England’s remaining staghound packs, which operate in the southwest of the country, typically hunt mature stags between August and October before moving on to targeting hinds (female deer). This year, saboteur groups have reported that packs like the Quantock Staghounds began targeting hinds in November. However, they continued to hunt stags too.
This means that stags have endured “an autumn of suffering,” as hunt saboteurs put it, and now both male and female deer are enduring a winter of suffering. Loopholes in a weak hunting law makes this suffering possible, which is why Protect the Wild is calling on the government to take action to strengthen the legislation.
Staghunts exploit exemptions
Deer hunting packs receive less media attention than their fox hunting counterparts. They do not, however, escape the attention of saboteur and monitor groups because like the hunting of other wild animals, deer hunting involves cruelty towards wild animals and the exploitation of loopholes in the Hunting Act.
As Protect the Wild has previously explained, staghound packs rely of a variety of exemptions to the act. These include the trail hunting loophole and the flushing to guns exemption, which allows them to use two dogs to ‘flush’ wild animals like deer out of hiding or cover before shooting them “as soon as possible.” Under the law, this persecution of wildlife is only permissible under certain circumstances, such as to protect crops from the targeted animal or to relieve their suffering if they are injured. Another exemption utilised by stag hunts is research and observation, which allows for the hunting of a wild mammal for the purpose of observing and studying them.
As we have highlighted, these exemptions serve as a smokescreen for hunts to continue hunting deer despite the practice being outlawed. For instance, saboteur and monitor groups routinely document hunts chasing stags for hours, which flies in the face of the flushing to guns exemption that requires flushed animals to be killed “as soon as possible.” Moreover, these long chases are enabled by hunts using pairs of dogs in what are effectively relay chases: two dogs might be searching for or chasing deer at any one time, but over the course of the hours-long chase of a targeted stag, many more than two dogs are used.
Additionally, although hunts utilise the research and observation exemption, there is no evidence that research is actually being conducted or peer-reviewed data is being published. Indeed, an ecology consultant involved in deer counting in the Quantock Hills, Jochen Langbein, told the Times in 2019:
I am not aware of any systematic data having been collected by the DSSH from the killed animals during exempt hunting or for which exempt hunting would be required, rather than culling by other legal means such as shooting.
Langbein was referring to the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. In March of this year, Protect the Wild reported on footage of DSSH in action, released by the team at Wildlife Guardian, that showed the hunt “casually committing numerous offences” in relation to traffic and animal welfare laws directly opposite the entrance to the League Against Cruel Sports’ property at Baronsdown.
An autumn of suffering and havoc
Video released by North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs on 7 November illustrated what staghound packs’ utilisation of exemptions looks like in practice. The video contains footage from Mendip Hunt Sabs, Wildlife Guardian, and North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs. It shows “an autumn of suffering” for mature stags in 2024. As the saboteur group explained, during autumn time staghound packs will:
“target “trophy” stags, prime rutting stags at the peak of their lives, for their large antlers. These stags are chased to exhaustion and killed. After a summer of good feeding, these big heavy animals, weighed down by their large antlers, push themselves way beyond their physical capabilities in their desperate attempt to escape.”
Each year, Protect the Wild compiles an annual report of hunt incidents, such as instances of wildlife persecution and trespassing, that hunt saboteurs and monitors record when they attend meets in online HIT reports. Analysis of these groups’ reports across the three months leading up to the start of the main fox hunting season, which began late October to early November, also provides some insight into this ‘autumn of suffering’ for deer.
These will certainly be minimum numbers, but analysis of published HIT reports reveals that there were 38 reported incidents of staghound packs chasing deer and 13 incidents of them killing deer between August and October. 14 deer were also reportedly chased by non-staghound packs across the three months. In addition to wildlife persecution, the reports show that staghound packs were involved with several ‘hunt havoc’ incidents. In all, hunt saboteur and monitor groups recorded eight traffic offences, six occurrences of trespass, and one road havoc incident, involving staghound packs. As we say, though, this will be the minimum of illegal acts: not every hunt is monitored and Protect the Wild only logs certain incidents. Sabs and monitors will be witnessing far more illegality than is recorded.
Targeting deer moms
It’s standard for staghound packs to turn their attention to female deer in November, as this is when the hind shooting season for most deer species begins.
As Protect the Wild’s Secret Monitor has highlighted, “Hind hunting has always been the invisible sidekick of stag hunting, far more underground and secretive.” It is kept under wraps, the monitor explained, because it involves the chasing and killing of pregnant hinds and/or deer moms with youngsters at foot. “Even among hunting people, hind hunting is considered to be cruel,” according to the monitor.
As North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs have reported, hinds were targeted by hunts in November. On 18 November, for instance, the group documented Quantock Staghounds apparently succeeding in killing one of them.
But Quantock Staghounds also hunted a stag on 11 November, albeit unsuccessfully. The saboteur group reported on a further hunt day for the Quantock Staghounds on 25 November. Highlighting who the hunt targeted during the day’s events, North Dorset Hunt Saboteurs wrote:
To answer the question were the QSH hunting stags or hinds, probably both at times, but thankfully poorly!
The group also shared pictures of some hinds fleeing from the hunt with youngsters in tow. It stressed that the pictured calves are small and “do need their mothers”. The saboteur group added, ” It’s awful to think of those orphaned trying to survive the winter.”
Closing time for staghunts?
To prevent staghound packs from continuing to cause suffering to stags, deer moms, and young deer, Protect the Wild is calling on the government to create a suitably robust law that safeguards deer and other wild animals from being hunted will require the removal of all exemptions, such as the research and observation loophole. A complete ban on the use of dogs in activities aimed at killing wild animals, such as ‘predator control’, ‘wild mammal management’, and deer stalking, among others, is also necessary.
There is clear public support for such a legal upgrade. With regard to deer hunting with hounds specifically, the British Deer Society (BDS) has highlighted in a position statement that:
“Public opinion increasingly questions the relevance of stag hunting and views it as an unacceptable recreational activity”
BDS itself has taken the position that it is “unable to justify the deliberate pursuit of healthy deer with hounds as an acceptable method of control.” Notably, the organisation appears to be able to justify other forms of hunting, such as deer stalking, as it is the official charity partner of The Stalking Show 2025.
