Yesterday we teamed up with friends from Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs, Mendip Hunt Sabs, Bristol Hunt Saboteurs and North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs, to sab the end of season meet of the South Devon Hunt, the very last hunt in Devon to finish.
It’s also fitting that in the 60th anniversary year of the Hunt Saboteurs Association we should finish the season by sabbing the same hunt that was the first ever to be sabbed by the HSA in 1963.
South Devon huntsman Guy Landau is retiring, so we weren’t surprised to see hunt staff from other hunts in attendance at this meet, although we weren’t expecting to see Mark Hankinson, disgraced former director of the Masters of Foxhounds Association who famously branded trail-hunting a convenient ‘smokescreen’ for foxhunting.
The meet was at Broadaford near Widecombe, home of former hunt secretary Jane Dracup. The hunt set off to the south and instantly found the scent of a fox in the valley between West and East Shallowford. Hounds were seen leaping over stone walls from field to field but were intercepted by sabs on the road, which caused them to lose the scent.
Guy Landau took them on towards Drywall and then north in direction of the Two Moors Way, the very same area they hunted just a week ago. This was useful for us because we knew exactly where to position sabs in the vehicle to get a view, while several foot teams went in on the moor to keep tabs on the hunt from the top of the hill. Predictably, hounds were cast into gorse and scrub around Kingshead and Wooder Manor, where they are banned from hunting. The landowner remonstrated with several senior members of the hunt and reminded them that they were in breach of a written agreement. However, the South Devon, just like all the Dartmoor hunts, treat the moor as their private playground and the rules don’t seem to apply to them, including the rules about keeping dogs on leads at this time of year to protect lambs and nesting birds.
Fortunately hounds failed to seriously pick up on anything in this area and that continued to be the case as they carried on north past Bagpark Plantation, Hamel Down and into the valley around Blue Jug and Grey Wethers. Occasionally one or two hounds would start speaking but foot sabs soon put a stop to that by rating them off the scent.
The hunt eventually crossed the road to the west before linking up with the main Postbridge road and riding along it in direction of the Warren House Inn, with no consideration for any other road users, as hounds and riders straddled both sides of the road. Hunt support vehicles continued to hold up traffic when huntsman and hounds re-entered the moor heading south in direction of Soussons and Runnage. Hounds picked up on scent and went off in cry in two separate directions, the majority heading west on a line and being hunted on by the huntsman, while a few headed east into Soussons Down with whipper-in/next season’s huntsman Jo following them. Sabs covered scent in the valley and rated hounds whenever they could but the terrain was boggy and difficult to cross at speed.
The full pack eventually ended up at Soussons and several foxes were seen breaking in different directions. Sabs again covered their line and although the hunt spent the next hour desperately trying to kill in this dense plantation woodland, they failed to do so. After spending ages trying to gather the pack, Guy took hounds further south. The last part of the day was spent in the very boggy valley between Grendon Farm and Blackaton Manor. Several foxes were put up and chased by hounds. One looked like she might have been a pregnant vixen, which is quite likely given the time of year. Sabs leapt into action to cover the scent of all the foxes that were seen and stopped hounds in their tracks when they followed on the line, despite Guy’s desperate attempts to hunt them on so he could have his final kill.
Sabs were knackered by this point as it was already late in the afternoon and the intermittent rain and Dartmoor terrain had made for an exhausting day. However, we’re confident the foxes we saw got away. Great team work between all the groups meant we were able to position ourselves strategically around the area, which made it possible to intervene at crucial moments. After nearly 7 hours of hunting, the South Devons finally packed up at Dunstone Down.
This has been a long season for us! For the first season ever, we’ve consistently sabbed at least twice every week. This is thanks to our dedicated group of sabs who give up their spare time, week in, week out, including some fantastic newcomers this year. However, none of it would have been possible without the support from you all.
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