EMOTIONS ran high yesterday as huntsmen and women gathered on a bitterly cold moor for a final day's hunting before the ban.

Followers of the Catterick Beagles, based at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, who met on Hipswell Moor, told of their anger towards the politicians who had pushed through the ban - and sadness that their way of life was under attack.

But there was hope that the hunt would survive, albeit in a different form, by following an artificial scent.

Hunting hares with beagles is very different to fox hunting. Everyone walks - known as a foot pack - and the pursuit is relatively leisurely.

More often than not, the hare lives to fight another day. The mortality rate associated with beagle hunting is 1.7 per cent of the hare population.

The Catterick foot pack hunts on Ministry of Defence land and is one of the few surviving Army-sponsored packs left in Britain.

Yesterday, joint master Sue Harris said she felt absolutely gutted as she and colleagues released the beagles from their trailer. The dogs, not realising the significance of the day, charged out barking excitedly with their tails pointing skywards.

"It's such a wonderful way of life," said Mrs Harris. "And I'm fed up that politics had to change it."

Hunt follower John Harrop shook his head as he watched the dogs racing away. "There's a feeling of depression around here," he said.

The ban arrives in the year Catterick Beagles celebrates its 75th anniversary. The pack was formed in 1930 to provide the 30,000 soldiers, then based at Catterick, with something to do on a weekend. The link still exists. The Ministry of Defence charges a few thousand pounds per year in rent because the hunt kennels are on its land.

Former master William Robotham said: "To put it bluntly, it was created to get the soldiers out of their beds and into the fresh air.

"When the pack started, it didn't even have a trailer and the soldiers and dogs had to walk everywhere."

More recently, the hunt's small band of followers has included university students keen to see what all the fuss was about, and a couple from Eastern Europe, who were brought once with a friend, then became hooked and continued to turn up even when their friend was absent.

Several of yesterday's followers were hunting for the first time.

One woman, from Catterick Garrison, said: "I don't hunt and I've never hunted, but I live in the countryside and I've come along to give my support."

Francis Brown, 15, of London, was brought along by his grandfather. He said: "I think hunting is part of our heritage and should be allowed to continue."

As well as the sadness, there was also a determination among gathered supporters that the ban would not sound the death knell for hunting. Joint master Derek Watkins said hunting was a way of life for him and he was not going to give it up easily.

As Catterick Beagles prepares to convert to following an artificial trail, some of its dogs will be retrained, others will be found new homes - but the older dogs, unable to learn new tricks, will have to be destroyed.

"In some ways, this is just the next stage in the fight," said Mr Watkins.

"We will try everything we can to keep the pack viable in the short-term. In the long-term, we anticipate a return to traditional hunting and I hope this is not a historic day."

Scores of hunts will meet again this weekend and John Haigh, Yorkshire regional director of the Countryside Alliance, believes the legislation is so confusing that many huntsmen may unintentionally fall foul of the law.

While it will still be legal to shoot foxes, the legislation bans all hunting with hounds, including the pursuit of hares and stags.

Mr Haigh said he thought trail hunting, which involves laying an artificial scent of a fox, would prove a popular alternative.

He said: ''Trail hunting most closely resembles fox hunting. A trail is laid using the scent of a dead fox to simulate the hard work involved in hunting an actual fox. However, if, while you are trailing a scent, the hounds find a real fox unintentionally, then one assumes that is not illegal because there was no intention to hunt the fox.

''The Act is all about intent. For the Crown Prosecution Service to bring a case, they would have to prove intent. That is why this law is unenforceable and unjust.''

The Weardale and Tees Valley pack was hunting legally for the last time in the valleys near Westgate yesterday. About 25 to 30 hunters turned up for the final meeting before the law changed, with one supporter travelling 200 miles from Gloucestershire.

Angus Thompson said: "We put on a brave face and tried to enjoy ourselves."

The hunt meets at the Mill Race, Wolsingham, at 11am tomorrow.