On Wednesday we sabbed another Eggesford cubbing meet, for the second day in a row. This time they spent the morning hunting the Broomford Manor Estate at Jacobstowe.
A cold, still morning unfortunately made for ideal scent conditions in the early hours, so unsurprisingly hounds were in and out of cry a lot. Numerous deer were seen darting from the woods and sabs covered the strong scent of several foxes that were forced to run for their lives.
Eventually the hunt crossed over towards Higher Cadham Moor, with sabs in pursuit, and then headed back in direction of the meet via several adjoining maize fields next to the River Okement. There was no pretence of trail-hunting, as hounds were cast into the dense maize in search of foxes. These fields were right beside a busy A-road, with trucks and cars hurtling past at speed. Any hound or fox escaping the maize onto the road would have almost certainly been run over.
The hunt finished in the original valley between Broomford Manor and Teachmore Farm, before heading back to their vehicles via the A3072, again causing several near misses between cars and hounds, as you can see from the drone footage.
This morning (26.09.22) Eggesford Hunt were all over Ashridge Court between North Tawton and Bondleigh. Ashridge market themselves as a wildlife-friendly wedding venue. Allowing convicted wildlife criminals to persecute their wildlife clearly means they are the complete opposite. Plenty more on that to come!