With thanks to hunt member Helen Dunn, we were able to sab Eggesford’s early morning cubbing meet at Honeychurch!
The hunt had parked on the side of the road north of Rowtry for a 7am meet. Foot sabs caught up with them west of Honeychurch where riders had surrounded a small copse, ‘holding-up’ in typical cubbing fashion to prevent foxes escaping.
When sabs approached, one young rider shouted “oh no, the sabs are here”, the rest quickly dispersed and huntsman Jason Marles pulled hounds out of the copse and headed north. A short while later, our eye in the sky witnessed a fox darting from this copse in the opposite direction. It’s highly likely this fox would have been killed if the hunt had been allowed to remain there for a few minutes longer.
For the next hour our two foot teams kept an eye on the hunt as they continued to draw dense field boundaries between Honeychurch and Cliston. Hounds ended up scattered all over the place, with one being seen on the road at Exbourne, where a local resident told our driver that she’d just had to chase the hound out of her garden.
Eventually everyone headed back to the meet for a few alcoholic beverages before getting in their vehicles and driving home. While we were waiting we met several locals who thanked us for being there and complained about the traffic chaos the hunt with their vehicles.
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