A terrified stag made a dramatic leap for his life on the 24th August, leaping over hunt supporters who were attempting to prevent him from escaping onto land where the Quantock Staghounds could not follow.
Incredible footage of the hunt and the stag’s subsequent escape – albeit temporary – was captured by Dorset Borders Hunt Sabs and North Dorset Hunt Sabs.
The chase began early that morning, at around 6am at Upcott Farm, Bicknoller. The stag had been chased from maize fields at Heddon Oak, near Crowcombe, over the Minehead railway line, and through woodland owned by Fountain Forestry, before seeking refuge in a small area of miscanthus grass.
By 8am the hunt had surrounded the grass, and entered hounds, flushing the stag out into the open.
The land where the stag emerged adjoined a road. On the opposite side of the road lay safety – land that is out of bounds to the hunt, offering some refuge to the stag.
Hunt supporters had lined the road and attempted to prevent the stag from making his escape.
In the video, you can hear one hunter loudly cracking a whip, whilst others shouted and screamed, in an attempt to frighten the stag back towards the hunt.
But the stag did not turn back.
Instead, he leapt for his life, breaking out directly above four men who were screaming and flailing their arms in an attempt to stop him.
The stag landed on the other side and entered the land beyond the hunt’s reach.
But his respite was short lived…
Other hunt supporters positioned on the far side of the out-of-bounds land, spotted the stag as he emerged on the other side and alerted the huntsman. The hounds were promptly brought around and put straight back on the stag’s scent.
They pursued him for a further two hours, before the hunt finally lost the stag completely.
But it isn’t guaranteed that the stag survived the trauma. Extreme fear and distress can bring on a severe condition called capture myopathy in deer. If you have ever witnessed an injured deer at the roadside, the animal can sometimes succumb to this condition, rather than the injuries sustained in a collision.
Organs and muscle damage can occur over a period of hours or even days, with the animal displaying symptoms such as weakness, ataxia (poor muscle control), paralysis, hyperventilation and ultimately death.
Even when a hunt is unsuccessful, it can still result in the animal’s death.
When the stag leapt over the hunt supporters, the front supporter frantically flailing his arms before taking a tumble, was none other than Wayne Gregory, the recently convicted huntsman of the Vale of Taunton & Banwell Harriers.
Gregory pleaded guilty after he was caught illegally hunting a fox during a hunt meet in Chilton Trinity on 26 November 2025. He was filmed by Somerset Hunt Sabs using a drone as he directed the hounds to flush then hunt a fox. Immediately after the trial, he declared to the waiting press and public that he was off to change out of his suit to go hunting with the Quantock Staghounds.
Gregory’s adaptability to switch which quarry he likes to torment, is proof that ‘trail hunting’ is nothing but a cover for illegal hunting.
The Quantock Staghounds routinely invoke various smokescreens for their activities. Covert hunt sabs attending the first meet of the QSH in 2025 witnessed a laughable speech from a hunt master who claimed that the hunt conducts “Research and Observation” of stags, but also stating that ‘trails may be laid’.
The hunt also invokes the “flushing to guns” smokescreen, and claims to be ‘rescuing a casualty animal’. Given the level of terror inflicted on these animals by these hunt thugs is it any wonder there are so many ‘casualty animals’.
This footage is so revealing about the reality behind the stag hunting ‘exemptions’ that it has made the pages of The Times newspaper. In the article the British Hound Sports Association (BHSA) was invited to comment. Rather than confront the deeply uncomfortable reality captured so clearly on film, its managing director Oliver Hughes, resorted to an extraordinary denial, simply disputing ‘the chronology being presented’.
The abject lack of self-awareness is staggering. Faced with footage that shows a terrified stag desperately trying to escape while hunt supporters scream, wave their arms and crack whips to prevent him from doing so, the BHSA’s response is not to address the disturbing behaviour captured on camera, but to bury their heads and attempt to cast doubt on what is plain as day to everyone watching.
It is a breathtaking refusal to engage with what everyone else can see. But perhaps that is hardly surprising, deflecting and attempting to obscure illegal hunting and the reality of what hunts get up to has become standard operating procedure for the rebranded and disgraced former Hunting Office – hunting’s overseers.
Thanks to all the sabs who bore witness to yet another in a long line of atrocities committed against stags and deer in the West Country. The matter has been reported to Avon and Somerset Police.
A spokesperson for North Dorset Hunt Sabs said:
“We never fail to be shocked at the disgraceful behaviour of the three remaining stag hunts, who act as if there is no ban at all. This stag escaped after a four-hour hunt, but he could still die from shock and extreme exhaustion. If he survives, he will likely be hunted again, as stag numbers are low, with just 14 mature animals recorded at the annual Quantock deer count this year.
“The government urgently needs to close loopholes in the Hunting Act which are exploited by stag hunts, especially the exemption for “research and observation” which acts as a get-out-of-jail-free card for stag hunts to do what they like, knowing the legislation is so vague that a case using that defence has never made it to court and is unlikely to.”
A spokesperson for Dorset Border Sabs said:
“Uncivilised and noisy stag hunters terrified a majestic stag in an unsuccessful attempt to stop him escaping. These people are not the protectors of the countryside. They are destroyers of nature.”
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