We caught Eggesford Hunt red-handed bolting a fox to be chased by hounds at the end of their Boxing Day meet. We won’t be saying too much about this incident in this report, for obvious reasons.
The above incident happened at the end of what was already an eventful day, a lot more eventful than we were expecting considering the turnout. This was the most poorly-attended Eggesford Hunt Boxing Day meet we can recall, despite the decent weather. Just four adult riders and two children on ponies showed up, and the number of car followers barely matched what we would expect for an ordinary meet. A pathetic show of “support” for a hunt with one of the biggest countries in Devon.
They set off from Oaklands on the edge of Okehampton at 11.30, with masked-up terrierman Tom Bounsall on his equipped quadbike in tow. Huntsman Jason Marles headed straight for the valley that runs west towards Upcott House, casting hounds into the hedges and scrub running along the valley. Tom Bounsall positioned himself at the other end of the valley and when hounds briefly picked up and then lost a scent, he and another hunt follower pointed out the direction the fox had gone, to which huntsman Jason Marles responded by putting hounds on the fox’s line.
The hunt headed north towards the local dog walking spot at Abbeyford Woods. Fortunately, our three foot teams were well-positioned to intervene. Foxes have a habit of running past our sabs, as if they know we’re there to help! While sabs in the valley rated some of the hounds, our drone spotted other hounds milling around a badger sett on the edge of the woods. A foot team headed to the sett to guard it. Unfortunately, the remains of a fox were found hung up in a tree just next to the sett, probably killed a few weeks prior when Eggesford were last in the area. This sett was on land apparently owned by hunt member Lloyd Heard.
Jason then took hounds west across the busy A386 towards the small stream valley between Ellmead and Merrifield. Tempers were starting to flare, with Tom Bounsall launching one of his tantrums at the driver of our vehicle and trying to break into the vehicle. Hounds carried on north into the long wooded valley between Curworthy and Inwardleigh, where they would spend the next hour terrorising not only the local foxes but also countless deer that were seen running in all directions out of the valley.
Jason took hounds through Curworthy wood, where he had no permission to be. Further north hounds marked a fox to ground in a thick hedge, also on land they were not supposed to be on. However, again the presence of sabs and our drone overhead forced the hunt to move on. When Jason took hounds back south through Curworthy wood, two foot sabs were perfectly positioned when a fox ran straight past them, followed not long after by the full pack in cry. Sabs covered the fox’s line and rated the hounds, buying the fox some time. Jason, meanwhile, kept encouraging hounds on, despite knowing full-well that the hunt had no permission to be in Curworthy wood. You can see this incident in the video we posted last week.
The penultimate draw was in the long valley between Eastington, Ellmead and Narraton Farm. Hounds got on the line of a fox immediately and ran at speed towards the main road. Riders and quadbikes zoomed after them and it was very lucky that the cars on the road were able to stop in time. With foot teams positioned on all sides of the main valley and our drone following the hunt’s every move, we witnessed hounds marking a final sett on the Narraton Farm side. Jason got off his horse, ran down into the woods and reemerged a few minutes later with the full pack at his feet. Terrierman Tom Bounsall jumped off his quad to check out the mark, but then looked up, noticed our drone and decided to leave that one too.
Foot sabs went to document the mark while the hunt crossed the road to the final covert of the day: the small strip of woodland at Pudson Farm, also owned by Jason’s biggest fanboy, Lloyd Heard. Here is where we witnessed the incident that is now being investigated by the police. From here, Jason bolted back to the meet and packed up.
At one point, right at the end of the day, a female rider was filmed striking her horse in the face with her riding crop (video to follow). In addition to the digout and bolting of the fox, a badger sett at Pudson Farm was also found completely trashed, with most of its holes blocked. This has also been reported to the police.
Gallery
