We've had this conversation before - if you're getting the city types down for a weekend jolly, then that's unfortunate. Growing up as I did in teh wilds of Yorkshire, i see a completely different picture.

As for pest control...well, the most effective form of pest control that the hunt used to perform was the hefty payments to local farmers to stop them going and gassing the foxes in their holes, which is precisely what they would have done otherwise, legality or not.

A hunter wants something to hunt, and killing every last damn one is the worst way to achieve that.