Last Tally Ho as hunts get ready to ride into battle

Huntsmen awoke this morning to find England’s green and pleasant land no longer tolerant of their ancient sport and the courts equipped with the power to enforce a 5,000 fine on transgressors.

The stage has now been set for a weekend in which militant huntsmen are prepared to break the new law and battle against animal rights campaigners who are equally determined to uphold it. The League Against Cruel Sports has launched a network of monitors to report each hunt which breaches the ban.

The police, meanwhile, are concerned that they do not have the resources to properly enforce the law and nor do they see doing so as a major priority.

A mass protest is scheduled for tomorrow, at which 60,000 huntsmen and women and as many as 350,000 supporters, will turn out to test the limits of the law.

The Countryside Alliance and the Masters of Foxhounds Association have organised 270 hunts to be held across England and Wales, which they insist will be within the bounds of the new legislation.

A spokesman said yesterday: "There is a touch of sadness but the main feeling is one of anger, determination and defiance. We will continue to hunt, within the legislation until such time as this temporary law is overturned."

Their hopes of doing just this remain high. Despite losing in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday the Countryside Alliance is now to appeal to the House of Lords.

Under the legislation it is permitted for riders to follow dogs as they exercise or as they chase a "trail hunt", following a scent, laid down beforehand by dragging a dead fox across fields and farmland. They are also permitted to flush a fox to guns. Under the law they are permitted to hunt rabbits, but not hares, and rats, but not mice.

However a number of hunts, including two in Wales, are not having any of this. They plan to openly defy the law and continue to hunt with dogs. Eight hunts have insisted that they will test the core of the new legislation, which is the need to prove that a hunt whose hounds pursue and kill a fox "intended" to do so.

The distinction is a fine one. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says that those riders engaged in a trail hunt, but whose dogs chase and kill a fox against the riders’ wishes, will not be guilty of a crime.

On the opposition side, thousands of animal rights activists are expected to join the riders for a day in the countryside, in an attempt to provide police with videotaped evidence of hunts breaking the law. Many experienced hunt saboteurs will be among their number.

And in the middle will be the police, apparently devoid of enthusiasm for their role. They have insisted they will treat the tens of thousands of people who will continue to hunt as a "low priority". As evidence of this, the Association of Chief Police Officers has already sent a memo to senior officers reminding them that the new law "confers a power to arrest, not a duty" and that it was not a "high priority" in the National Policing Plan.

Yesterday, however, the Avon and Somerset Constabulary insisted it was ready for the ban on hunting with dogs. During the past year the force has been in consultation with groups on both sides of the debate to ensure the new legislation comes into place as smoothly as possible. Extensive meetings have also taken place with neighbouring forces in Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall, and Dorset and Wiltshire to ensure a consistent approach is taken by all forces in the south-west region.

Around 25 per cent of all the hunts in England and Wales are in this largely rural area - with 21 registered in Avon and Somerset alone.

Now that the Hunting Act 2004 is in effect, hunting with dogs is classified as a wildlife crime. Specialist officers will investigate any complaints if it is alleged the ban has been breached by a person or group.

Any public order offences which may be linked to the activity of any person or group surrounding the Hunting Act will be investigated separately.

Superintendent Adrian Coombs, the hunt liaison officer for Avon and Somerset Constabulary, expressed confidence his force would be able to control matters: "If people hunt and break the law then the full circumstances will be investigated and the law upheld in the same way as any other breach."

Despite his words, there remains widespread doubt over the effectiveness of the legislation and the courts’ ability to enforce the law.

The overall picture is a little cloudy. Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, has ruled out a "blanket policy" of not enforcing the government’s hunting ban until the Law Lords have considered its legality.

He said that with the Director of Public Prosecutions and the police, he would be considering "in the near future" what approach to take in relation to such prosecutions.

The League Against Cruel Sports, however, is to write to him demanding that evidence of offences should lead to prosecutions without delay.

The difficulties surrounding the legislation have been amply demonstrated in Scotland. Anti-hunting laws were introduced by the Scottish Parliament in 2002. But late last year the first huntsman charged with breaking the fox-hunting laws was found not guilty.

Trevor Adams, the former hounds master with Scotland’s largest hunt, the Buccleuch, walked free from Jedburgh Sheriff Court last December after the court found he had not deliberately hunted a fox with 20 dogs. The judge ruled the burden was on the Crown to establish that an accused person deliberately hunted a wild mammal with dogs.

While Prince Charles bid his farewell to fox-hunting on Tuesday, by riding with the Meynell and South Staffordshire hunt, thousands gathered across England and Wales yesterday to take part in the last legal fox-hunt with hounds. For many of them, the issue is one of fundamental liberty - their freedom from government meddling.

In the Wiltshire village of Hullavington, where the Duke of Beaufort’s Hunt has gathered since the 17th century, feelings were running high. Henry Jodrell, 37, was dressed in a blue blazer and sipped from a goblet of port, before decrying the government. "We have sent out troops to Iraq to fight for democracy but we do not seem to have achieved that here in Britain. The majority of people do not support the ban."

Nick Onslow, a spokesman for the East Kent hunt, which also met yesterday, said it would be meeting again on Saturday, but had no intention of breaking the law. "It’s a very emotional day. There are people who are angry and in distress, but underlying that is anger.

"We are going to beat the government at this. We are eventually going to have this act repealed," he said.

Mr Onslow’s sentiments were supported by Kate Hoey, the former Labour sports minister who voted against the ban in parliament.

She is to deliver a speech tomorrow before a meeting of the Beaufort Hunt at Worcester Lodge in Didmarton.

The government, meanwhile, said that while huntsmen had the right to protest they did not have the right to break the law.

As police and riders gear up for the weekend, there was no doubting the victors today. For animal rights groups the new legislation was a long time coming, but, they insisted, it was worth the wait.

"The League Against Cruel Sports is delighted that 80 years of peaceful campaigning has paid off. We have seen the last ‘Tally Ho’ of legal hunting with hounds," said a spokesman.

"We would just like to say that the Countryside Alliance has always said they are law-abiding citizens, this weekend is their opportunity to prove it."