Huntsman Donald Summersgill (right) and staff with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds
As I sit and write this on the 6th of May, finally we can say we have had two days of really good weather! The sun is shining, there is not a cloud in the sky, and the birds are in fine voice. A proper English early summer’s day, which even if I say it myself we richly deserve.
However, wherever I look there are fields of oilseed rape at half the height they should be, the wheat and barley crops are as thin as I have ever seen in my lifetime, and, what is more, the weather forecast for the next day or so is for high winds and rain. The rain believe it or not is much needed even after the wettest winter on record, but the wind is something we can well do without. We have just come out of the driest April in nearly a hundred years. Never mind; I hope that you all had a good end to season and that your weather is behaving rather better than ours.
The weather notwithstanding, I think we have come out of this last season pretty well. Having had two fascinating days beagling towards the end of March with the Christchurch and Farley Hill and the Royal Agricultural College, my season came to an end with the Exmoor Foxhounds and the Devon and Somerset Staghounds at the end of April.
Christchurch and Farley Hill Beagles of Oxford University in full cry
The Christchurch and Farley Hill Beagles, which is the Oxford University pack, came to Lincolnshire and hunted in the South Wold country, keeping on the low ground towards the Coast. They hunted beautifully and were a great example of what pleasure beagling can give to those who are active and want to run after them as well as to the inactive, or like myself, lazy, who like to wait for them to come round on one of their many circuits. Whatever one’s choice happens to be, the hound work they produce is of exceptional quality. This standard was replicated by the Royal Agricultural College who came and hunted north of Lincoln in the Burton Country. There hounds were hunted by Libby Gilbert, a young lady from the States, whose stamina when tackling some of Lincolnshire’s heavy plough was well noted!
And so to the end of April for my last two days of the season. It was down on the night trains to the West Country, firstly for the final day of the Exmoor whose meet was held at Hillcrest House at Simonsbath. A very large crowd gathered from all over the country for a thoroughly enjoyable breakfast provided by our most generous, hard working host Anne Chown and her helpers. Many of you will fondly remember Captain Wallace who spent the last twenty-five years of his life here as Master of these hounds. With Tony Wright whipping-in, then hunting the hounds for him in his latter years, the sport they showed was renowned throughout the West and beyond. Felicita Busby has been Master now for twenty seasons, and along with her team, which still includes Tony, they continue to keep the standards as high as they always were.
Diana and Maurice Scott were honored for keeping the staghounds hunting in spite of the Hunting Act.
Saturday, 29th April dawned a beautiful springlike day, and to be woken from my slumbers by the Devon and Somerset Staghounds singing in their kennels was an extra treat. I was the guest of Charmian and Denny Green. Charmian, having been long serving Master of the Warwickshire and before that Master and huntsman of the Fox River Valley Hunt (U.S.) from 1974 to 1981, is one of our more senior foxhunters and whilst on Exmoor also came to possess a great knowledge of the wild red deer. They are a fascination in themselves, and it is entirely due to the existence of the three packs of staghounds in the area that they continue to flourish.
I can almost hear someone say, wasn’t staghunting banned in 2005 like all the rest of it? Well it is very largely due to Maurice and Diana Scott, who we were honouring at their retirement meet later on this Saturday morning, that a way round was found not only to keep staghunting going, but within the law. For anybody who has a true interest in venery, it is an absolute must. It has been well-shown by generations of careful record-keeping, that the red deer on Exmoor thrive best when managed during the periods of active hunting.
The Meet was in a field at Colland Cross, Hawkridge, way out in the middle of nowhere. A crowd of at least fifteen-hundred turned up as well as another three-hundred on horses—no exaggeration. Huntsman Donald Summersgill and his whippers-in brought three couple of hounds to the Meet, where they waited patiently as the crowds grew and speeches of gratitude to the retiring Masters were made. They then split the hounds off and took just one couple to try and locate the Spring Stag that had been deemed to be huntable for that day.
This is a task that will have taken place early in the morning or late the evening before, and is called harbouring. It is where a real in-depth knowledge of the deer is required. After a while he was found amongst a lot of others, but the two hounds stuck to their task and separated him from the rest of the herd. Meanwhile the other two couple of hounds are kept in the Land Rover in reserve, should anything happen to those that are hunting.
After a long hunt complicated by fresh deer coming in to join him, he was given best late in the afternoon. Maybe this was not the end that would have been desired, as this whole exercise is based on trying to cull the right animal. However he will be observed over the coming months as will the rest of the herd, and should he or any others be injured or their health deteriorate, then Donald and the Staghounds will be called in to deal with the situation.
So we came to the end of a quite incredible season. With all its ups and downs, defeats and triumphs, we got through it to make way for the next. Now that May 1st has come and gone, it is important to remember all those who have moved on to other positions either here or with you in the States. Puppy shows and hound shows are next, and then it won’t be long before those misty autumn mornings are upon us and our hounds will be in full cry once again. That’s what hunting is all about! If any of you are over during the summer months, please do not hesitate in making contact with us through Norman at Foxhunting Life.
James Barclay was born to foxhunting. He, his sister, two brothers, mother, father, grand-father, and great-grand-father all served as Masters of Foxhounds—a family way-of-life that began in 1896. James served as Master of five hunts from 1983 to 2012: the Essex and Suffolk, Fitzwilliam, Cottesmore, South Wold, and Grove and Rufford. Click for a fuller introduction in Norm Fine’s Blog.
Posted May 10, 2013
A thriving population of healthy wild red deer on Exmoor historically benefits from the expert management provided through an active pack of staghounds.