When walking along Keeper's Lane, Storeton on my regular foray across the fields of the Leverhulme Estate and always via Rake Hey Covert I remembered old Aongus Morrison's words as Head Keeper, about hunting when I asked him about hunting after the meet of the Royal Rock Beagle Hunt. He reminded me that the Cheshire Forest Hunt also met annually on Boxing Day at Storeton Hall Farm, the venue of the Royal Rock as well. Although the Royal Rock rarely meet here, their kennels were then at Ledsham Station, a good few miles away from Storeton. Aongus did not approve of hunting for sport; these being the days after the War when hunting was legal. He explained that rearing pheasants in a clearing in Rake Hey naturally brought predators there. He safeguarded his chicks with a strong wire mesh fence and ensured his charges were in the henhouse at night. If foxes or rats attempted to dig beneath the wire mesh they were met by exploding percussion caps. The explosions were not loud but sufficient to deter them. They were re-set daily to ensure that the predators learned, like Pavlov's dogs, that they were unwelcome there. He knew were all the predators on the estate were and allowed stoats, weasels, sparrow hawks, and foxes etc free reign to live. If he knew a fox was getting old and say diseased and may infect the others in the fox lair he would despatch it quickly with a single shot and then bury the animal deep in the soil some distance away from the lair.
I then asked him about stoats and weasels as they, like crows, were opportunistic. He explained that that was given by God to them and again, he would deter them from taking chicks or eggs but not kill them necessarily. To kill them would upset God's balance in nature.
The Royal Rock Beagle Hunt, founded in the 1920's.
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