Editing Fox hunting (section)

=== Main hunting season ===
[[File:Chasse a courre.jpg|thumb|right|A French staghound pack: moving off]]
The main hunting season usually begins in early November, in the northern hemisphere,<ref name=Carr/> and in May in the southern hemisphere.

A hunt begins when the hounds are put, or ''cast'', into a patch of woods or brush where foxes are known to lay up during daylight hours; known as a ''covert'' (pronounced "cover"). If the pack manages to pick up the scent of a fox, they will track it for as long as they are able. Scenting can be affected by temperature, humidity, and other factors. If the hounds lose the scent, a ''check'' occurs.
<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Robards
 |first1               = Hugh J.
 |date                 = 16 April 2011
 |title                = Foxhunting: How to Watch and Listen
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=ytSForcmcmgC
 |series               = Foxhunters' Library
 |publication-place    = Lanham, Maryland
 |publisher            = Derrydale Press
 |pages                 = 21, 137
 |isbn                 = 978-1-58667-121-1
 |access-date          = 31 July 2023
 |quote                = On approaching the road, the hounds ''check'' (lose the scent), then ''cast'' (deploy) themselves over. [...] '''check''' [-] when hounds lose the line of the fox
}} 
</ref>

The hounds pursue the trail of the fox and the riders follow, by the most direct route possible. This may involve very athletic skill on the part of horse and rider, and fox hunting has given birth to some traditional equestrian sports including [[steeplechase (horse racing)|steeplechase]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title= Steeplechase|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica Online|year=2008|url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9069520/steeplechase|access-date=10 February 2008}}</ref> and [[Point to point (steeplechase)|point-to-point racing]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A History of Point to Point|publisher=Irish Point to Point|year=2003|url=http://www.p2p.ie/content.php?key=History|access-date=6 November 2011|archive-date=18 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111118024214/http://www.p2p.ie/content.php?key=History|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The hunt continues until either the fox ''goes to ground'' (evades the hounds and takes refuge in a burrow or den) or is overtaken and usually killed by the hounds.

Social rituals are important to hunts, although many have fallen into disuse. One of the most notable was the act of  [[Blooding (hunting)|''blooding'']]. In this ceremony, the master or huntsman would smear the blood of the fox onto the cheeks or forehead of a newly [[initiation|initiated]] hunt-follower, often a young child.<ref name=customs>{{cite web|publisher= Icons – A portrait of Britain|title= Customs of Hunting|url=http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/fox-hunting-and-the-ban/features/customs-of-hunting-finished|year=2006|access-date=13 November 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071120043234/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/collection/fox-hunting-and-the-ban/features/customs-of-hunting-finished|archive-date= 20 November 2007}}</ref> Another practice of some hunts was to cut off the fox's tail (''brush''), the feet (''pads'') and the head (''mask'') as trophies, with the carcass then thrown to the hounds.<ref name=customs/> Both of these practices were widely abandoned during the nineteenth century, although isolated cases may still have occurred to the modern day.<ref name=customs/>