A new one for us…
Sabbing one of our local staghunts on Exmoor. Inspired by some of our neighbouring groups who have been taking on the DSSH and the Quantock Staghounds in recent weeks, we decided to go along and give it a try.
We joined North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs, Mendip Hunt Sabs, Herefordshire Hunt Sabs, Three Counties Hunt Sabs and Wildlife Crime Action at the DSSH meet at Brendon Two Gates north of Simonsbath.
The DSSH hunt using just two hounds, but they carry spares in a Land Rover so they can swap them out when they get tired, which they clearly do, given the terrain and distance they cover. Exmoor is difficult at the best of times. Trying to follow the hunt across the boggy open moorland on foot as a sab requires a lot of stamina. Between the various groups we had teams positioned from the meet down to Warren Farm and across to Larkbarrow Corner to try and keep an eye on the hunt’s movements.
With only two hounds doing the hunting, the riders and supporters play a much more active role in the chase than they do in foxhunting. The aim is to locate a herd of deer and gradually break it apart into smaller groups, eventually isolating a stag and then chasing it to complete exhaustion before shooting it at close range. This ‘sport’ is undeniably cruel and that makes it all the more depressing to see so many riders and followers turn up to take part.
We spent the first hour in the valley east of the meet, where the hunt circled a large herd of deer and progressively tried to break it apart. Eventually three deer broke off from the main herd and they were chased by the hounds and riders back west in direction of the hunt followers on the road. Although we lost sight of them the other side of a hill, another sab team spotted them and reported that they thought those three had got away.
The hunt then moved at speed to the east in direction of Larkbarrow and eventually north and out of our sight. Other foot teams and monitors spotted them and kept tabs on their movements before we saw riders again in the distance near Manor Allotments.
After spending several hours in a counter-clockwise loop of the moorland east of the meet, the hunt crossed the road to the west and we caught up with the redcoats, including huntsman Gary Boon (who used to hunt the Eggesford hounds), near the meet. Many riders had dismounted by this point and were sat on the side of the road with their picnic hampers, but a few quadbikes and shooting buggies sped past. We feared they might have been heading to the site of an impending kill. Fortunately we kept sight of the redcoats and the hunt packed up shortly after at around 5pm. We are pretty confident they did not get a kill yesterday.
It was a day of mostly observing and learning and crossing many treacherous and tiring miles on foot. For too long the West Country’s three staghunts have been able to torture wildlife with impunity. It’s time to put a stop to it.
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