Barnstaple 1st August 2026
Among the many positive conversations that day was one particularly puzzling encounter. A man confidently defended stag hunting as part of our “culture” – and what followed was even more peculiar. Read on to find out…
But first, let’s hear from one volunteer who summed up the morning with a telling observation:
“A busy town, a lot of people out and most seemed local. A few people said they see the hunts out where they live. They didn’t like it, but were resigned to it… they didn’t want to be known as anti for fear of being alienated or worse.”
She went on to tell us:
“One lady said she went out on a stag hunt once by invitation. She said it was hours of boredom, and then they killed and took the corpse away. She found it horrible and would never want to do it again. The public there were diverse. A range of age, an ethic mix, some clearly well off, others not so. We gave out a lot of leaflets across this mix. I’d say we reached a lot of people today. Personally I think I gave out more today than at any other outreach.
Some pros, but none wanted to stop for a discussion. Some claimed to go hunting but were just being antagonistic… couldn’t name who they went out with. One chap chose to vent about Halal. Another had a moan about vegans. Another suggested we get vegan sausage rolls and choke on them. Others were really grateful to see us there. Mostly, those who took leaflets were not aware that stag hunting still happens on Exmoor. These are the people it’s important to reach and we reached a LOT of those today
The volunteer who had the “puzzling conversation” told us what happened:
“A lovely town with very nice people, on the whole. Gave out many leaflets, comments were “I didn’t know it was still going on” and “I thought it was banned”. Many made a beeline for our leaflets so there seems to be a thirst for knowledge from the locals. One chap said that he was previously something to do with the “Exmoor & District Deer Management Society”, and he still supports hunting because it is our ‘Culture’. I asked him if he also supported FGM. He said that he had never been hunting or shot a deer but seemed to think he was able to be a spokesman for deer hunting. I asked him what exemptions the local hunts were using and he said “research“. He told us that the deer’s ears were sent off for analysis looking at their DNA which gave the Society a lot of information. I asked where this data was as many people and organisations had been searching for it and it was not found, I asked him to write down his reply and he wrote Exmoor District Deer Management Society, and told me I’d find it there. SEE BELOW – GASLIGHTING 101, HOW TO SOUND LIKE AN EXPERT
One angry chap who had his young teenage daughter with him told me face to very close face that he would be out today with the hunt, I asked him under what exemption they would be hunting under and he said ‘deer management’ I replied that that was not an exemption in the law and he said ‘you think you know everything, well you know nothing about deer, I replied that I know an awful lot about cruelty and compassion. he then said his daughter liked hunting, she looked very embarrassed and turned her head away, not replying. A few people I saw taking pictures of our sign, so I expect the word to be getting around very fast amongst the hunting community.
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Gaslighting 101: How to Sound Like an Expert
The apparently authoritative explanation given by a man who was “previously something to do with the “Exmoor & District Deer Management Society”, unravelled when the facts were checked. The evidence cited was outdated, unrelated to hunting with dogs, and failed to support the claims being made. This isn’t the only time this has happened, of course, and we know bunkum when we hear it. But, we checked it anyway.
After the outreach, we searched for “Exmoor District Deer Management Society”, but it has no online presence of its own. However, we have found a reference to it on https://www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk/nature-and-landscape/our-habitats-and-wildlife/red-deer
At the bottom of this page, there is a link to Papers and Reports on Exmoor’s Deer
Papers and Reports on Exmoor’s Deer
One of the papers is called: “The phylogeography of red deer in Exmoor National Park, Cecilia Henry Roitberg 2007”
[Phylogeography is the study of the historical and ecological processes responsible for the geographic distribution of genealogical lineages, particularly within and among closely related species].
This study was done in 2007, and the subjects were CULLED DEER, not deer hunted with dogs. But, yes, they did use ear tips.
Going back to the man who claimed that he was an expert in deer, and that the hunts were hunting under the “research” exemption, it would appear that he was gaslighting. His attitude to our volunteer was condescending, to the point of rudeness. He wanted her to feel insecure in her knowledge about stag hunting, and came up with something that was seriously out of date, and not actually related to hunting stags with dogs.
We did a little more research, asking the Exmoor Society if they ever used deer’s ears for research. This was their reply: ” Historically the tips of deer ears were sent off for analysis. More recently deer bloods are sent to various government bodies such as Defra and APHA for checking for TB and other cattle diseases.
There is no central data base of these on Exmoor.”
You can draw your own conclusions about this man. The truth is simple really – the stag hunts have no idea about what “research and observation” really means, but are happy to make sure that everyone believes they are obeying the law. Look closely at what they are saying, and it all falls apart nicely.