Dorset Borders Hunt Sabs

10/10/2026

Today we joined other groups to sab the Portman Hunt, as the Cattistock didn't leave the kennels.
Both of these hunts have been splashing the cash and now have brand new Can-Am Outlander quadbikes.

We're so grateful to all who donated to our GoFundMe to replace our drone (that was stolen last Saturday by a member of the Cattistock Hunt). Having the support of the public really helps to close the gap in funding between the wildlife criminals and us volunteers, drones really do give us the upper hand!

Amazingly the fundraiser target was reached within a couple of days and our new drone arrived in time so we could use it in anger today. Wasting no time it was put to work and caught the Portman hounds chasing two foxes across a road and through the garden of Fontmell Parva House. Full report to follow

06/10/2026

We're astonished by your generosity! The fundraiser has only been live for 24 hours and its looking like we're well on track to have a brand new drone buzzing above the hunt on Saturday.

Thank you so much to our amazing followers and everyone who has kindly donated and shared the GoFundMe link:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-hunt-stole-our-drone-replacement-needed-asap

05/10/2026

The Cattistock Hunt snatched our drone on Saturday morning, all so they could get away with hunting without being recorded.

It was flying above a wood recording the hounds when the low battery warning came up, so started to return to home. The signal then dropped out a couple of times and interference prevented it from moving forward, almost like there was a gale force wind holding it back, but it was a perfectly still day. The GPS signal was then also lost. All this resulted in the battery level becoming critical, forcing it to make an emergency landing in a field.
The last image it managed to transmit was a known member of the hunt running towards it.

We rushed to the exact spot it landed, but it had gone!

Without a drone our ability to keep up with this highly organised hunt is severely hampered, verging on impossible!

Funds for an urgently needed replacement are sadly non existent, especially with vehicle repairs scheduled and and the MOT coming up.
If you can help us out with a donation, no matter how small or even by just sharing our fundraiser, we'd be immensely grateful!

From us and the foxes - Thank you

https://gofund.me/e94a97ace

02/10/2026

𝘼𝙧𝙚𝙖 𝙤𝙛 𝙊𝙪𝙩𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜-𝙡𝙮 𝙐𝙣-𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙧𝙪𝙚𝙡𝙩𝙮

26/09/26
The Cattistock
Up Sydling Farm, Dorchester

🥀 With a late start at 08:30, the Cattistock met on the Sydling Estate, whos website proudly claims 'has extensive areas of ancient woodland, archeological sites, lakes and an old river meadow. It is home to numerous rare species of flowers, herbs and butterflies traditionally native to ancient chalk downland'.
WHY THEN were 15 horses and 40 dogs allowed to traipse right through it and hunt wildlife!?

🌳 The hunt were drawn to the trees, riding through the cover of woodland to avoid being watched by the drone, and maybe to try and stumble across a fox or two. This is their preferred habitat after all.
When they reached White's Wood there was a break in the canopy and the drone could see field riders gathered, eagerly watching. The hounds were hard at work, searching up and down the steep lopes of the wooded hillside.
This is not trail hunting, nobody had been through there to lay a scent. If a dog struggles to navigate the terrain there is no hope for a human to get through!

🚜 When the drone had to return for a battery change we changed position and came across the Whipper-in and another rider trying to enter a locked gate from Hayden Lane. A number of riders then took a shortcut across a field that was actively being baled, a tractor driver promptly got out and shouted at them to get off the land. We love it when locals and land owners sab Hunts.

🦊 With the eye back in the sky we saw the huntsman gathering the hounds and quickly taking them across East Hill, had a supporter seen a fluffy orange 'trail' making a break for it?
Hounds picked up and ended up in a small section of Fisher's Bottom Coppice, they spend a long time in here with riders positioned around the edges. The odd flash of white could be seen as hounds ran between the trees, but they eventually all merged at the same point. They'd marked to ground.
A hunt member get off his horse and started hacking away at the undergrowth with the crop of his whip.

🪫 With drone battery changes being a neccessary evil, we can't say for sure if a kill happened of not. But we believe that the exhausted fox we saw shortly after, stumbling and panting its way to a reed field was a good indication that the 'trail' got away this time.
The quad stalkers stood right by us also saw this fox and some cagey looks and radio messages followed, but luckily the hunt headed the other way back towards the meet, packing up at 11:30, just 3 hours after setting off.

💬 Want to join us in the field or help with the behind the scenes running of our group? Don't hesitate to send us a message or email to get involved.

We are an organisation entirely run by volunteers. If you can, please donate to help us pay for fuel so we can continue going out to save lives:
http://Ko-fi.com/Dorset_Borders_Sabs

28/09/2026

27/09/2026

𝙋𝙚𝙧𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙨𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙭𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚

19/09/26
The Cattistock
Yard Lane, Rampisham, Dorchester

📍 Waiting by the A356 and scouring known meets brought the goods this time around.
But before even finding the hunt they found us. Arthur the Hunt master started stalking us in his pickup before the sun even started peeking over the horizon. When we got to Toller Down Gate a quad joined our tail so we knew we were getting close.
A few turns later, on the outskirts of Rampisham, we found the meet down the track towards Yard Dairy.

🌳 Hounds were in cry for a significant amount of time in the woods behind the village hall, the drone was right above them but just couldn't see through the thick canopy of trees. The hunt know this and use it to their advantage, regularly managing to completely disappear by hiding all field riders under the cover of trees.

🦊 After a couple hours of being out they attempted to move towards Wraxhall then Dukes Plantation in a bid to lose us, but they ended up looping back around to spend the majority of their time working back n forth between Mountover Farm and Coombe Farm.
This ground is a hunting haven, with so many interwoven coverts, rough patches and hedgerows. Its no surprise they picked up a fox.

⚠️ Hounds rampaged through peoples gardens to follow the foxes scent trail.
The high winds disoriented the fox, causing them to briefly run directly towards the Huntsman, but luckily they found refuge away from the hounds, deep in thick scrub.
We were already on the phone to police when the fox broke cover, our drone operator loudly exclaimed 'Fox caught on film!' The quad stalkers standing right by us promptly relayed this info to the hunt, causing them to bottle it. Hounds were rounded up and they began to make their way back to the meet. Packing up at around 11:15.

💬 Want to join us in the field or help with the behind the scenes running of our group? Don't hesitate to send us a message or email to get involved.

We are an organisation entirely run by volunteers. If you can, please donate to help us pay for fuel so we can continue going out to save lives:
http://Ko-fi.com/Dorset_Borders_Sabs

26/09/2026

A late start for The Cattistock Hunt this morning.
There was no movement at the kennels and it appeared as if they weren't going to be out.

We drove off, watched the sunrise, then were blessed by this lovely train of horse boxes that lead us right to the meet.

They packed up after only 3 hours, but our drone caught them in some blatant cub hunting - full report and footage to follow..

23/09/2026

𝙃𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨

12/09/26
Cattistock/Portman

👀 Saturday mornings come around quick and hunts are aware this is the most likely day to be graced with saboteur presence. The Cattistock have been pulling out all the stops recently to avoid us, almost like they have something to hide... We were driving through a very dark Cattistock at 05:45 on our way to check out their kennels when we turned a corner and met the hound lorry coming towards us.
By the time we had turned around it was out of the village and had gone past a junction. But which way did it go?

🪿 We made a choice, but after not catching up to any tail lights realised we'd made the wrong one.
Shorty afterwards we were passed by a field rider's horse box heading through Holywell, so we followed it hoping to find the meet.
A wild goose chase ensued leading us all the way to a petrol station outside Bridport. We knew we'd been 'had' before this point was reached, so had already checked in with neighboring groups and found a plan B.

🦊 Wildlife Crime Action and Dorset Against Blood Sports were short on support so we shot over to Child Okeford to help them out on the Portman.
As soon as we were in radio range we heard a fox was being chased, so 999 was called as this was a crime in progress.

🐾 Once we'd got positioned we launched the drone, finding the hunt poking around the Sewage Works. Having not found what they wanted the hunt continued north past the solar farm and through Wigmore Coppices, where hounds began to show interest.
Once they reached the edge of Westhill Plantation hounds appeared to mark to ground. The huntsman even dismounted his horse to get a closer look!
After pawing around the thicket for a few minutes the hounds suddenly shot off into the plantation in cry.

🚦 From above we could see traffic stopping as hounds were popping out into the road. That's the problem when your 'trail' has legs, you never know where it, and therefore the hounds, are going to go.

🚔 It was just after this that the first police units started arriving, both at the meet and where the hunt currently were. They were shown the footage of the fox being chased and as a result spoke to the hunt, apparently giving them 20 minutes to pack up.

⏱️ We kept the drone up just in case, as they'd been so blatant earlier, causing jams by hunting over roads in front of members of the public. It wouldn't have surprised us if they took no regard of the police. The eye in the sky showed they did head back towards the meet at Gallows Corner even though hounds were heard briefly picking up on the way and a quad was left hanging around Westhill Plantation for what seemed a little too long.

💬 Want to join us in the field or behind the scenes? Don't hesitate to send us a message or email and get involved.

If you can, please donate to help us pay for fuel so we can stay out saving lives:
http://Ko-fi.com/Dorset_Borders_Sabs

21/09/2026

Let's hope the courts follow this through when it comes to sentencing!

𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐝

Avon and Somerset Police have charged Quantock Staghounds hunt master Chris Gibbons and huntsman Martin Watts with illegally hunting a wild mammal with dogs in relation to an incident on March 16, 2026.

Watts faces a further charge relating to a separate incident on April 23, 2026

Both men are to appear in Taunton Magistrates’ Court on October 22, 2026 to answer the charges.

The charges relate to the brutal five-hour pursuit of a stag, which ended with the exhausted animal becoming trapped and being shot.

"𝐴𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑏 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑗𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑒, ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑛, 𝑑𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑏 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙."

Read more 👇

https://www.huntsabs.org.uk/quantock-hunt-members-charged/

20/09/2026

The Cattistock Hunt chased this fox yesterday morning.
Hounds rampaged through peoples gardens to follow the foxes scent trail.
The high winds disoriented the fox, causing them to run directly towards the Huntsman, but luckily they found refuge away from the hounds, deep in thick scrub.
We were already on the phone to police when the fox broke cover, so loudly exclaimed 'Fox caught on film!' The quad stalker boys standing right by us promptly relayed this info to the hunt, thankfully causing them to bottle it.
Hounds were shortly rounded up and they started making their way back to the meet.

http://Ko-fi.com/Dorset_Borders_Sabs


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