Hunting is undergoing a revival with increasing numbers of women and children taking part as a direct result of the ban imposed by the Hunting Act.As 314 hunts were preparing to meet organisers report that in the two years since the ban, young people have attracted to the sport, reversing the situation of more than a decade ago where hunt memberships were ageing and in decline.
Once again affirming the ancient law: "If you ban it, they will come."
The Masters of Foxhounds Association reports a plentiful supply of people willing to run hunts - though it had been feared they would be deterred from taking charge by the prospect of legal action if hunts ventured beyond the ill-defined area of "exempt hunting" under the Act.
Of the 563 masters and joint masters of foxhounds this season, 215 have become masters since the Hunting Act came into force in spring 2005.
There will always be an England ...
Many are not from traditional backgrounds. Claire Bellamy, 32, has been master and huntsman of the Spooners and West Dartmoor hunt since May 1, one of only two women to occupy that role. At a meet of the farmers' hunt on Christmas Eve at Brickham House, Roborough, Plymouth, she was accompanied by a field of around 40 riders, 20 of them children, with more children following the hunt on foot.
She said: "An awful lot of people have been coming out, I think because they've had enough of the Government and would like to see the sport keep going rather than see it all fold. They seem to be staying.
"This is my first season here - I was at the Dartmoor before. There were definitely more people who would previously have just hacked around the lanes coming out with the hunt."
Helen Silcock, chairman of the hunt, said: "The fields are larger than they have been for some time. Today it's 50 per cent children, which is lovely to see, some very little. There is lots of support. People want to see a tradition continue. The number of our subscribers has increased in the past 18 months.
Karl Creamer, 44, joint master of the Ludlow, is a former professional ice-hockey player who had not sat on a horse until 1994. He said: "Everything that gets banned seems to become popular. Mr Creamer said that the average hunt follower was now 26 years old and female with a full time job who likes doing dressage as well.
"I make no bones about it, that's why I got into it," he said.
What's next? A pack of Marlboros in every shirt pocket?
Tim Bonner of the Countryside Alliance, said the changes had come after the campaign against the Hunting Act. "They [hunts] started to understand that they had to be open and accessible rather than being considered exclusive and remote."
But hunts are insistent that the lack of clarity in the Act as to what constitutes "exempt hunting" puts too much pressure on the professional huntsmen, who are already under a duty to provide sport. They want the Act repealed.
Exempt hunting includes hunting a trail, flushing foxes or deer to guns with two hounds, flushing foxes to a bird of prey or hound exercise. But the boundaries of exempt hunting have yet to be fully settled by the courts.
Barry Hugill of the League Against Cruel Sports said: "If it is the case that membership is going up - and I am sceptical - could it not be that people are happy to go trail hunting without killing animals?"
Well, anything's possible, Bunny Boy.