Hunts unveil post ban plans — harriers

ALDENHAM

Graham Simpson, joint-master: “We shall be meeting on the 19th and will probably organise varied activities, such as hunt rides, paperchases and other general ‘jollies’ until the end of the season. We shall keep going and review the situation at the time of the election.”

David Higson, joint-master: “We’re meeting on the 19th on the point-to-point course. We shall maintain the interest to the end of the season with hunt rides, but we won’t be trying trailhunting yet. We’ll keep hounds for as long as possible. We have a unique pack of West Country Harriers and we won’t let them die out. Next season we plan to see how the land lies, but we’re not taking this lying down.”

David Dunn, joint-master: “We held a meeting and offered our members various options, including selling the kennels and shooting hounds or employing our huntsman part-time; they voted unanimously to keep the pack and the hunt intact. We’ve written to all our farmers and have had a good response. We’re going to remain positive and keep going because we’re not just a hunt, we’re a community.”

Geoffrey Biggin, hon sec: “We will be doing what presumably everyone else is doing, keeping going, but within the law. We’ll meet on the 19th, parade through the town and will keep meeting until the end of the season. The plan is to keep everything together, but obviously finance will be an issue. We have a lovely country that should be suitable for trailhunting, but we also have a Bloodhound pack in the area.”

Tim Holt, chairman: “We shall meet on the 19th and then go exercising. Our supporters have kindly offered meets until the end of the season when we shall go on hound exercise. Our constitution will change to only doing those forms of hunting that are within the law. Our country lies within the Exmoor National Park, which has been extremely supportive, but we also have some National Trust land and are waiting for a directive from HQ. Our intention is to keep the pack intact for the next five years at least.”

David Eaton Smith, acting master: “We’re meeting on the 19th to exercise the hounds and will then finish for the season — we usually stop in early March. I have eight couple of puppies back in kennels that will be introduced to a trail this summer and will go trailhunting once a week next winter. I’m convinced that we’ll be able to go out once a week only. In areas we’re confident are hare- and fox-free, the older hounds will go out on rabbit control. Farmers are very supportive and realise now that allowing a legal hunt on their land won’t affect their payments, but we still want to give them a few months to get used to it.”

“We may also use two hounds and a gun. We have to be brave and keep the whole thing alive, although it’s not going to be easy — but we’re made of stern stuff. Our kennel-huntsman Claude Harris was born at the South Devon hunt kennels. He’s 60 this year, so normally he’d retire. But he’ll continue part-time and live in the cottage. We’ve got three bitches in whelp. If you stop breeding hounds you’re really closing the door.”

Lavinia Wells, joint-master: “We’re meeting on the 19th at Somerleyton Hall, which is an ideal place to have a ride afterwards in the park over a few fences. We shall meet as normal until the end of the season on 12 March. We intend to keep within the law and we’ll try a mixture of hound exercise and trailhunting. The challenge will be to provide a pastime that is as traditional as possible, but legal.”

Robert Carnell, chairman: “We shall meet on the 19th at the same place we do for the opening meet and will go out on hound exercise afterwards. We don’t know if we’re meeting after that, but our season ends in early March anyway. Next season, we’ll try trailhunting; we realise that we may need to draft some of our hounds and get new ones in for this. We want to keep the hunt intact; we’ve had a lot of support from farmers and our fields have doubled since the ban was announced.”