Together with Mendip Hunt Sabs and Plymouth and West Devon Hunt Sabs, we paid a mid-week visit to the Eggesford Hunt at Affeton Mill. On this occasion, we sabbed partly overtly and partly by stealth… Knowing many of the setts in this area paid off once again.
The hunt spent most of the day on the Affeton estate belonging to Sir Hugh George Copplestone Bampfylde Stucley, who also owns Hartland Abbey. Stucley held the position of High Sheriff of Devon between 2006 and 2007. The website for the High Sheriffs of England and Wales states that the post of High Sheriff involves “lending support and encouragement to crime prevention agencies” and “encouraging crime reduction initiatives”. Is hosting a foxhunt, whose members have already been caught and convicted of wildlife crime, not the exact opposite of that?
We are very sad to report that there was a digout at this meet which we filmed but were unable to prevent. The two terriermen, Jake Crabb and Danny Pearce, were giggling like children when we saw them at the end, clearly thinking they’d get away with it. We won’t be sharing more information about this at the moment so as not to compromise ongoing police investigations, but you can expect a full exposé on these two (as well as a couple of other Eggesford regulars) in due course.
Many other foxes were hunted but got away thanks to sab intervention, and at one point the entire pack were caught rioting on a stag close to the Tiverton Staghounds kennels. Jason ignored us when we tried to tell him this (even though many of his support had witnessed it as well!) and belligerently encouraged hounds onto the stag’s line. Meanwhile, another fox was able to slip away unseen, their scent line guarded by sabs.
The general direction of travel was as follows: from Affeton Mill towards West Worlington, where a fox was chased on the road towards The Gables and Glebe Farm before looping back to the west and straight back into the original valley. A sab on the road was able to buy the fox a few extra seconds. The hunt moved west from here towards Cobley Wood and Cheldon Bridge and north towards the ford between East Cheldon Farm and Affeton Castle. A feed lorry was stuck on this stretch of road, blocking all traffic for most of the day. The afternoon was spent between Affeton Wood and Yelland Moor, Cuddenhay Farm and Lutworthy Moor and then back in direction of Affeton Wood and West Worlington.
There were plenty of lost hounds by the end of the day, despite Jason’s gathering calls ringing out across the area for much of the afternoon.
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