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In the United Kingdom hunting without qualification generally refers to hunting with hounds-normally fox hunting, beagling, stag (deer) hunting or minkhunting-whereas shooting is the shooting of game birds. What is called deer hunting elsewhere is deer stalking. Hunting and shooting have been practised for many centuries and, in some areas, are a part of British rural culture. Opponents of hunting and of shooting dispute how deep and cultural the roots of hunting and shooting are in modern rural culture. game shooting and deer stalking are practised in the UK. Hunting with hounds in the traditional manner became illegal in 2002 in Scotland and 2005 in England and Wales, but continues on Northern Ireland. Following a trail (similar to drag hunting) rather than a live quarry subsequently grew in importance. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) says that over a million people a year participate in shooting, including game shooting, clay shooting and target shooting. ==History== Hunting has been practised in Britain since prehistoric times; it was a crucial activity of hunter-gatherer societies before the domestication of animals and the dawn of agriculture. During the last ice age, humans and neanderthals hunted mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses by driving them over cliffs; evidence has been found at La Cotte de St Brelade on the island of Jersey. In Britain, hunting with hounds was popular in Celtic Britain before the Romans arrived, using the Agassaei breed. The Romans brought their Castorian and Fulpine hound breeds to England, along with importing the brown hare (the mountain hare is native) and fallow deer as quarry. Wild boar was also hunted. The earliest known attempt to specifically hunt a fox with hounds was in Norfolk, in the East of England, in 1534, where farmers began chasing down foxes with their dogs as a form of pest control. Packs of hounds were first trained specifically to hunt foxes in the late 17th century, with the oldest such fox hunt likely to be the Bilsdale in Yorkshire.〔Ridley, Jane (Oct 1990), ''Fox Hunting'' (HarperCollins)〕 By the end of the 17th century, many organised packs were hunting both hare and fox. Shotguns were improved during the 18th and 19th centuries and game shooting became more popular. To protect the pheasants for the shooters, gamekeepers culled vermin such as foxes, magpies and birds of prey almost to extirpation in popular areas, and landowners improved their coverts and other habitats for game. Game Laws were relaxed in 1831 which meant anyone could obtain a permit to take rabbits, hares and gamebirds. Hunting was formerly a royal sport, and to an extent shooting still is, with many Kings and Queens being involved in hunting and shooting, including King Edward VII, King George V (who on 18 December 1913 shot over a thousand pheasants out of a total bag of 3937), King George VI and the present day Prince Philip, although Queen Elizabeth II does not shoot. Shooting on the large estates of Scotland was particularly popular. This trend is generally attributed to the Victorians who were inspired by the romantic imagery of the Scottish Highlands. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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