Stevenstone Hunt & Torrington Farmers Hunt, 09.03.24

Saturday started with the Stevenstone at their meet at Yeory. Their sole car supporter gave up after five minutes and went home, as did their only quadbike follower who showed up and didn’t even bother to unload his quad. Jessica Half-Pack Harrison was left with just whipper-in Sean Watts and one rider as her entourage, taking her half pack of hounds for a ride along the lanes around Merton so the hounds could empty their bowels all over the pavements and grass verges surrounding the village. If any normal dog owner did this, they’d be fined. But for some reason it’s okay for the hunt not to pick up their hounds’ parasite-laden excrement.

After just an hour Stevenstone Hunt were back at the meet and hounds were boxed up and driven back to the kennels. Let’s face it, this hunt didn’t exactly start the season in the strongest position. Well, they didn’t start at all until December because they didn’t have a huntsman and were at each others’ throats. But the fact that they can’t hunt at all now when sabs show up doesn’t bode well for their future!

We set off to find the Torrington Farmers who were having their end of season meet in the Huntshaw area. Various hunt vehicles were found at Woodhouse Farm and scattered around the lanes at Millbrook. One of our foot teams tracked horse and hound prints from there to the north, catching up with the hunt just west of Gammaton Moor Cross. Various Stevenstone riders and car supporters were at this meet and told us they’d opted for Torrington instead of Stevenstone because this hunt was “more fun”. When the Torrington Farmers Hunt is described as “fun” that really is an admission of the dire state of affairs at the Stevenstone Hunt!

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Stevenstone Hunt & Torrington Farmers Hunt, 20.01.24

Yesterday we were intending to sab one hunt who didn’t end up going out, so with a full landy of sabs ready to go we promptly rerouted to the Stevenstone Hunt’s meet at Five Lanes, near Abbots Bickington. They had gone out on foot, without horses, and when we arrived they decided to pack up. Sabs walked huntswoman Jessica Harrison, whip Sean Watts and the hounds back to the meet. Here we bumped into Anthony Hemmings, who until recently was hunting one of the unregistered foot packs in Devon. He announced a few weeks ago that he’d had to give it up and would be distributing hounds to any willing takers. We wonder if any have gone to the Stevenstone to up their dwindling hound numbers?… Hemmings was keen to boast that “his hounds” killed far more foxes than any of the hunts we sab.

As we were watching the Stevenstone drag their hounds by the scruff back into the van, a tipoff came in that the Torrington Farmers Hunt were hunting around Huntshaw Water and hounds had been heard in full cry on a fox. As these are neighbouring hunts, we were there within twenty minutes and found the hunt (also on foot) in the valley below Guscott. They too stopped hunting as soon as they saw us and headed back to Millbrook at Huntshaw Mill Bridge to box up the hounds. En route we bumped into a hunt follower who, while trying to block the road, stepped backwards into a drain and then proceeded to blame sabs for it. Pretty standard stuff, although it might be the first time one of our sabs has been invited for a fight with the words “if you want to have a tally-ho, come and have a proper tally-ho”.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, Webbery Barton, 25.11.23

The Torrington Farmers had the pleasure of our company on Saturday at their meet at Webbery Barton in Alverdiscott. Despite perfect hunting weather (calm, cold conditions – ideal for scent), there’s not a huge amount to report! Huntsman Steve Craddock couldn’t control hounds to save his life, nor was he getting much assistance from kennel huntsman/man-child Jack Rowles, who spent most of the day sat on his horse miles from the hounds, obsessively taking photos of our driver to add to his collection.

Craddock took hounds via various small copses in direction of Haddacott Moor. A fox was sighted by sabs running past several quad bikes and field riders but hounds never picked up on the scent, thanks in part to sabs covering the line with citronella.

Craddock spent a while gathering hounds and then took them across the road in direction of the woods and kale fields adjacent to Garnacott Farm. When hounds drew a blank again the hunt carried on south in direction of Carrier’s Lane End and entered a large plantation woodland, drawing it back north in direction of Lower Twitchen and Hill Farm. Hounds were found in cry but were successfully stopped in their tracks by sabs.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, 07.10.23

An easy morning sabbing the Torrington Farmers at their cubbing meet just down the road from the kennels. We didn’t have to do much but follow them around the lanes for a couple of hours, as they decided not to try casting hounds out and actively hunting with us there. Not much else to say!

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Torrington Farmer’s Hunt, 09.09.23

We received a tip off that the Torrington creeps had started hunting their local fox cubs, so we went to the kennels at dusk to investigate.

Sabs followed the hunt on foot from the kennels to a nearby field. With eyes on from all angles, the huntsman let the hounds fertilise the crops for a minute before heading back to the kennels. A poor example of what they would claim was “hound exercise”.

We expect that with the cool ground and the strong smell of fox scent in this area, they would’ve spent the morning hunting if it weren’t for sabs.

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Torrington Farmers Hunt, Webbery Barton, Alverdiscott, 08.10.22

We sabbed Torrington Farmers’ cubbing meet at Webbery Barton in Alverdiscott.

They spent their time riding in circles around the electricity substation and Haddacott Moor, occasionally casting hounds out but mostly keeping them close.

Various foot teams kept an eye on their movements and we monitored them from the sky via our drone as well.

It was all a bit much for the hunt and they packed up a few short hours later. Back at the meet they let their frustration show with a lot of pushing and shoving and other childish behaviour directed at our sabs.

Please keep sending in your tipoffs.

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Torrington Farmers and Stevenstone, 03.09.22

Not a bad morning for us and for the foxes of north Devon.

We stopped both Stevenstone Hunt and Torrington Farmers Hunt from cubbing this morning. The Torrington Farmers took one look at sabs and decided to exercise hounds from their kennels instead of heading to their planned meet.

Meanwhile we had another team monitoring the Stevenstone Hunt. They left the kennels at 5.30am with hounds in a trailer but then also changed their minds about hunting in the presence of sabs and headed back to the kennels.

Keep those tipoffs coming!

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Torrington Farmers, St Giles in the Wood, 01.09.22

On Thursday some of our sabs were up early checking badger setts, as the cull is in full swing across Devon now.

While we were out, we received several tip-offs from locals that the Torrington Farmers Hunt were causing havoc again in the area around their kennels. Hounds had been seen actively hunting a fox.

When we arrived, the hunt were ‘holding up’ a maize field right next to the road between St Giles in the Wood and Buckgrove Cottages. ‘Holding up’ involves hunt staff and supporters surrounding a covert where a fox might reside (e.g. a dense crop field, or a small woodland). They will usually carry sticks or whips which they use to make noise on the edge of the covert, to keep both hounds and fox from leaving. The aim is to give the hounds time to find the fox and kill it.

We immediately made our presence known and deployed a drone over the maize field. This caused the huntsman to gather his hounds and make his way back to the kennels. Job done.

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Torrington Farmers, 27.08.22

We received a tipoff that the Torrington Farmers would be cubbing near their kennels this morning, so we thought we’d show up and put a quick stop to that!

Hounds were hunted through a wooded valley with terriermen and other hunt support surrounding the covert to scare back any foxes that might break. As soon as sabs were spotted, the various hunt support vehicles scattered and hunt staff reverted to exercising the hounds on foot in several loops around the village.

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Torrington Farmers, Beaford Moor, 02.03.22

On Wednesday we sabbed the Torrington Farmers Hunt who met on the edge of Beaford Moor.

As we arrived, a tired-looking fox trotted towards and across the busy main road, indicating that the hunt were probably already drawing the valley around Down Farm. We ensured the fox was safe and then caught up with the hunt as they headed north via Roborough, crossing a lot of ground before casting hounds out in the valley between Lower Whitsleigh and Middle Barlington.

Kennel huntsman Jack Rowley, who has taken over the horn since huntsman Steve Craddock broke his leg a few weeks ago, got his horse stuck in deep mud as he headed west through the valley. Hounds flushed several deer in this area but otherwise drew blank.

Around Ramscliffe Farm more wildlife were seen fleeing from the woods, including a fox, but sabs were on hand to cover their scent. From here everything headed north and we lost the hunt for a while. They too seemed to lose most of their support and riders.

By mid-afternoon only Jack and the hounds remained, with Craddock watching on from the road.

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