THERE was only one creature more elusive than the fox as the Avon Vale hunt gathered in the picturesque Wiltshire village of Lacock yesterday: the hunt protester.

Traditionally, the arrival of the hunt master and his hounds outside the Red Lion pub in the high street is greeted by a pack of placard-waving demonstrators. This year there were only cheers.

The Government’s attempts to ban hunting had at last achieved something: the turnout of supporters had more than doubled since the last Boxing Day meet to more than 5,000 people. If anyone was there to complain about animal cruelty or condemn the sport, they kept their mouths shut.

The scene, as 140 riders gingerly manoeuvred their way through the crowd, was as quintessentially English as the backdrop of timber-framed cottages. Lacock has been used as the setting for films such as Emma and Pride and Prejudice, but the riders astride their horses, fortifying themselves with sherry against the bitter cold, refuse to vanish into history quite as gracefully as Jane Austen’s genteel heroines.

Only one of the riders would admit that he would be absent from next year’s event if the ban comes into effect on February 18.

James Gray, the Tory spokesman on rural affairs, and one of a small handful of hunting MPs, said: “I have been hunting for 30 years and I shall continue to do so for as long as it is a legal activity, but as a Member of Parliament I believe I have to uphold the law as it stands, whether I personally agree with it or not.”

Mr Gray, who rides with the Avon Vale hunt several times a year, was, however, a lone voice.

Adam Kidd, 61, a retired farmer who has been hunting since the age of ten, said: “If I can’t wear the red coat I shall go rat-catcher. That means wearing our autumn uniform of tweed sports coat. You are not so obvious. But I won’t stop hunting.”

Even Siobhan Moore, 23, who was making her hunting debut, said she would be back next year.

The League Against Cruel Sports had announced that it would not be staging any protests this year because it did not want to “rub the noses” of the hunters in the imminent ban on their sport.

Jonathan Seed, the Avon Vale’s hunt master, however, attributed the absence of anti-hunt protesters to fear. He said: “I am very heartened by the turnout this morning. There is such a lot of anger over this issue and I’m sure the protesters stayed away because they knew they would get a rough ride.”

Berenice Marshellsay, who runs a livery yard in Bradford-on-Avon, was adamant that she would also be hunting next Boxing Day. She said: “It has been a tradition for many years and we won’t be stopping.”

The riders’ distinctive jackets have been official attire since the end of the Crimean War, when returning British officers wore the only suitable garments they possessed on the hunting field.

Yesterday was less Charge of the Light Brigade than the amble of the hopelessly outsmarted. As Mr Seed, the huntmaster, his face as ruddy as his jacket in the frosty air, blew his horn and set off in one direction, a fox trotted nonchalantly past heading in the other. By the time the huntsmen had called the beagles back, the scent had gone cold.

Mr Kidd said: “That’s the wonderful thing about hunting, the unpredictability. You never know which direction you are going to be headed.”

A second fox, clearly appreciating that the assembled riders posed very little threat and spying that the coast was clear, took the opportunity to make an unhurried dash for safety in the back gardens of some nearby houses.

This was supposed to be hunting’s last great hurrah but, like the fox, the hunters have no intention of playing by their persecutors’ rules and are determined they will be back outside the Red Lion on Boxing Day next year.

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