*** blatant hunting by the CVFH and Bicester hunts * sab shoved about on public land by ‘the Bicester Boys’ while filming ***
A long day out for a couple of our sabs yesterday as they set out to look for another hunt, but were brought back over towards Gloucester when they received two tip-offs about hunting near to Coombe Hill (an area north of Gloucester up the A38 towards Tewkesbury).
Sabs arrived early afternoon and found the hunt around Prior’s Norton. Only seconds after getting out of the car, 3 holloas were heard in quick succession, indicating to nearby huntsman that a fox had run that way. Sure enough, huntsman took his hounds on and they picked up a line, running inland on the scent.
Sabs got inland where fox jinked about and one sab was confronted by the Bicester Boys, hunt “stewards” who can be found at various hunt meets around the country generally showing off their insecurities by trying to be macho and intimidating. Even on public land, our sab was still being shoved about, the boys right in her face with cameras and yelling down the radio anytime she tried to send a message out.
With police promising that they were en route, another foot sab headed further inland and the hunt kept coming back to a favourite area of theirs – a covert with badger sett and artificial earth within… Hounds picked up on a scent nearby, sabs well-positioned on different sides of the area, a fox running past on a track, filmed by one sab despite hunt staff attempts to get in the way and hunt supporters heading the fox back towards the pack. Sab rated the pack until she was grabbed once again by the boys.
Again the hounds picked up and a clear “Gone Away. Gone Away” was heard by a Bicester rider, indicating sighting of a fox and where they had run, huntsman encouraging the pack on… and right towards the other sab. Hounds were rated by the sab and huntsman spent some time deciding what to do, giving the fox some much-needed time to get further from the hounds.
The boys caught up with the sab as hunt headed further east, following her until they were summoned – presumably something to do with the arrival of police. The hunt were followed on foot and watched as they hunted near to the A38 and ran streaming into a farmyard they should not have been in. With a strong smell of slurry in the area, foxes did well to foil their scent by running through these fields. The boys returned to pretend to lay trails in the fields even though the hunt had already left and headed several fields away and back towards the meet.
In the meantime, please carry on sending in those tip-offs – we attend every meet that we can around here (phone call is best to ensure we have the info)