On Thursday a small team of us went out to give Eggesford Hunt a surprise visit at their meet on the edge of Hollocombe Moor by Narracott. It was another roadside meet in an area these reprobates sadly hunt a lot. Having sabbed them here many times, most recently just over a month ago for a cubbing meet, we were well-prepared.
The hunt started drawing between Eagle Down and Lower Narracott before heading west towards Little Narracott and then north via the road towards Colehouse. Here we found Jason and two of his terrier squad on foot, gathering the hounds out of a large area of bracken, after observing Jason running across an open field without his horse. They seemed keen to move the hounds on quickly from the area.
Having completed this draw, everything headed west in direction of Dolton Beacon. Foxes regularly go to ground in a large badger sett here and the hunt know this full well. Having terrorised all the wildlife in the surrounding arable fields, flushing several deer in all directions, Jason encouraged hounds into the woods by the sett and sure enough they soon erupted into full cry. Hounds ran several loops of the woods around the sett, with horse and quadbike riders holding up the edge of the covert and Jason standing right by the sett cracking his whip to deter a fox from going to ground. You couldn’t get much more blatant than that. Sabs rated hounds off the sett and the hunt were forced to move on.
A fox was seen running as the hunt headed east and then north towards Westacott Barton, crossing into the exact same field they hunted during the cubbing period. Predictably, a fox was marked to ground in the same hedgeline sett there too. As a sab approached, Jason pulled hounds away from the sett and cast them straight into the surrounding brassica field, tongue-rolling as he went, to rouse a fox. Hounds flushed a fox from that field and began coursing it into the valley. By blocking the run the hounds were piling through to go after the fox, the sab was able to hold up most of the pack for a few seconds. However, a handful of hounds had already got through and were just a few metres behind the fox. Jason blew his hunting-on horn calls to encourage them.
Fortunately, the fox ran some evasive manoeuvres along the valley and was able to outrun the hounds until they got back on the line and marked the fox to ground at a badger sett further along the valley. A sab got to the sett before any of the hunt did and rated hounds out of the holes. The terrier boys, including Jake Crabb and his friend Gareth Frain from the North Cornwall, were pretty redundant for most of the day! The last hour was spent north of Higher Northcott and then back in the valleys south of Northcott Barton and East Westacott before the hunt packed up at 4pm.
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