On Saturday the Torrington Farmers Hunt had planned to hunt the area west of Dolton Beacon, a stone’s throw from where we sabbed Eggesford Hunt just two days prior. We say ‘planned to’ because not much hunting happened once we showed up, much to the frustration of the old boys who had come along to watch foxes being chased to their deaths.
Perhaps the hunt realised that the performative trail-laying they experimented with the other week only really works if they can actually get their hounds to take an interest in the rag, which they clearly weren’t able to last time. You’d think twenty years on from the Hunting Act they’d have at least mastered the smokescreen!
The hunt left their meet opposite the garage at Dolton Beacon and rode north along the busy A-road that goes to Beaford Moor. The moment they noticed sabs had arrived, they pulled off into a lay-by for a conflab. All the riders bar one then made their way back to their horse trailers and boxed up. Steve Craddock, his lackey Steve Burton and one rider carried on with the hounds towards Down Farm and West Villavin, trying in vain to get away from sabs. One blocking manoeuvre after another failed, as we simply passed the hunt between our various foot teams.
At Roborough some of the quadbikes and vehicle support aggressively blocked our Land Rover on the road, resulting in yet another call to Devon & Cornwall Police, who are now getting quite a heavy caseload from us because of their refusal to proactively police the hunts and their illegal antics.
Meanwhile, our friends at Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs were on their way to join us. They arrived at the meet just in time to witness Craddock boxing up his hounds, having achieved no hunting whatsoever.
It was barely gone 1 o’clock, so we decided to head to Hatherleigh to see what the Eggesford were up to.
Read more: Torrington Farmers Hunt & Eggesford Hunt, 09.11.24Although they are no longer listed on the Hatherleigh Carnival programme, they’re still a regular fixture in the town on carnival day. Eggesford had already hunted Hatherleigh Moor last Monday, causing havoc with local dog walkers on this County Wildlife Site. We could hear hounds in cry in the vicinity of Broomford Manor, heading west, so we deployed foot teams north and south of Dunsland Wood to intercept them. Runners spotted a fox running for their life and our friends at Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs had to come to the aid of not one but two foxes fleeing along the busy A-road.
While they were doing so they also had to contend with the most dangerous behaviour we have ever witnessed from a hunt rider, who used his horse to ride alongside their Land Rover at speed and then barged in front of them to force the vehicle to come to a stop, narrowly avoiding contact. Not only is this a blatant violation of the Highway Code and the Highways Act, it’s incredibly reckless and cruel to the horse. The rider was none other than James Skull, who indecently exposed himself to our sabs last week while blocking us with his quadbike. It’s all the more ironic that his dad (Gary Skull) is an ex-cop and his mum (Val Skull) is a riding coach. A few weeks ago, Skull followed our vehicle onto the A30 at Okehampton, carrying a passenger on his quadbike, with no numberplates or helmets – again a blatant violation of the law. Unless Devon & Cornwall Police take action on the dangerous behaviour of hunt members on our roads, which is now being reported to them every single week, it’s only a matter of time before a serious incident occurs.
Back at the Eggesford meet, having helped several foxes run to safety, sabs watched as Jason spent the next hour frustratedly trying to gather his hounds, who were scattered all over the area, before heading back to box up at Reed Farm on the edge of Hatherleigh.
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