first shown in Fieldsports Britain episode 254. To watch the whole show go to Fcha.nl/fieldsportsbritain254
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We’re proud to promote enjoyment of fieldsports and the countryside. There are three guiding principles to everything we do on Fieldsports Channel:
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▶ Ensure a humane, clean and quick kill
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Why shoot foxes?
The British red fox is widespread across the whole of mainland Britain and Ireland. The best estimate of the current British fox population is 240,000 adults in spring, to which a production of 425,000 cubs is added annually. The fox has no natural predator and for the population to remain stable, 425,000 foxes must therefore die each year.
Fox numbers need to be managed and controlled to prevent the predation of lambs, piglets reared outdoors, free range and domestic poultry. Foxes can also have a significant impact on vulnerable species of ground nesting birds such as black grouse, partridge, lapwing and curlew (Bealey, Green, Robson, Taylor & Winspear, 1999).
In order to protect such species while they are breeding, conservators and gamekeepers aim to control fox numbers, particularly from late winter to early summer. Foxes are also controlled around pheasant and partridge rearing and release pens in late summer and autumn. Overall, the direct cost to UK agriculture from fox predation has been estimated at £12 million annually (UK Government figures)

[@tamm1796]

Im not into hunting foxes but that was as quick and humane a death as you could get.

[@iansmith3464]

Quick, clean and professional.

[@billycasper3545]

Ace👍👍👍Always remember your terriers

Great video

[@RoestalkerCoUk]

that was smooth

[@faintvids7352]

Oh fi*ck! When he pulled the gun I was like no way, he's not going to kill the fox.

[@bigverybadtom]

It seems unfair to shoot the fox when it did what it was supposed to do for the terrierman.

[@medicatedflowers821]

Wish there was more digging on the channel

[@tiernanwearen8096]

What do you dig?

[@younghunter9364]

Like to see the terriers work

[@motomeadyhuntingndmotocros6147]

that is brilliant just like ferreting but with a dog and fox insted

[@rorydevlin579]

Great work

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

I don't understand fox hunting at all. You want the rabbits and rats to overpopulate to plague proportions? Because getting rid of foxes is a good way to achieve that!

[@edithwoodward2676]

we need these men keep up the good work gents!!!!!

[@oliverwood2724]

what quad boxes does he have and where would you get these terriers ?

[@TPCWorkingTerriers]

Good job 💯

[@fairgame4560]

Terrier men get a bad press, but they really bring it on themselves sometimes. In our hunt we had to let our chaps go. The antis were getting the better of them and they were getting drunk and responding to them in a bad way. Bad press. Really didn't help. Things are quieter now and we have an "understanding" with the men (and women) in black!

[@vk_6915]

You are an anti, stop spouting!

[@jordanwilliams6717]

Keep up the good work lads👍🏻

[@shakeybeatz]

How the hell can you call this great work? it's shit needless murder.

[@samjones4323]

Finnigan stay in the city mate best place for clowns like you

[@tiernanwearen6624]

@@shakeybeatz he's saving more lives then he's taking

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

tiernanwearen6624 saving the lives of whom? All the rats and other vermin that the foxes would have eaten.

[@harryomahony]

​@@KFrost-fx7dt no saving lives of lambs rare ground nesting birds and other mamals

[@mike02439]

Good work

[@tjarkinson9188]

Great video top class terrier knows it job well

[@nobbyosborn9382]

Keep up with the good work lads. Iv always wanted to be a terrier man.

[@thefieldsportsforum2049]

Interested in fieldsports?? Join us at the fieldsports forum for all hunting related discussion @ thefieldsportsforum.com

[@tylercollins5802]

What a dog that is 👍

[@alexberridge1259]

Any lakeland terriers for sale ? uk pup

[@llywelynross8822]

I liked that but all terriermen are different but nicely done watch out for those anti`s

[@sandfordmerlin]

vermin on quads!

[@user-tw7sc9tj6x]

I guess you struggle to converse the reason for name calling as your three worded comment explains all in your gold fish bowl

[@oliverwood2724]

Excellent video, great work Lovely stuff. Where would you purchase one of these Guns though and could they be used for farming ie pigs?

[@fieldsportstv]

Thanks for this. Have a chat with your firearms nquiry officer. / Charlie

[@hawkeye1939]

@Micky Martinez funniest comment ever, don't comment on shit u have no idea about, go watch the little mermaid or something to calm nerves

[@Jack-gb4kc]

Where did he get the terrier box or did he make it?

[@michaelsmall4196]

Sicko!

[@travisbickle5584]

That was a quik humane kill. Can anyone tell me exactly what the pistol used was and what the law on those pistols Is? I'm assuming it's a loophole for close range dispatch.

[@fieldsportstv]

Search for 'Handguns for Humane Despatch'.

[@bigverybadtom]

Hope they at least saved the fox's pelt!

[@cleric7788]

1:47 Does he have license for that gun?

[@fieldsportstv]

Yes

[@cleric7788]

@@fieldsportstv How do you get a pistol license?

[@fieldsportstv]

@@cleric7788 you apply for a section 5 licence. According to the Home Office, they gave out around 500 in 2016. Licences last 5 years. So that's around 2,500 licence-holders in the UK. You apply to the Home Office, not your local police, and you need a good reason: slaughter man, maritime defence, you're a museum. There are probably many more illegal handguns in circulation. In 2017/18, police seized 672 illegal firearms. / Charlie

[@marcusmachado3001]

Terrier work is the most humane way to kill a rodent or pest it is selective and no other species besides the target is harmed would you rather use poison? Where the animal slowly dies? And may harm other animals? I didn't think so

[@foxfox2861]

If foxes are a pest then why do hunts breed them

[@shakeybeatz]

You are full of shit mate.

[@kevinthomas5992]

Exactly why do they Keep breeding fox's sad twats .bred just for toffs to kill for fun.very sad ,check out south Herefordshire near Bromyard , their guy throwing a cub to a pack of hounds.sick b....sterd.

[@samjones4323]

They don’t

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

samjones4323 they do. And they've intentionally introduced foxes to places where they are not native, just so they can hunt them.

[@soylentgreen7991]

2:26 .... more pacific? i see. more pacific.

[@PreservationEnthusiast]

Specific he means. He's only a poor inbred terrierman with the IQ of a stick insect. You can't expect too many niceties in the way of evasion of malapropisms ;)

[@Avetorro]

Just in case the blood junkies missed it first time they have to have the foxes death replayed in slow motion with all its gory detail. Remind me again what part terriermen play on a trail hunt, aside from trying to intimidate hunt sabs? You can only use a single dog underground to protect gamebirds, or wild birds (wild birds are included as the pheasant becomes 'wild' once released from pens to be shot as you well know, and the law should be clarified there). I often see them after foxes that have gone to ground on a fox hunt and are nowhere near pheasants, the terriermen claiming they are protecting sheep. I also see them blocking up badger setts in the early hours in case a trail might escape down there. They can never produce written permission on request either. You'd almost think they hadn't read the BASC COP.

[@joshwaddingham1784]

Avetorro shut up you melt this terrierman hasn’t said anything about being linked with a hunt! And why does any terrierman need to produce written permission to the likes of you?! Tit

[@delboy4607]

😭

[@delboy4607]

😢

[@delboy4607]

😂🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😅

[@KFrost-fx7dt]

For real this is the dumbest shit ever. Foxes are nowhere near big enough to prey on sheep. They do prey on rats, rabbits, mice, gophers, etc. as do badgers. These ignorant hicks kill off the predators, then complain about being overrun by vermin. Karma is a bitch!

[@dumbantihuntscum9401]

Proper hunting

[@georginawilson492]

thats no lakeland thats a crosbred

[@kieron4965]

Beddlington cross patterdale?

[@phil2003ashleigh]

That Fox was a public risk to farmers and their livestock. Farting in a manhole is serious shit you know! Only thing I would say however is this was for the cameras. Otherwise maim and hunt and cubs to the hounds. What what what Maaaam, m’lord and squireee

[@bigverybadtom]

"Shot through the head, and you're to blame, You give nets a bad name!"

[@benstone4667]

You should have stressed that they are only used by the hunt if the hounds cold mark not hunting a fox

[@TheHappyCampers123]

How is he allowed to use a handgun

[@ruairidoherty1866]

Section 5 humane dispatched of an animal

[@teejholt]

Ruairi Doherty "Humane dispatch is the deliberate culling of an injured or wounded animal to avoid unnecessary suffering and to prevent the animal from causing injury to others whilst it is in distress." - He put the animal in distress and it wasn't injured or wounded. Why the fuck do people do things like this and why the fuck is it allowed to be on KZbin?!

[@aaroni5074]

@@teejholt oh I see you are an anti

[@m.esslinger4669]

@@teejholt go crying elsewhere, you urban doll.

[@Yaris510]

The fact that Clarke is capable of bolting a fox, using a single terrier, capturing it in a net and then dispatching it cleanly and humanely with a single shot, at point blank range, proves that packs of scenting hounds were NEVER necessary; and ALWAYS inhumane

[@hetrodoxlysonov-wh9oo]

The fox is more often above ground than below it.

[@Yaris510]

That's true, but as you know, they inevitably return to their subterranean homes at some point; I guess it's just a question of observing the behaviour of your local foxes and timing it right

[@hetrodoxlysonov-wh9oo]

That's just not true, they only go to ground to have cubs or really bad weather, they'll go to ground to escape hounds, that's when the terriermans called hounds are taken away and he's left to complete the task, the fox in this video was probably put to ground by hounds, to think you can wait and watch fox go to ground is just stupid.

[@Yaris510]

@@hetrodoxlysonov-wh9oo Okay, but I once watched a documentary about the Jack Russell terrier, in which a young farmer (based in the English lowlands) was interviewed. He said, of foxes, that they were beautiful animals which he respected; but that unfortunately, owing to their predatory tendencies, they had to be controlled. As a result, he had devised a humane method of controlling his local foxes: to whit, bolting them into nets with a Jack Russell (of the yapping, rather than 'hard', variety) and then shooting the captured fox at point blank range, much as Martin Clarke does in the video. This young farmer, at least, did not seem to experience any difficulties in finding Reynard at home! (Or maybe he just waited for the weather to turn nasty). More generally, if you honestly doubt that it is possible to control foxes (among other rural pests) humanely, in the absence of hunting with hounds (not that the latter method was humane), please visit Mark Ripley's channel ('260 Rips'): kzbin.info/www/bejne/sHaofnZ-n5aNgrc

[@jacklucas7265]

I know this sort of thing must be done, and perhaps I am just a sentimental American, but couldn't they simply relocate the fox rather than kill it. It has after all been captured. They have an elegant noble look to them it seems a shame to kill them in this way. I'm not faulting or criticizing, merely voicing my thought. Best regards, Pindon

[@fieldsportstv]

It sounds a bit pompous of me to say it but our responsibility to wildlife is to the species, our responsibility to livestock and to rare wildlife is to the individual. That said, people who hunt and shoot have enough emotional intelligence both to see an animal as noble, even cuddly, and still to manage, cull and eat it. Does that make sense to you? / Charlie

[@Quincycle]

Fieldsports Channel Why are you hosting this on a 'field sports' channel if this is in the name of pest control and not sport?

[@scottperry3194]

+Jack Lucas Mate foxes don't relocated they will travel hundreds of miles back to where they were caught

[@Quincycle]

+Jack Suratman BS, it's a blood sport, nothing more. Foxes don't need to be controlled in the UK - they self regulate. If you are a farmer upset about your chickens getting killed by foxes, you are a shit farmer and need to improve your methods of fox-proofing.

[@scottperry3194]

+Quincycle Mate,I'm from Australia and foxes are a menace and a pest they kill and destroy small native animals they are in plague here theres nothing good about them here the government has made it almost impossible to shoot them due to outragous firearm laws so the next safe method is to use of terriers theres some specis of native marsupials that may become extinct due to foxes and wild cats hunting them

[@columbo5376]

Disgrace! This video has been reported

[@karlawintercazares8157]

FYI, just because something is legal, it doesn't mean it's right. I hope God doesn't do to your loved ones what you do to those poor things. After all, they are the Lord's perfect creation.

[@maurice8607]

Effng sick. Keep the ban.

[@joshwaddingham1784]

Maurice shut up you hippie

[@bigverybadtom]

Yes, keep the ban. Like it makes a difference anyway.

[@rickydowning2194]

Keep the ban? This is legal anyway....

[@prestons3400]

#strenthentheban

[@medicatedflowers821]

Wish there was more digging on the channel