Hardened Hunter To Organise Smokescreen Saturday

As predicted, the Labour Party won the General Election by quite a landslide. Within Labour’s manifesto was a promise to close the loopholes which have allowed hunts to continue to hunt live quarry ever since the passing of the Hunting Act nearly twenty years ago.

The British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) and the Countryside Alliance now realise there’s a very good chance that finally their sordid bloodsport is coming to an end. In desperation the BHSA have thrown together what they are calling ‘National Trail Hunting day’ – an event we prefer to call ‘Smokescreen Saturday’.

These events will take place at 30 locations across the country on Saturday September 14th, to try to convince the public and the government that ‘trail hunting’ really is a thing and not just a smokescreen for illegal hunting. Of course, it’s all too little too late, the past 20 years of indisputable evidence gathered by hunt sabs.

The events seem to be very poorly organised – with a month to go, only 12 of the 30 venues have been announced. Another blatantly obvious own-goal by the BHSA is the involvement in the organisation of the events by their Hunting Director Richard Tyacke. You may recognise the name, as Tyacke starred in the infamous leaked Hunting Office webinar which proved without a shadow of doubt that ‘trail hunting’ is nothing more than a ‘smokescreen’ for illegal hunting. Tyacke and other key members openly spoke about illegal hunting and encouraged hunts to create a ‘smokescreen’ to cover up their illegal practices.

To quote Tyacke speaking on the webinar about beagle and harrier packs:

”Currently most packs go home if sabs or monitors are present.This is the safe and sensible course of action. Whilst that can seem defeatist and it feels like they’re winning it is far better than a court case and then they are really winning.”

Others will already have known of Tyacke from his days as huntsman of the Cheshire-based Wynnstay Hunt The Wynnstay are never far from being on the wrong side of the law – they have a large crew of terriermen with them at every meet, and have been caught red- handed on numerous occasions filling in and interfering with badger setts. They also employ ‘security’, who are usually masked up, threatening, abusing and assaulting anybody who’s trying to prevent the Wynnstay from killing foxes.

How ironic that Tyacke is organising ‘Smokescreen Saturday’ given that the Wynnstay do not even use a smokescreen, they are as blatant as they come, no bird of prey, and they don’t even bother to pretend to lay trails. Last season the former Wynnstay huntsman Chris Woodward (now replaced by Henry Bailey) was found guilty under the Hunting Act.

When not out riding with the United Pack, Tyacke can still be found at the Wynnstay Hunt. Back when he was the huntsman, Tyacke was brutal: one eyewitness told us of this horrific encounter back in the 2015/16 season.

“I was in my garden and could hear the Wynnstay hounds, then out of nowhere the hounds came haring up the hill in hot pursuit of an obviously exhausted fox, who as a last resort headed for our open door, It had a fatal last minute change of mind and tried to climb our house wall instead. It was at that point the hounds grabbed it and pulled it apart in all directions in front of me. The poor thing didn’t have a chance. All that was left after the dreadful attack was a few of the little fox’s organs on the floor and a big smear of blood up my wall. The riders were behind the hounds and not at any point did anybody on horseback call the hounds off the fox, they just watched in happy, blood thirsty anticipation.

It was obvious to Richard Tyacke that I was very upset and shaken up but he made no attempt to stop the hounds or speak to me. The entrails of the fox were left behind on my garden paving for days. Sometime later I had the privilege of a visit from Tyacke, who told me to pretty much get used to this as this is what happens in the countryside. Despite having grown up in the countryside, I had thankfully never had anything to do with hunting. I certainly learnt a thing or two about so-called ‘trail hunting’ that day! The events that day not only shook me to the core but have changed me for life. I often have nightmares about it and even thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes. Needless to say I am a proud anti fox hunt supporter and do what I can to help stop the lies and cruelty.”

Tyacke’s last season in charge of the Wynnstay Hunt wasn’t any less brutal. On one occasion, there was a suspected kill but the overgrowth was too dense to check, soon later the hunt were on another fox who was chased into the grounds of Cholmondeley Castle, as riders crashed through fences causing longhorn cattle to riot onto the A41 nearly causing a head on collision. It didn’t take long for a kill to be confirmed, as one of the terrier men followed the monitors back to Malpas and smeared a bloodied fox tail across their windscreen and left it there.

Tyacke’s last stand as the Wynnstay huntsman came on March 2nd 2019, where numerous sab groups joined monitors to witness the end of his ruthless reign as huntsman. The hunt had also invited along friends including Flint & Denbigh huntsman Jeremy Reed, and Shropshire huntsman Otis Ferry. A filled-in badger sett was found near the meet point at Manor Farm, Lower Wych, which coincidentally was where the hunt headed for their first draw, and at that point were straight onto two foxes!

This was a theme of the day with foxes fleeing everywhere, once again it was suspected these were bagged foxes. One of the bagged foxes was possibly killed but this couldn’t be confirmed. The hunt were getting frustrated with so many antis about, the they started using horses as weapons, at one point a rider even got off his horse and squared up to a sab. The chaos continued as the hunt were on the scent of another two foxes on Lord Daresbury’s land as the pack split. One of the foxes was witnessed going to ground, before Tyacke thankfully called it a day on his career as a huntsman.

If Richard Tyacke is seen by the British Hound Sports Association as their most credible candidate to organise their big day, and demonstrate to everybody how ‘trail hunting’ works, then that says everything you need to know about the BHSA and the smokescreen that is ‘trail hunting’.

We urge all HSA supporters to contact your local MP, to make sure the Government keeps to their manifesto promise, and bans hunting properly within the first 100 days of being in office.