Devon and Somerset Staghounds, Exmoor, 20.04.24

On Saturday we teamed up with sabs from lots of other groups to oppose the closing meet of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds at Cussacombe Gate on Exmoor.

The hunt covered many miles across open moorland and farmland around Molland and Twitchen. Several groups of deer were hunted and in addition to the stag who was killed at the end of the day, we believe at least two others were separated from the herd at one point and hunted for some time before being left or lost.

Early in the day one hunt idiot came over to film and rant at us about drone laws. Obviously this lot make up the law as they go along, but it’s the certainty with which they insist it’s “definitely illegal” to do whatever THEY basically don’t like is quite staggering. Whether that’s drone laws, laws around filming without permission, or laws relating to the highway – all of which are pretty easy to Google! When this particular numpty was reminded it might also be worth looking in the mirror before accusing others of lawbreaking, he became very defensive. “It’s perfectly legal to use two hounds to flush a stag to guns!”, he insisted.

The Hunting Act allows for a stag to be flushed by two dogs to a waiting gun, provided that the stag is shot immediately upon being flushed. This is not what staghunts do and not what we witnessed on Saturday. Instead, they used dogs, quadbikes and riders to terrorise a group of deer and gradually break off the young stag they eventually went on to kill. That stag was then chased through woods, across fields and open moorland for hours, covering many miles in hot conditions, until he was completely exhausted and could no longer run. It went on for so long they had to keep swapping out the hounds for fresh ones to carry on the chase. This is traditional staghunting, not the ‘flushing-out exemption’. And it continues to happen across Devon and Somerset because those tasked with enforcing the law (Devon and Cornwall Police and Avon and Somerset Police) turn a blind eye and give these organised criminals free rein.

Stoke Hill & North Dartmoor Beagles and Dartmoor Hunt 23.03.24

On Saturday we chased the “Stoke Hill & Dartmoor” Beagles out of Devon! We put their name in quotation marks because this hunt no longer seem to be kennelled anywhere near Stoke Hill (on the edge of Exeter), nor north Dartmoor, nor even Devon! Having spectacularly fallen out with their previous hosts, the Silverton Foxhounds (apparently the Silverton didn’t feed the beagles due to rent arrears!), this hunt had to go all the way to the middle of Cornwall to find a willing host for their pack. We hear they are now kennelled with the Four Burrow Hunt in Redruth.

Saturday was a good day for hares, and a bad day for hare hunters. We found several pickup trucks meeting at Brousentor Farm, near Bagga Tor on Dartmoor. Sabs closed in on them before they even had a chance to unload the hound trailer. Instead this poor pack of beagles were left wailing in the back, whilst the hunt members ate pasties, trying so hard to pretend like we didn’t just completely ruin their day.

It was a busy day on Dartmoor, with groups of schoolchildren training for the ten tors. We wonder what they would’ve thought about an illegal hare hunt happening right next to them.

Dart Vale, South Pool and Modbury Harriers, Sherford, 16.03.24

Yesterday we turned up uninvited to the DVSPMH end of season meet at Sherford Down Farm. Apparently the hunt assumed we’d be coming because we sabbed this meet last year. They had decided in advance that if we did show up they’d only be going for a hack instead of hunting. They gleefully told us this at every opportunity and asked if we were bored or disappointed by their decision.

There’s nothing more satisfying than stopping a hunt from chasing wild animals simply by showing up, so we were far from disappointed. Bored yes, but then the HSA’s new edition of HOWL magazine kept us all occupied. Even our runners, who took HOWL with them on their jog around the lanes (see photo). Join the HSA for just £20 a year, which includes a subscription to this quarterly magazine and supports the work of sab groups around the country! https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/howl-magazine/

The riders put on a brave face as they left the meet to go on their hack, whereas quad followers and vehicle support looked pretty dejected. The route taken was from Sherford Down Farm to Duncombe Cross and from there across to Keynedon Barton and Combe Park before a half-hour pit stop for sandwiches and cups of tea at Coleridge Farm. They did offer us a cup of tea but unfortunately hadn’t thought to stock up on oat milk, so we declined (suggestion for next year…).

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!

Silverton Hunt, Thorverton, 06.03.24

This afternoon we received several tipoffs that the Silverton Hunt had been spotted in the Thorverton area. We can’t always act on last-minute intel but fortunately today we had a team who were able to mobilise at short notice. It’s always worth dropping us a message whenever you see the hunt!

The first signs of the hunt when we arrived in the area were a horse trailer parked on the edge of the village and a lone hound running along a road near Castle Wood. Paw and hoof prints gave away which direction the hunt had gone. Teams searching the area on foot, by road and by drone soon came across a few suspicious characters on quadbikes between Stone and Traymill Farm. The terrier boys immediately got on their walkie-talkies to inform huntsman Chris Matterface that sabs had arrived to spoil their fun. Moments later we heard his horn and voice calls down the road from us and hounds came streaming back up towards him out of the valley.

In what has become a bit of a theme with hunts we’ve sabbed in recent weeks, sabs showing up was all it took for them to pack up. Huntsman, hounds, terrier men and about a dozen riders then very slowly made their way back to Raddon Court to box up nice and early. En route we came across some locals who expressed their disgust at the hunt but also some imbecilic hunt supporters who thought it would be a great idea to deliberately block the road with a pony.

Eggesford Hunt, Garland Cross, 04.03.24

As we set off on Monday morning to find Eggesford Hunt at their meet at Garland Cross, on the road between Kings Nympton and Romansleigh, we were filled with hope that the hunt might actually cancel. After weeks of very wet weather the ground was already completely sodden. The high winds and driving rain would surely make trudging through muddy fields on a horse even more unpleasant. Our hopes were dashed when we found a handful of bloodjunkies parked up at this roadside meet.

If they hunt, we sab! We soon located hounds, huntsman and a couple of bedraggled riders at Great Lightleigh, where they were drawing pheasant pens and cover crops south of the farm. A few support vehicles were dotted around on the nearby roads, although in these conditions we really doubt they would have seen or heard much at all. One of the riders, Lloyd Heard, made the sensible decision to box up early and head home after an hour, while huntsman Jason Marles and his pack carried on north in direction of Huxford.

Sabs located hounds drawing a field of thick scrub. Upon seeing sabs, Jason called hounds back and moved them on at speed to the east. The next hour was spent tracking their paw and hoof prints in the mud as the hunt made their way along some stream valleys and out towards Huxford Bridge.

By 2.30pm this ensemble of bloodjunkies were back at the meet, packing up.

Stevenstone Hunt, West Putford, 24.02.24

Today was a great day for the local foxes, and a royally shit day for budget huntswoman Jessica Half-Pack Harrison and the Stevenstone hunt, as we shut down their midday meet at West Putford.

You’d think she’d be used to being sabbed by now but today Half-Arsed Harrison took one look at us and decided she’d had enough. Hounds had barely had an hour of hunting between Putford Bridge and Kismeldon and hounds had ended up scattered all over the place. Sour-faced Harrison rode past sabs on the road, muttered some childish insults and announced she was headed back to the meet.

With her grand entourage of 3 riders and a handful of bored hunt supporters she boxed up at Rock Cottage and then spent the next hour zooming around the area in her Land Rover looking for lost hounds.

We had some lunch and planned our next move. As soon as we were certain the Stevenstone were headed home, we drove south to check up on the South Tetcott Hunt who had been spotted hunting around the Chapman’s Well area. After a few loops of the area we found them tucked up back at their kennels too.

After an exhausting Dartmoor sab on Wednesday, we’re secretly quite grateful for a quieter day. And when the hunt pack up at the mere sight of us, we count that as a pretty successful day. Thanks to our friends from Plymouth & West Devon Hunt Sabs for joining us!

Two Bridges Hunt Club, Dartmoor, 21.02.24

Before the Hunting Act was passed around 50,000 members and supporters of hunting signed the Hunting Declaration, in which they pledged to break the law if hunting was banned. Every week for the past twenty years since the Hunting Act was passed that’s exactly what hunts up and down the country have been doing. Despite a law that bans it, our wildlife continues to be illegally hunted and killed, largely because landowners like Dartmoor National Park, the Duchy of Cornwall, the MOD, Forestry England and other major private landowners continue to turn a blind eye to the blatant illegal hunting happening on their (our!) land.

The Two Bridges Hunt Club, formed of the four Dartmoor hunts (the South Devon, Mid Devon, Dartmoor, and Spooner’s & West Dartmoor) meet around this time every year to mark the anniversary of the ban coming into effect and stick two fingers up at the Hunting Act. This week was no exception.

After backlash from previous years, the Two Bridges Hotel stated that they were not hosting the joint meet of the four Devon hunts this year. However, they were happy to host the fox killers at a pre-hunt dinner the night before.

Instead the hunts met at the East Dart Hotel at Postbridge, Dartmoor, with horse trailers even unboxing in the Dartmoor National Park tourist information car park. It seems this four hunt joint meet could only muster around thirty riders between them.

We were joined by sabs from other south-west groups: Plymouth and West Devon Sabs, North Dorset Sabs, Somerset Sabs, Wiltshire Sabs, Mendip Sabs, South Devon Hunt Sabs and South Devon Animal Rights.

Stevenstone Hunt, Higher Soldon, 17.02.24

This Saturday we made another trip to see vegan-shake-scammer and fox-murdering-psycho Jessica Harrison hunting the Stevenstone hounds. Sabs saw 3 foxes to safety over the course of a relatively short day.

The hunt met at Devon’s most depressing B&B, Higher Soldon, near Sutcombe and started off by heading directly to a fox earth with Harrison drawing the hedges and her posse of bloodsport enthusiasts providing cover by blocking sabs. Hounds quickly got onto the scent of a fox and chased them west across the road and back. Sabs saw the fox running safely south while Harrison attempted to gather her totally split pack and draw the area again.

Sabs looping around caught up with a Land Rover reeking of fox and unsurprisingly soon after another fox was seen running in the same area. This one ran right past in full view of huntswoman and support but thankfully Harrison had still failed to gather her pack so this one got to safety. Supporters whipped hounds and eventually gathered them just south of the meet before heading off quite a distance to the east.

Hunt Staff Whipping Hounds

Stevenstone Hunt, Buckland Brewer, 10.02.24

On Saturday we weren’t invited to the Stevenstone Hunt’s meet at Great Gorwood Farm in Buckland Brewer, but of course we invited ourselves!

They started hunting in the valley between the meet and the neighbouring Cleave Farm. Sabs stayed with hounds and disrupted the huntswoman’s attempts to draw. Tempers were already flaring. Jessica Half-pack Harrison threw her pyramid schemes out of the pram and threatened to call the police. Whipper-in Sean Watts has now traded the horse he likely shot for a quadbike with a landowner attached to it. The landowner assaulted one of our sabs and tried to grab his camera, but was quickly put in his place. Failing to hunt foxes here huntswoman took the hounds east.

The hunt went through Buckland Wood and east into East Hele Wood, near Frithelstockstone. Runners kept up with them and our other foot teams were positioned to intercept. Hounds went into cry in this area but between our teams we managed to stop them. They hunted this valley south to Craneham wood, hunting through a pheasant pen and into Tythecott.