On Saturday we joined forces with Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs to sab the joint meet of Eggesford and Spooners & West Dartmoor Hunts. A natural pairing, as terriermen from both hunts have racked up criminal convictions based on evidence gathered by us. Sabs comfortably outnumbered riders, a sure sign of dwindling support for both of these hunts. Several of the field riders were young children on ponies.
Hounds were unboxed at Smeardon Down and taken to the meet at Lower Churchtown in Peter Tavy. Here we were greeted by an elderly male hunt follower with the words “piss off you old slag”, which is rich coming from a man whose idea of youth is remembering when that insult was still fashionable.
From the meet, the hunt headed north and via Cudliptown onto the moor. Our Land Rover followed and was blocked by masked terrierman Tom Bounsall, who nearly lost his quad in a ditch as he swerved wildly to overtake, a bold manoeuvre given he had a young child perched on the back of his one-seater quadbike. The vehicle, unsurprisingly, had no numberplate and is almost certainly uninsured to be driving on the road. Tom then crawled along at about 2mph in front of our Land Rover in a misguided attempt to delay us, achieving only the remarkable feat of annoying everyone else on the road. This included a woman in genuine distress who was prevented from reaching her sick horse. His performance achieved absolutely nothing of value, as two foot teams were already positioned on the moor well ahead of the hunt’s arrival.
Tom, who clearly peaked in pre-school, repeatedly seems determined to demonstrate that confidence and competence are not the same thing. This terrierman now divides his time between these two hunts. He’s currently under police investigation for a catalogue of incidents, including digging out foxes, blocking badger setts, assault and using his quad as a weapon against sabs and members of the public. How he fits all this in alongside caring for a toddler and (allegedly) holding down a job is anyone’s guess. Our best theory is that he doesn’t spend much time and effort on those other things, which is probably for the best considering his volatile temperament.
The hunt skirted the edges of the moor for a while via Broadmoor Farm, Bolters Tor and Wedlake. Sadly our runners came across a dead fox lying on a bank between two fields, not killed by hounds but likely shot days earlier. The hunt then ventured deeper onto the moor and eventually reached the aptly-named Cocks Hill. One of our foot teams, who were waiting nearby, heard hounds in cry, which then came to an abrupt stop. Jason gathered the hounds and blew the horn to indicate that a fox had been marked to ground. As sabs caught up, he was busy congratulating the hounds and steering them back west. Nearby, sabs found a sett that appeared to have been marked, one the hunt would almost certainly have stayed to dig out had sabs not been present to spoil their fun.
Much of the remainder of the day was spent in the boggy valley south of Bagga Tor, around Longbettor and Wapsworthy. After a week of near-constant rain, conditions were already pretty tough for foot sabs, made worse by strong winds and driving rain all day. Hounds picked up a line and followed it over multiple exhausting loops of the area. Jason appeared to have spotted a fox, pointed dramatically, and blew his horn with all the subtlety of a foghorn, encouraging the hounds on. A fox crossed the road not long after, directly in front of our vehicle, visibly exhausted. Sabs obliterated the fox’s scent to give the fox some much-needed breathing space, and when the hounds arrived they obligingly overran the line.
The hunt then entered the fields between Brousentor Farm and Standon Farm and drew Baggator Brook, picking up a line heading straight up the rocky Standon Hill. While some sabs monitored the front of the pack from Bagga Tor, foot teams from both groups were spread across the area to stop hounds where possible. Eventually, hounds lost the scent around Standon Farm.
Jason put hounds back in at Wapsworthy for the final draw along Youldon Brook. Hounds ran off in cry again but with the dark and fog closing in, they were eventually gathered back up and taken back towards Smeardon Down via Cudliptown Down.
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