With the hunting season drawing to a close and many of our regular hunts calling time on their killing sprees for a few months, we heard that the Axe Vale hadn’t quite had enough murdering, so we decided to pay them a long-overdue visit.
For the closing meet (usually a big occasion) of a hunt that isn’t used to being sabbed, we were pleasantly surprised to see how poorly attended it was, with only a dozen or so riders, many of them teenagers. No matter how much the hunts insist they are well supported and going strong, we can see with our own eyes that their support is dwindling in the face of the constant negative press they’ve had over the last few years.
In an unexpected turn of events, sabs were approached at the start of the day by a man on a quad who claimed to be the huntsman, telling us that his “15-year-old daughter” was hunting the hounds so we’d “better watch out”. Yes, you read that right: the Axe Vale hunt put a child in charge of a pack of hunting hounds, trained to kill foxes and break the law. When sabs later approached the huntschild and asked if the hounds were hunting a trail, she seemed completely baffled by the question as if she’d never heard of trail hunting. Funny that… Her dad later realised they’d missed a trick and tried to suggest that they were using a bone-dry fox fur hat to lay the trail. If you say so!
The hunt spent a long time at the meet before heading out – presumably trying to figure out what to do now the sabs had turned up! After an hour or so, they finally left and headed north from the meet, drawing the hedges and stream before coming out at Tritchayne and heading down towards Red Cross.
Sabs were positioning ahead of the hunt near Hooperhayne Road when they heard the hounds going into the cry and the huntschild’s (hilariously bad) hunting-on horn calls. Sabs held their position and spotted a fox running for their lives. With hounds only a minute behind, sabs acted quickly to cover the fox’s scent with citronella, and were perfectly placed to rate the hounds and send them back to the huntschild. Hearing the sabs’ rating, the huntschild quickly gathered her hounds back and we are confident that this fox got away.
The hunt then looped around and moved to Downhayne Brake, and then further southwest towards Lawdeshayne. While following the hunt, one of our (female) teams managed to pick up an admirer: a creepy terrierman who seemed to take a liking to them, and insisted on taking lots of pictures of them. We’re pleased he now has some photos of women other than his sister.
The hunt was moving through the valley at Lawdeshayne, with point riders positioned along the valley and deer seen fleeing in all directions, when another fox was seen breaking on the opposite side of the valley to sabs, right past a point rider. Sabs quickly crossed the valley to cover the fox’s scent. Hounds never went into cry so we are fairly confident that this little one made it to safety.
The hunt continued north to Carswells Moor and Crookham Cross, where another fox was spotted fleeing and was seen to safety by sabs.
Still surrounded by sabs, the hunt tried to escape towards Lower Watchcombe, drawing the valley down towards Parehayne Lane and Logshayne Farm. They had one more attempt at drawing the area around Downhayne Brake before heading back to the kennels at Lower Downhayne.
After making sure that the hunt had packed up, sabs finished the day with some well deserved ice creams on the beach.
Gallery
