We spent a lot of time with the Eggesford Hunt last season. They hunt and kill with impunity and have a history of violence towards our sabs. But with so many hunts in Devon we have been spreading the love around this season so Eggesford were well overdue a full day of our attention. They met at Higher Cliston farm near Sampford Courtenay where we situated sab teams in opportune positions. The new huntsman, Jason Marles (who comes from dubious pedigree with a father sentenced to six months for assaulting an elderly female monitor in 2009 when he was huntsman with East Devon Hunt and a brother convicted of illegal hunting whilst he was whipper-in with the Middleton Hunt in 2013) led a vastly diminished field of seven riders and a bedraggled bunch of followers in vehicles and on quads.
Heading east on a bridle path from the meet he found the landy and another foot team positioned at Peacegate Cross ready to join them as they continued towards Stampford Chapple. The next few hours were spent tag-teaming him back and forth around an area dense with foxes as he put hounds into coverts and blatantly tried to hunt. One foot team called the pack off near Honeychurch, lifting the hounds’ heads enough to give the fox some time. At one stage around lunchtime the hounds went into full cry with only the landy team in a position to respond. Aware that the hounds were onto something and that we were trying to get to them, Duncan Tucker (who along with his father went viral after he assaulted a female sab last season) used his horse to try to block our vehicle on the road but was quickly put in his place by hunt chairman Trerise, who had taken it upon himself to provide us with an escort for the day. With Tucker moved out of the road the landy sped around the valley to find a fox sprinting across the road in front of them with the hounds no more than a field away. The team quickly responded and covered the foxes track and scent with citronella and proceeded to watch and film the hounds turn and pick up another scent line and head in the direction of our foot teams. The landy relocated to the other side of the valley and covered another fox exiting the area but the pack were still on the line and actively hunting another.
After what must have been a lengthy and exhausting chase this fox went to ground in a badger sett. Sabs could hear the pack marking to ground and a team ran to the location to find Marles calling his hounds away and the Neanderthal-like Eggesford terriermen arriving with equipped quads and terriers, no doubt frothing with excitement at the bloodletting that their masters were now going to allow them to take part in. Sabs, on the other hand, had very different plans and there was no way that these men were going to be let anywhere near the sett where the fox was cowering. Sabs protected the sett and prevented the hunt from digging out. Police were called but despite promising to attend never turned up and it turns out hadn’t even recorded a log number of our call! Terriermen and hunt supporters remained waiting for the sab team to go but if they think we will ever leave an animal in danger they are very mistaken. Refreshingly it seems that the Eggesford field and supporters were under strict instructions to behave themselves around sabs and despite a few mutterings and a bit of pushing and shoving, aggressive interactions were minimal. One of the terriermen who started shoving a sab was very quickly, and rather embarrassingly, reigned in by Duncan Tucker on horseback. Perhaps after the publicity and sab attention that this hunt brought upon themselves last season a lesson has been learnt. We can only live in hope.
Unfortunately whilst covering the sett we lost the hunt for some time. We trawled the lanes for a couple of hours and used our constant tail to help us work out where they hadn’t gone. After some time we managed to lose the chairman and headed back into the area where we observed Marles from a distance, but no other action was necessary. We can’t confirm that no kills took place during the time that we lost them but we are sure that a number of foxes were seen to safety today. Marles returned from the north of the meet and packed up at dusk.
Videos
1. The Eggesford spent the best part of an hour chasing one fox until it eventually went to ground in a badger sett. Sabs had tried repeatedly to call hounds off, but the pack was moving at speed, chasing the fox across roads and streams, and hunt riders and support blocked the road to stop us from getting closer. They also told us that a police officer was out riding with them! When sabs caught up with the hounds, terrier men were found lurking near the sett. A lengthy stand-off ensued as sabs guarded the sett and prevented the fox from being dug out. Eventually the terrier men gave up and left. The fox got away safely and the badgers also remained unharmed thanks to the vigilance of our foot sabs. Please watch and share our video of these events.
2. What have we got here?! Eggesford Hunt rider Duncan Tucker and his father Martyn Tucker rose to fame last season when a video of their aggressive behaviour towards sabs went viral on our Facebook page. In this new video, filmed on 16 December, Duncan can be seen giving one of the masked terriermen a telling-off for squaring up to our sabs, who had just witnessed hounds mark a fox to ground in a badger sett. Perhaps the Eggesford have learnt their lesson where aggression is concerned!
Gallery
