OK, here we go. First the history of foxhunting with dogs, different to deer & hare hunting which are much older activities in a formal sense. The fox has always been in conflict with man and from early times people used dogs to control them above & below ground 1/
Fox and pest control would have been a specialist role in village life through the Middle Ages & specialist types of hound & terrier were developed through selective breeding. Hunting foxes also presumably became a community activity to protect livestock 2/
This culture is continued in many places across the West of the country. In the fell packs run by farmers, still following the traditional pattern of meets that cleared foxes from each valley & the Welsh gun packs (pre 2005) carrying out fox control for farmers 3/
Such hunts carried out ‘pure’ pest control with a marginal recreational element. The Bilsdale in Yorkshire claims to be the oldest ‘hunt’ going back to 1670 when its role would likewise have been purely pest control 4/
In the 18th C the revelation of jumping fences on horses at the gallop changed everything. The enclosures were originally spurned by traditional non-jumping fox hunters but provided the perfect playground for the aristocracy & newly rich in the 19th C 5/
The enclosed shires of the English lowlands, however, were very short of foxes. One answer was to ‘import’ them and there was a busy trade in foxes from as far afield as Ireland to Leics in particular. Over time though a more sustainable & ethical solution was developed 6/
Nearly every covert & furze in Leics & throughout the shires was planted for the purpose of hunting. Hunts created the habitat that sustained a healthy population of foxes at a level that was acceptable to farmers and in doing so ensured an adequate supply of quarry /7
The fox also benefitted from its status. What the blind anti-hunt movement cannot grasp is no-one loves a fox more than a fox hunter. Shooting foxes in a hunt country was considered an absolute sin. Hunts would go to great lengths to protect foxes during the breeding season 8/
And catch him or not the fox hunter has huge respective his quarry. Most importantly whether it is the hunter of the shires who is certain that the fox was better of for hunting, or the farmers of the West who just want to control them, or the many hunts that fall in between 9/
There is not a single fox hunter who accepts for a moment that the ban had anything to do with fox welfare or population. The Gov inquiry found death by hounds was “almost instantaneous”, more foxes are being killed by methods that have no welfare or management advantage 10/
The Hunting Act was simply an act of prejudice, & even that was massively misplaced as it assumed the stereotype of the aristocratic fox hunter & completely ignored the farmer’s cooperative pest control hunts 11/
And as for the myth of bloodthirsty fox hunters it is just that. A huntsman & his staff would have been satisfied with a job well done when hounds caught their fox confident that they were carrying out humane management which benefited the species 12/
The rest of the ‘field’ taking part in the recreational part of the hunt would rarely have a clue what was going on & if they got their kicks from seeing animals being killed they were entirely in the wrong place. They had no weird obsession with what happens to a dead fox 13/
That’s an anti-hunt theme which as ever has nothing to do with animal welfare. And back to the beginning the crowds on Boxing Day, like the 400k who marched, know that there is nothing wrong with hunting & see the ban as the thin end of a bigoted wedge 14/
And to finish here’s the result of the Hunting Act. Pointless, prejudiced, divisive & utterly predictable 15/ 
