Last Saturday we were with the Eggesford hunt who met at Burridge Moor Cross, blocking the road completely in the process. Huntsman Jason Marles started the day by heading west, where hounds immediately caught the scent of a fox, chasing it to ground in a badger sett north of Duckham Farm.
Sabs rated hounds out of the holes, but Jason and terrier man Victor Gibbings (who ran over the paw of a hound with his quad while aggressively driving at sabs) arrived, brought hounds back to the sett and encouraged them back into the holes.
A stand-off between huntsman and sabs followed with Jason taunting sabs with his conviction that police were never going to take action against his crimes (video to follow). Eventually sabs got into the holes to prevent further damage by hounds. Jason, as is typical for this man-child, hit one of the sabs with his whip before leaving and finally taking the hounds away. This sett was kept under surveillance all day to ensure no one came back to dig out.
The hunt then headed north and in the fields around Labbetts Cross where a particularly rabid Martin Tucker repeatedly charged sabs on his quad bike. He then proceeded, along with terrier man Seward Folland, to block sabs from accessing the public road at Coopers Cross in order to follow the hunt. Sabs don’t mind a muddy field or two and followed across country to avoid the aggressive quad-bike riders and keep up with Jason. The hunt then headed back towards the meet and entered the woods around Cheldon Bridge. Martin Tucker continued his aggression by whipping sabs. A very sad and angry man there.
In these woods hounds were heard speaking a lot, and sabs got into horn battles with Jason to keep hounds away from any scent. Several deer were seen breaking and in a field near East Leigh a fox broke right in front of Jason, but with sabs where there to rate hounds thankfully Jason decided for once that that would have been too blatant a hunting offence for even him. Another fox was seen breaking near Leigh bridge and sabs ran in to cover the line with citronella. Hounds soon came into the field on the line but lost it. Meanwhile the hunt riders were busy blocking the road at Leigh Bridge. After stopping for a tea break, Jason and the hounds headed west into Leigh wood. A fox was seen breaking near the Sewage Works but bad scenting conditions meant that hounds struggled to get on the line and the pack split. Sabs used horn calls, rating, and citronella to cover the line of the fox and gather the hounds away and the fox made it to safety.
After this Jason gathered his hounds and moved back to the meeting, packing up uncharacteristically early at 2:30pm. Sabs still in the fields came across a hound left behind at East Leigh Cottages. Jason should ask sabs where his hounds are rather than his incompetent terrier men. During the day another hound that had been left behind by the hunt was returned to terrier man Nathan Bowes by a team of sabs.
While waiting for hunt staff to leave the meet a team of sabs were pushed around by hunt followers including David Cole, who attacked one of our sabs two weeks ago, and had their citronella bottles stolen and emptied.
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