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 Affluent consumers increasingly prefer spending on such
lifestyle experiences as hunting, travel and pricy meals rather
than on luxury "stuff" like handbags and jewelry, analysts say,
and the trend shows no sign of abating.
"In a society turning vegetarian, influenced by grisly reports
about animal slaughtering, paradoxically the sport has never
been doing so well as in France," said Pierre de Boisguilbert,
head of France's Hunting with Hounds Association.
The number of hunters with hounds has more than doubled in the
past 40 years to around 10,000 in France, and the number of
followers on foot and bicycles has risen to 150,000, he said.
As opposed to other forms of hunting involving arrows, birds of
prey or firearms, it is not the hunter who kills the animal but
the hounds, who in turn feed on it as a reward in a tightly
regimented ceremony.
French enthusiasm for this form of hunting dates to the 16th
century under King Francis I, who ordered circles cut out in
forests with paths crisscrossing through the middle of them to
help hunters pinpoint animals being chased and hounds to trap
them.
France is the only country in the world with such patterns hewed
into its woodland, and it hosts around 390 officially registered
hunts, nearly half of them focused on roe deer.
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There are around 340 in Britain. Though such hunts were banned in
2004 after protracted parliamentary debate, they have continued
thanks to legal loopholes. The practice has been prohibited in
Germany since 1934 under then-Nazi rule.
French companies such as "Gourmet Fly" or "A cheval chez les
Princes," (Horse-Riding among Princes) now offer people the chance
to join hunts with dogs, either on a horse or following it in a
carriage.
"It started three years ago with a couple of friends and as demand
grew, I created my company," said Maité Boyer of A cheval chez les
Princes, which organizes roe-deer hunts in the historic Chantilly
forest near Paris for several hundreds euros a day.
France has more than 1 million registered hunters, the most in
Europe, and they comprise its second biggest lobby group after
farmers.
(Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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