On Saturday, a few of us joined up with a collection of sabs from Bath, Severn Vale and South Wales today, after receiving a local tip off that the rather illusive Three Counties Mink Hounds would be hunting around Michaelchurch Escley, Herefordshire, near to the Welsh border.
We arrived to find a number of followers positioned on a bridge over Escley Brook, awaiting the hunt’s arrival from further upstream, but they didn’t get that far… as soon as sabs made their presence known, the hunt threw the towel in. The usual laughable excuses were bandied about, ranging from “we’re just out fishing” to “we’re following a pre-laid trail.”
After a bit of standing around trying to hatch a plan, the hounds were boxed up and the hound van was outta there. Odd behaviour if there was nothing illegal going on!
We watched as hunt staff and supporters waited around looking rather fed up, before most of them drifted off. Sabs remained in the area ready to go back into action if they tried to sneak back, until we received word from a spotters vehicle that they had picked up the hound van way to the east, heading back to the hunt kennels in Kinnersley, Worcestershire.
Knowing that their attempts at killing wildlife were ruined for the day, it was job done and we were heading for home! Three Counties Mink Hounds, we’ll be seeing you again…