What a day…
The North Devon Beagles invited the Severn Vale Beagles for a day of hare hunting on Exmoor, after a breakfast at the Sportsman’s Inn. The North Devon Beagles haven’t been sabbed in a long, long time, so when we showed up at the meet at Horsen Farm the landowner lost her marbles. She didn’t seem to know whether to be angry at us, her guests, or even her own children, all of whom were on the receiving end of her sharp tongue. She insisted they would be “trail-hunting and rabbiting”, but some of the followers must have been confused because they started talking about “exercising the hounds” and one of them told us there was nothing wrong with hunting hare because “they always get away anyway”. You’d think they’d at least get their stories straight! No pretence of a trail and no backup plan, so after an hour’s hanging around at the meet and talking to each other while the landowner lost her shit, the beagles were boxed up, having done no hunting at all. Beagle packs (unlike foxhunts) hunt on foot, meaning they cannot simply ride away from sabs. Success!
Such was their frustration at having to drive straight back home to Gloucestershire that the driver of the car pulling the Severn Vale’s hound trailer drove straight into two of our sabs on a public road, stopped and then put his foot down and drove into them a second time, sending them over the bonnet. We’re used to hunt aggression and dangerous driving but this is the worst we’ve seen for a long time. It’s fortunate we are not bringing you news of very serious injuries tonight, as sabs narrowly escaped going under the wheels. The incident was caught on camera and is currently being investigated by police. You can see a video taken from the side of the road and a video taken by one of the sabs as he was hit.
While one of our teams made sure the beagles were on their way home, the other vehicle drove a mile up the road only to bump into the Devon & Somerset Staghounds, who were busy hunting between Smallacombe and Kinsford Gate. We monitored them for the next hour and bumped into ex-Eggesford huntsman Gary Boon, now a whip for the staghounds. He told us that some of the Eggesford hounds had been run over on the railway line the other day. We asked him where they were meeting today and – would you believe it – he obliged…. Sabbing the staghounds is difficult at the best of times and on Exmoor the terrain and the speed of the hunt make it all the more so. With a few hours of daylight left we therefore decided to head across to the Eggesford instead.
Just in time! We arrived at the Eggesford meet at Kelland Barton, near Lapford, shortly before 4pm and proceeded to scour some of the hunt’s favourite spots in the area. It took less than 10 minutes to locate them close to Clotworthy Farm. Huntsman Jason Marles was on his own with the hounds, a few riders, the terrier men and no support vehicles. Hounds could be heard speaking in the vicinity of Coldridge Barton so we quickly dropped a foot team to get in closer to them. By the time they got a view, hounds were running in a straight line in full cry from Coldridge towards Eggesford Cross. Sabs used voice-calls and gizmo to call the hounds and managed to pull them off the line and back towards them, buying the fox a valuable couple of minutes. Meanwhile sabs on the road, just a few fields away, saw a beautiful dark red fox cross the road in front of them. The scent covered with citronella, that fox got away. You can see a short video of us sabbing the Eggesford.
In fading light huntsman Jason gathered his pack and rode back towards the meet. One of the hounds was severely limping and could have easily been given a lift on the quad but the welfare of their hounds is obviously not of any concern to this hunt.
A pretty successful day! We covered a lot of miles, which would not have been possible without the help of one of our friends from Somerset Hunt Saboteur Group, who came down with the Somerset landy while ours is in for repairs.
