IN reply to the two letter (October 3) regarding Hare coursing, it was quite plain that both people had never been hare coursing.

Hare's are not caught and released in a big field as one said. All hares coursed in England are coursed on their own territory, either walked up or flushed by beaters, as on a pheasant shoot. The other writer said 'Hares are coursed and then torn apart', in 25 years of coursing I have never seen a hare 'torn apart' - I have seen hares killed but never 'torn apart'.

Coursing is about the merits of the greyhounds - their speed - their ability to turn their game - and their stamina and not about killing hares. There is no finer sight in the countryside than a brace of greyhounds bursting from the slips behind a big stag of a hare who takes them once around the field, then bobs through a gate.

One of the writers called people who go coursing 'nobs', my friend who goes with me is a van driver, and I, only a gardener - hardly blue blood coursing through our veins.

Coursing in the Cotswolds starts next month, I would say to the two writers come along and see what really happens, you might even like it, or perhaps the one who used to pull wings off flys might find it 'a bit tame'.

S WOOLLEY, Ladle Farm Cottages, Armscote, Stratford.