Two Three Counties sabs went out for a little look around as the Ledbury Hunt are still out cubbing at the moment. We found them near to Ashleworth, noticing that someone had come off their horse. We were about to offer assistance when an ambulance arrived, so we left them to it and went to find the hounds. For quite some time the hunt stayed inland and were difficult to pinpoint exactly as they hunted around the Corse Hill and Corse Grove areas (which you may recognise the names of from during the badger culls here).
We checked on nearby badger setts as we know this hunt sometimes like to block up sett entrances in order to stop foxes from being able to “go to ground” and escape the hounds. We kept an eye on them the best we could as hounds went into cry, but cannot guarantee no kills as we weren’t with the hounds the whole time and it doesn’t take long for a kill to take place. The quadbike was also spotted acting suspiciously on various occasions which we investigated, once being confronted by an irate David Mansell (jockey and former star of a couple of 3C videos). Dragging his horse around, he spooked it when trying to re-mount back on the road and could have seriously injured it the poor thing…
The hunt tried to find foxes in a number of fields and hedgerows, drawing blank in some, the hounds “feathering” at points and, eventually, they picked up on another fox near to Tirley Knowle. One of our sabs witnessed “holding-up” behaviour by riders (making noises to stop foxes from running in their direction – a well-used tactic during cubbing in order to keep fox cubs in a specific area for the hounds to kill).
We didn’t tell the hunt at first when we spotted the fox in case they hadn’t yet noticed him – it is always difficult to know what to do in such situations – some hunts will call the hounds back when they know you’ve filmed a fox, others will try to take your camera from you, sometimes you’re in a position to intervene and sometimes there’s not much you can do physically so the footage becomes a priority. In this case, the sab who had spotted the fox knew she couldn’t run into the land in time, that the Ledbuy hounds are extremely difficult to take control of and with a main road right behind her, there was no way a horn or gizmo could be safely used.
Hounds aren’t speaking in this footage (although you can hear huntsman Mark Meladay ecouraging them on with horn calls in the distance) which should have alerted the hunt to the fact they were not on a false trail. When the hounds hunt by scent, they will speak and have their noses down to the ground. The hounds in this footage are coursing, hunting by sight, as they are so close behind the fox – the lead hound at least knows what he’s doing and the others soon catch on.
Tim Pearce-May, whipper-in, was forcefully informed of the presence of the fox (although as we’ve said, it should have been obvious to hunt staff what was happening!) as they started to move off. Terriermen were quick to jump on the quadbike, they or other support heading the fox back inland as they sped along the main road. The fox headed straight back towards the hounds and sabs were sure that there would be a kill (a hunt supporter later told the hunt groom that “there was only 6 feet in it” and that “he [the fox] changed his mind and went straight back”). The fox jinked and raced towards a hedge on the road where hunt supporters waited. Vehicles attemoted to slow us down and block the road
but the fox managed to escape – it appears to have gone to ground in a drain.
Supporters both pointed and tried to tell us fox had crossed over the road… so if they believed that, why was Mark Meladay taking the hounds over there unless he wanted to pick up on the scent again?? Get your stories straight lads! Sabs are almost 100% certain that the fox holed up in the drain (especially as the terriermen and other supporters were very interested in the area for the remainder of the day).
Other than that, there’s was some very dodgy use of public roads by riders and quadbike alike (the latter with no number plate) but that’s not surprising… Lavinia also told us that the cull operators managed to reach their minimum target within the first week of the cull. We think she exaggerates a little, but with the minimum target set so pathetically low and the number of cull operators being even higher than previous years, it’s hardly a shock that they would manage to achieve target this time round.
All in all an intense morning and we’ll see you again very soon Mark!
3C