I think Folkiedave must have misread Ketih's comment that "what happens next hardly matters." My difficulty with what Keith said is that though it may be true that a fox is dead within one (presumably unpleasant) minute of being seized by a hound, this is not what happens in a foxhunt. Hounds get in each other's way, they are frantic with excitement and sometimes they even catch each other with their teeth. It is not unknown for the fox, similarly frantic for other reasons, to break loose and make a yard or two before being re-seized. Neither is it unknown for the fox to be despatched by being stretched to tearing point between two sets of jaws.

In response to Gervase and Metchosin, I do agree that opportunity shooting by amateurs - eg farmers armed with shotguns aiming at moving targets - would be a whooly unsatisfactory substitute for the hunt, and I would be delighted if such practice was banned ahead of hunting with hounds. Lamping is a different proposition, not least because the marksmen are there specifically for the purpose, with appropriate rifles, and will not usually be aiming at moving targets.