DEFIANCE and denial were equally abundant yesterday as members of the Warwickshire hunt galloped along its well-worn tracks.

As riders gossiped and shouted “Merry Christmas” to each other, it was as if someone had told everyone not to mention the B-word. The B-word, of course, being “ban”. Far from resigning themselves to the end of hunting, people here were making big plans for its future.

The small matter of a Bill to ban hunting with hounds, now on its way through Parliament, had apparently been pushed to the very back of people’s minds. No one mentioned that it might be their last Boxing Day meet; no one conceded that their hunting days might be numbered.

Only in the traditional address of the hunt master did the issue of a ban arise. Amid a sea of horses, hounds and hunt supporters on foot, Sam Butler told the hunt to prepare for a rough fight ahead: “We are going to be here next year. It is going to be a bumpy road but we are in a far better position than we were five years ago when 70 per cent of the public supported a ban. Today it is 32 per cent who would have hunting banned. That is fantastic.”

Mr Butler was speaking as the meet gathered at Upton House, just yards from the site of the Battle of Edgehill, one of the biggest battles of the English Civil War. The senior huntsman vowed that country people would fight on indefinitely in another battle which has divided Britain.

“The politicians are way out of step on this. If they were to act with any honesty and integrity, they would agree that hunting has a place in this country. It is as popular as ever,” he said.

Mr Butler announced that the Warwickshire is to launch a youth initiative to encourage more young people into the sport. He said: “We have got many many years to go. Three cheers for the future of hunting.”

With the formal speeches over, the issue of the ban was the least favoured topic of conversation as the riders trotted along roads and galloped across fields. They were far more occupied with catching up on each other’s news, steering their mounts through bogs and ditches, and crying out “Gate please!” — the correct form of words when passing through a gap in a hedge.

Hunting etiquette is strict, and now more than ever hunters are careful to treat passersby, villagers, walkers and drivers, in fact everyone they encounter, with extreme courtesy. In this, they seem well aware that they are treading on eggshells.

But the issue of an impending ban was never mentioned. There was no sign of nostalgia or regret for what might be viewed as a dying sport.

The other taboo subject not to be mentioned was the fox. Perhaps it is another part of hunting etiquette, or maybe it is just that few riders are interested in what goes on up at the front, but the word “fox” is hardly heard during a hunt.

The star of the show did make a brief appearance and the riders stopped briefly to watch him fly past on the horizon. He was not seen again. A few minutes later a horn blew a low signal. No one knew what it meant and very few seemed to care.

After three and a half hours, the hunt had succeeded only in running one fox to ground. All other leads had drawn a blank and with the weak winter light fading in the late afternoon, it looked as though the foxes of the Oxfordshire-Warwickshire borders would live to fight another day.

The lack of a kill does, however, make it harder for such hunts to prove there is “utility” in their sport. If hunts fail to keep fox numbers down what can be their use? Mr Butler is adamant that he would make a strong case before one of the tribunals proposed in the Hunting Bill.

He would argue that utility also means the livelihoods of those involved in the hunt. Quite apart from the 200 riders and 100 hounds, there is a whole industry built around this frenzied day out, from the farriers who shoe the horses every few weeks to the man who follows the hunt around in a van mending fences.

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