Shocking Footage Shows Hunted Stag’s Final Moments After Horrific Chase

stag hunted to exhaustion

On Saturday 20th April 2024, sabs from across the country headed to Exmoor for a national hit on the Devon & Somerset Stag Hounds closing meet. Despite the best efforts of all sabs involved, the hunt tragically killed a stag who they had hunted to exhaustion. What the stag had endured up to this point was the horrific cruelty of stag hunting.

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Despite being made illegal with the hunting ban, stag hunts continue by using loopholes in the act to claim that what they are doing is legal. Yet still, hunted stags continue to suffer and be killed, and the process of the hunt before the ban was exactly the same as what happened on April 20th. The only difference to pre-ban hunting being the use of two hounds at a time, as the “Research and Observation” or “Flushing To Guns” loopholes stipulate. Multiple “relay hounds” are deployed to get around this. When the active pair of hounds become tired, the hunt replace them with a fresh pair to prolong the chase, stacking the odds even higher against the hunted stag.

On April 20th, as with every post-ban stag hunt, a harborer selected the deer or where a group of stags can be found. On the day, the hunt staff plus the two hounds repeatedly divide the herd of deer into smaller groups until one stag is on his own. Just like before the ban.

Image: Mendip Hunt Sabs

First spotted by sabs in a herd near Molland Wood at around 2pm, the hunt used their hounds to separate the stag and get him running. Deer are herd animals. When that stag is separated he will become scared, lonely and eventually terrified – just like before the ban. He will know by then he is on his own, it is his day to be hunted. He is running to save his life. At every turn he had to change direction, bullied into continuously moving by over a hundred riders, foot followers and the yobs from the gutter on quads.

Image: Mendip Hunt Sabs

He ran and ran with any breaks for a rest becoming shorter. As the stag got more and more tired, sabs at Westwater filmed him crashing in to a fence as hounds were close behind. He was too exhausted from the chase to jump high enough to clear the fence. It was distressing to see, and the stag immediately had to start running after his fall as he desperately tried to escape the hunt.

Image: North Dorset Hunt Sabs

Eventually, in pre-ban stag hunting and as happened on the 20th, the stag is corralled into a small area. Hunted stags will inevitably head for water as their energy is depleted, as they overheat and try to cool themselves down. Following a relentless pursuit of more than 17km (10.5 miles) over three hours, the hunted stag could run no more and dropped into the river south of Black Ball Bridge as the hunt closed in around him. That small stretch of river was blocked by the baying mob, just like before the ban.

Image: Bath Hunt Sabs

Two sabs saw the stag slowly walking along the river after he was turned again by hunt support. Fearing an imminent kill and seeing a gunman walking towards the river, the sabs ran in to try to save him. With no energy left, the stag knew the end was coming and laid down in the water, barely able to hold his head up due to his exhaustion. In came the gunman, off his horse, feeling big and important. He is not. just another guilty hunt person.

The two sabs valiantly tried to stop the gunman, but in desperation to kill and despite the hostile situation, he shot the stag in dangerous proximity to the sabs. Upon hearing the shot, nearby hunt followers whooped, cheered and beeped their horns to “celebrate”.

The gunman would have felt important, something to talk about down the pub later – but only with his like minded supporters. The yobs who wanted to be there at the death jumped in the water. Giving him no dignity in death, they unceremoniously hauled the stag’s body over a fence and dragged it away into the woods, taken away to be carved up for trophies. They also feel important, they also have something to talk about later. They are all guilty. The legal authorities through police, CPS, right up to the bench, share the same guilt. They don’t care about the hunted stags, just their position in society.

With a law not fit for purpose and apathetic authorities, the only hope for the hunted stags in Devon and Somerset are the hunt saboteurs and monitors who persistently head to the fields to try to stop the killing. The presence of sabs has undoubtedly had a profound effect on the stag hunts this season, curtailing their worst behaviour and reducing the number of stags killed.

Thank you to the following sab groups for this post: North Dorset, Mendip, Somerset, Three Counties, Staffordshire, Sheffield, Manchester, Devon County, Plymouth & West Devon, Herefordshire, Bath, East Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Brighton, East Surrey.

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