Editing Beagling (section)

===Hunting with Harriers===
[[Harrier (dog)|Harriers]] are normally followed on horseback as the hounds, being larger than beagles, could push a hare faster and straighter, enabling a mounted following to pursue the hounds as in foxhunting.

====United Kingdom====
Most packs of hare hunting harriers in the last 30 years have been based in [[East Anglia]], where hares have always been far more plentiful than foxes, and in the Pennines of Yorkshire and Lancashire.

At the start of the 20th century there were many more packs of harriers in the UK than beagles. The proportions are now reversed, largely because many packs of harriers have changed to hunting foxes over the last 80 years or so. In the south west of England some packs still hunt with West Country Harriers, although they hunted foxes rather than hares before the ban, while many current packs of foxhounds started off as hare hunting harrier packs.

Some packs in the first part of the 20th century used a heavier, more old-fashioned type of hound to hunt hares, and were followed on foot. This continued to some extent until the Second World War, while the last pack of foot harriers, the Windermere, which hunted in the Lake District, disbanded in the early 1990s. Some foot harrier packs disbanded, but many changed over to beagles as suitable harrier bloodlines died out.

In 2022 there are currently only 13 Harrier Packs (8 Stud Book, 5 West Country) meaning that there are now under 750 Harriers left in the UK and only 300 West Country Harriers left in the World.

====Ireland====
In Ireland there are more harrier packs than foxhound or beagle packs, with the greatest concentration in the south of the country.<ref>[http://www.bailyshuntingdirectory.com/directory/hunting_in_Ireland_harriers.php "Harriers in Ireland"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228074921/http://www.bailyshuntingdirectory.com/directory/hunting_in_Ireland_harriers.php |date=28 December 2015 }}, ''Baily's hunting directory'', retrieved 20 December 2015.</ref>  In Ireland a sub-species of the [[mountain hare]] is endemic and hunted in lieu of the [[European hare]] of Great Britain.

====New Zealand====
There are no land based [[List of mammals of New Zealand|mammals native to New Zealand]]; all species found there were introduced. The [[European Hare|hare]] was introduced as a [[Game animal|quarry species]] in 1851;<ref>[http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/mammals-introduced/page-9 " European Hares"], ''An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966'', retrieved 21 December 2015.</ref> the fox was never introduced, so there are no [[fox hunting]] packs in New Zealand; instead all hunts there are mounted hare hunts or [[Drag hunting|drag hunts]] which hunt with [[Harrier (dog)|harriers]].<ref>[http://www.huntingwithhounds.co.nz/information.php "General hunting information"], ''New Zealand Hunts' Association Inc'', retrieved 22 December 2015.</ref>

The first hounds to be brought to New Zealand were beagles, imported in 1868 by Governor [[George Grey]].<ref name="holland">Holland, Anne, ''Hunting: A portrait'', Little, Brown, London, 2003.</ref> The first pack of harriers was imported in 1873, becoming the Pakuranga Hunt, followed by the Christchurch Hunt in 1880.<ref name="holland"/>

Today there are 28 packs of harriers in New Zealand;<ref>[http://www.huntingwithhounds.co.nz/directory.php "Directory"], ''New Zealand Hunts' Association Inc'', retrieved 22 December 2015.</ref> predominantly they are hare hunts, but the Waitemata Hunt is a [[Drag hunting|drag hunt]].<ref>[http://www.bailyshuntingdirectory.com/directory/hunting_in_New-Zealand_draghounds.php "Draghounds in New Zealand"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228074947/http://www.bailyshuntingdirectory.com/directory/hunting_in_New-Zealand_draghounds.php |date=28 December 2015 }}, ''Baily's hunting directory'', retrieved 21 December 2015.</ref>