Even more blatant attempts to hunt by the Ledbury…

… who met at Hunter’s Hall, Castlemorton on 7th December 2015. They initially drew a covert where the hounds were heard picking up on a scent on and off, sabs getting to strategic positions to film and to intervene if necessary. With thick bramble and gorse in all directions, foxes had several areas where they could try and hide up. Early on, sabs heard a hunt supporter saying “oh, here we go – did you see him?” to his mate in the vehicle (obviously talking about the false trail… hmmm). With hounds picking up and losing the scent repeatedly, whipper-in Tim Pearce-May rode down to keep an eye on them and encourage them on just as another fox ran out the opposite way – we need to be aware that foxes are pairing up already and look out for braces.

The fox dodged across a small path and into some bramble, meaning that sabs could not just run in as they could head the fox back into the hounds. We made our way down the road, however, to an area where there were already a lot of supporters and as the hounds picked up on the scent, the fox continued across the road. We rated the hounds and used the horn to lift their heads (the longer it takes them to find the scent again, the longer the fox has to make their escape) and a lot of the hounds would have got a noseful of the smell of citronella as they crossed the road and, surprisingly for the Ledbury, it took them longer than expected to get them ‘back on track’ again with Tim, Mark and the grumpy one all encouraging them on. We told the hunt we knew they’d seen the fox and Tim replied “well stop them then” about the hounds, whilst still encouraging them himself… Not much of a surprise there!

The fox managed to lose the hounds in some gorse and Mark seemed a little desperate in the amount of time he then spent trying to pick up the scent again. An hour later and they were still in the same area, back in the gorse and bramble on the other side of the road when another fox ran into Eight Oaks Farm. Once again, Mark went to the line and tried to get the hounds to pick up (which they did this time) and they hunted through the farm. It’s bad huntsmanship though Mark to take the hounds to the line instead of casting them properly! Once again we believe they lost the scent around a nearby farm, leaving Mark casting the hounds around for a considerable time afterwards.

We did lose them later in the day so can’t confirm a no-kill day, although we spent this time wisely, checking badger setts in the local area.