The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 3 plus 4 plus 4 letter word GAVE THE GAME AWAY
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
G
A
V
E
T
H
E
G
A
M
E
A
W
A
Y
More clues leading to the result GAVE THE GAME AWAY
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Let on/what poacher handing out freebies did" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case let on/what poacher handing out freebies did = gave the game away.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.