We had a last-minute tip-off about a South Tetcott cubbing meet at Henderbarrow Farm in Halwill Junction, so we paid them a visit along with friends from Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs and Somerset Hunt Saboteur Group. It had rained a lot in the afternoon and the ground was wet and muddy, and the hunt were on foot. Terriermen accompanied the hunt with their usual equipment, and about a dozen support vehicles lined the country lanes around the meet.
Also accompanying the hunt were several members of the Lamerton Hunt, including huntsman, whip and terrier man, testament to their increasingly cosy relationship. There was talk of amalgamation last season.
Upon spotting us, the hunt broke into a jog and headed into a nearby field. The usual complaints about trespass ensued but it turned out the landowner himself wasn’t expecting to see the hunt on his land, nor would there have been much of a chance of the hounds picking up a scent on his freshly muck-sprayed fields. Having walked themselves into a dead-end field, the hunt had to ask the farmer for directions back to the road. The terriermen put on a bit of a desperate show for us, dragging a ‘trail’ across open fields for the benefit of our cameras, despite us already having been told today’s activity was hound exercise with no trail to follow. The hounds of course completely ignored the ‘trail’ and went the other way.
The hunt were by now resigned to just exercising the hounds, but we stayed with them for the next hour in case they changed their mind. They scared a load of cows on their way through a field, sending them charging around and separating one calf from the herd. It was clear some of the hounds also weren’t having the best time. One stood in a ditch with tail between his legs and refused to move until he was picked up and carried back into the pack. They packed up by 7pm and we’re pleased to report no foxes were killed on our watch.
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- Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs’ website
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- Somerset Hunt Saboteur Group’s website
- Somerset Hunt Saboteur Group’s Facebook page
