On Saturday we sabbed the Torrington Farmers who met at the Rising Sun in Umberleigh. We were joined by a couple of hunt monitors who were an awesome extra pair of eyes and ears throughout the day.
After drinks and sausage rolls the hunt headed to Fisherton Cross where they went into the land surrounding Bartridge farm. Sabs followed on foot but were evicted off the footpath by a group of masked men on quad bikes.
While the quad bikes were distracted, other teams got into position at Pokelakes plantation where the hounds were found rioting on deer and picking up on the scent of other quarry. Sabs successfully rated hounds off the line and gathered them using horn and voice calls. Eventually huntsman Steve Craddock retrieved his hounds and moved off south where one of our vehicles spotted a fox crossing a field. One of our navigators rushed in to cover the line of the fox with citronella minutes before hounds arrived on the line. Hounds lost the scent and the huntsman quickly gathered the hounds and moved on.
The hunt then passed through the village of High Bickington with sabs following on foot who passed some sab friendly locals on their way! The hunt went in at Laxford bridge and covered the valleys both north and south of Dadlands farm. After spending a long time in the area a foot team of sabs passed the huntsman sat on the back of a quad, shortly followed by his horse being led by another rider. When asked what had happened, the rider said that the horse had “become lame”. As this was halfway through the hunting day either the horse had suffered an injury in the course of hunting, or had already been injured and was ridden anyway for several hours. The fox isn’t the only casualty of the hunt’s cruelty.
Presumably after fetching another horse, huntsman and hounds popped up again at Natty Cross where Craddock seemed to decide to travel endlessly west in an attempt to avoid the sabs. In the process he left all the hunt support behind who spent the rest of their day circling country lanes in search of the hunt. Several hares were seen breaking, however the hunt never hung around anywhere long enough for hounds to pick up on them. Eventually after nearly reaching the kennels at St Giles, Craddock decided to turn back and travel all the way east back to the meet. While following, sabs used horn calls and were successful in gathering the lost hunt support who were dismayed to find sabs instead of the huntsman.
After boxing up, the hound van was followed back to the kennels to ensure they were done for the day, and sabs then headed home thinking that was the end of the day. We decided to check to see if the Eggesford hunt was safely tucked away from our wildlife. Having driven past once, we turned around to head back to the main road and on our second pass of the kennels entrance someone threw a rock at our vehicle, smashing the windscreen and covering the sabs inside with tiny shards of glass. Thankfully everyone was okay but this could have very easily ended in serious injury or death.
If they think this sort of thing deters us, they should have learnt by now that it only strengthens our resolve.
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