The Local Hunt!

[Wendelspanswick]

I was out making the most of the good weather yesterday cutting up limbs that have dropped off the ancient beech tree's when I heard all these dogs baying, next thing I know approximately 20-30 hunt hounds came over the wire fence from the adjoining National Trust land and started charging across my field and woods, the small herd of 6 sheep (squatters, they are not mine, they sneak in over the fence) just panicked and scattered into the gorse and bramble thicket.
I lost my rag and bellowed at the hounds and tried to chased them back out (realised after that I still had my axe in my hand) which seem to hold them up, although they still milled about on the field before either turning back or skirting the edge of the field.
I tried to find the hunt and realised that they were on the other side of the combe, still fuming I shouted across that if the hounds came onto my land again that I would not hesitate to shoot them. The Whipper In shouted back sorry and seemed to call the hounds back to his side of the combe.
To clarify things:
The only gun I own is my ancient boyhood air rifle in the back of my wardrobe at home!
I wasn't sure whether I could shoot the hounds but it seemed to do the trick.
I then started to try and rescue the sheep from the scrub when I heard a load of quad bike coming up the bridle way to the field and woods, I ran up to meet them at the entrance to our land and it was hunt followers, 8 quads, some 2 up, trying to ride their quads across my field. As you can imagine I was blowing my top by this time and told them where to go! They tried to tell me that they had permission to be on the land from the landowner, when I told them I was the landowner they then tried to say it must have been from the previous owner. When I told them that the previous owner was the League Against Cruel Sports and they would be highly unlikely to grant permission to a load of hunt followers, they started to turn round to go back out. One of them thought it would be clever to do a 'donut' on the wet grass churning it up! Idiots!
Looking on the internet it seems I am entitled to shoot uncontrolled dogs on my land if they are worrying stock but not it seems packs of hunting hounds as they are exempt in law!
I have no idea if the flock of sheep are in lamb as they are not mine and I have no idea whose they are but they were certainly distressed and spent the rest of the afternoon huddled next to my tractor while I finished off the logs.
I came cross a copy of a letter that you can use to inform the local hunt that you Do Not give permission to the hunt, hounds or followers to enter your property.
As it is bridle paths are for horses, cyclists and walkers not quad bikes.
I will be sending a letter of complaint to the hunt once I find out which hunt it was.
Any one else had problem with hunts.

[oldclaypaws]

I had a conversation over my gate with a lady from the Taunton Vale hunt. She told me that they would be coming through my wood 'beasting' (driving dogs through the undergrowth, disturbing anything living) and she was being kind enough to tell me in advance. "Er, I don't think so" I retorted. "But the Farmer always let us come through before you owned it, she quipped". "Well, it was never part of the farm, it belonged to the Council, so he had no right to", said I dismissively.
"So can we come through?" "No, and if you do you'll hear from my solicitor. Its a private nature reserve and you do expressly not have my consent to enter. I'd find that very upsetting. I do not approve of blood sports and am frequently in here with my own dogs, who would attack the hunt dogs. I don't mean to be unfriendly but its a non-starter, kindly note what I've said. Goodbye."

What somewhat got my back up was the presumptuousness, arrogance, and attitude that it was their 'entitlement'. A friend of mine had the hunt through, they never asked. He was livid. When he protested, rather than accepting his right to tell them they couldn't, they tried to argue the case. Its this imperious disrespectful hooligan attitude which enrages many land owners against hunts, they seem to think they have a right to go wherever they want and justify it afterwards, as if there is a tradition or established right. If we went and turned up on their lawn and had a rave, how would they react to an invasion? Somehow when it comes to the countryside, they seem not to recognise an owners right to control who has access.

Very aggravating for you, but I'll bet its happened 100 times with that hunt, its like water off a duck's back and they'll have their excuses well rehearsed.

[Binz]

may also be worth contacting groups not in favour of hunting, such as LACS and HSA as 1) they may have advice on action you can take and 2) if they are informed the hunt will be near your wood on a certain day they may turn up and help police things so the hunt, hounds and followers dont get into your wood. While most followers are just there for a social ride and want to avoid any trouble, others are more agressive so do be careful if confronting some of the followers as they have been know to put people in hospital if they get in the way of a hunt; probably very unlikely they would do anything to a woodland owner, but if they mistook you for an 'anti' you could be in trouble.

[Dexter's Shed]

may also be worth contacting groups not in favour of hunting, such as LACS and HSA as 1) they may have advice on action you can take and 2) if they are informed the hunt will be near your wood on a certain day they may turn up and help police things so the hunt, hounds and followers don't get into your wood. While most followers are just there for a social ride and want to avoid any trouble, others are more aggressive so do be careful if confronting some of the followers as they have been know to put people in hospital if they get in the way of a hunt; probably very unlikely they would do anything to a woodland owner, but if they mistook you for an 'anti' you could be in trouble.

I have to disagree with the above suggestion, the idea of getting a surge of people on your woods against hunting at the same time as a hunt, can only lead to trouble, there will always be a for and against culture, and as I've just witnessed in the above statement, both sides blame each other for aggressive behavior and trouble

being a pest controller, hunter and woodland owner, I see both sides of the coin, and have had a similar experience, with a local shoot, expecting me to give them permission to send the beaters and dogs through my woodland, along with them setting up pheasant feeders on my property, and they would see "me right" with a bottle of whiskey at Christmas

I quickly pointed out to them, that although they may see me as "one of them" that I found the word "sporting" to be more like barbaric, as I only shoot to either eat or protect, not for sport, and no, permission would not be given, thankfully a few other plot holders had the same way of thinking,

my suggestion, apart from contacting all local hunts and informing them by letter, would be dead hedges and signs, yes they are extra work and wont be in place immediately, but a dead hedge is far better at putting off a dog/pack than a wire fence
signs; apart from the good old "private keep out" also 24hr shooting being carried out,and shooting pest control for the protection of ground game, or even beware livestock, as you can have the sign without actually owning livestock, no ones to know you don't use pigs within your woodland to clear areas
and although your old air rifle is best left in the cupboard, I would suggest you apply for a shotgun licence and get yourself a little 410, even if you have no intention of ever shooting a living thing, apart from you having every right to have one, they are good for getting peoples/dogs attention even when simply swung over your arm, if you heard dogs or quads and fired two shots into the air (within your boundaries) its enough to startle dogs and stop them in their tracks, it tells quad riders that someone is in that woodland that they think is deserted and it pushes home to anyone that has seen the signs on past visits that shooting is indeed being carried out, a shotgun that is broken open (not loaded) and swung over the arm/shoulder, pushes home that no means no when chatting at the boundary fence to people that feel they have a right to chase animals/birds through your land

you'll see that I gave all that advice without feeling the need to suggest that either side of the coin would become aggressive or harmful, its a pity that all advice was not the same

[oldclaypaws]

Dexters post suggests the onus should be down to the landowner to take pro active steps to keep them out by erecting signs, patrolling in a menacing way and putting up obstacles. My point would be they should keep off all land unless they expressly do have permission. It shouldn't require the action of a landowner to tell specific groups they can't come on, be it poachers, fuel gatherers, bird spotters or any sort of riders.

As long as we are a capitalist country where land is privately owned, unless there is a clearly established historic path, trail or right to roam, people should respect that someone owns a given tract of land and not interfere with it unless they have personal consent or an indication of an entitlement to access. There are groups including poachers, miscreants, travellers, off piste ramblers, the hunt, and collectors of various objects who do not seem to get or blatantly ignore this basic point.

I have experienced hunts being aggressive. They were meeting up at a local pub (prior to the hunting ban going through, it was being debated) when I just happened to be walking past with my dog. One of the followers engaged me in conversation about my (hunting?) dog and I revealed I was in fact Chair of the local fundraising group for a RSPCA centre. I was surrounded by several hostile hunt followers jostling me and being confrontational, pointing fingers and raising their voices, as if I was somehow responsible for prohibiting their 'sport'. They clearly felt strongly about the forthcoming parliamentary debate, but their actions were verging on assault & intimidation, and not what you'd expect in a civilised democracy. But then rampaging on horseback, half drunk, chasing animals in an attempt to rip them to pieces isn't exactly civilised either, IMHO, and has been rightly condemned to the past along with other forms of animal cruelty passed as entertainment and sport.

[Meadowcopse]

If you are lucky enough to have a public footpath through your land, then you could report the vehicle and driver to the police and ask about a section 59 warning. The second time the driver or vehicle is reported within 12 months (by anybody and anywhere the public may reasonably expect access), the vehicle can be seized.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/30/section/59

It is a messy piece of modern legislation, because there are no grounds of appeal for the person receiving the section 59 warning.
There are probably some interesting vehicle and fuel duty and insurance questions that could be asked in the circumstances for agricultural utility vehicles...

As someone with both a green Landrover pick-up AND long hair, I get hassle of both the anti and pro hunt factions