We were up before the crack of dawn for a cracking sab of the South Devon Hunt, a hunt that by all accounts are cracking under the pressure of all the infighting amongst their ranks… Okay, you get the picture!
The hunt met at Bel Tor at 7am and spent four hours drawing the steep-sided and densely gorse-covered slopes of Sharp Tor, Yartor Down, Yar Tor and Corndon. Our trio of runners stuck to huntsman and hounds like glue – no mean feat across this kind of terrain! – while another foot team strategically intercepted hounds at various points when they were in cry on a line. Runners lifted hounds’ heads with horn and voice calls whenever they were cast out and rated them back to huntsman Joe Emmett if they picked up on scent. Compared to some of the hunts we sab, this pack were quite responsive to our calls.
One fox was marked to ground between a pile of rocks on a steep slope. Fortunately, runners were able to move hounds on before any hunt members arrived and that fox was therefore left alone. See below video:
Another fox was seen running along a valley with hounds not far behind. Sabs masked the scent, intercepted the hounds and then called them back in the opposite direction.
Sabbing on Dartmoor is pretty physical. Sabs cover many miles on foot. The terrain is steep, boggy, uneven, and wading through gorse for hours is brutal. Hounds and horses also suffered cuts and halfway through the morning the huntsman’s horse had to be swapped for another.
We had eyes on the hunt all morning and can be sure there were no kills.
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