Thousands of defiant fox-hunters have ridden out to enjoy their pastime before the pursuit was outlawed.
A ban on hunting with dogs in England and Wales came into force at midnight ending over 300 years of countryside tradition.
"For those unused to hunting, what happens after the ban is introduced will look, feel and smell like it does now," said a spokesman from the Countryside Alliance, the main pro-hunting lobby group, yesterday.
"We see this as a temporary ban which is unenforceable." The alliance estimates some 400,000 people will defy the ban by attending hunts tomorrow, dwarfing the traditional December 26th meets, normally the busiest in the calendar which attracted 275,000 people last year.
After seven years of heated debate, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government finally forced the ban through parliament last November after the House of Lords repeatedly opposed it.
Under the new Hunting Act, riders will still be able to gather to exercise their hounds, hunt rats and rabbits and even flush out foxes with only two hounds for a hunter to shoot.