FOX-hunters were due to be out in force across Hampshire today staging their first official events since their bloodsport was outlawed.

Enthusiasts were expected to gather in the New Forest and near Winchester in defiance of the ban on hunting with hounds, which came into force yesterday.

They have claimed they are meeting merely to exercise their horses and dogs.

It was due to be the first test of the new law with significant numbers of anti-hunting campaigners expected to turn out as well.

The Hampshire Hunt was scheduled to meet at Moundsmere Manor, Preston Candover, north of Alresford.

Members of the New Forest Hounds were meeting at Burley.

The group's joint secretary Graham Ferris said the group would comply with the new law by calling off the hounds if they chased a fox.

One member, Hampshire soldier Alan Whitbread, says the battle to save hunting is the only war worth fighting.

The Gulf War veteran, who is based at Marchwood military port, is among those calling for the ban to be overturned.

He said: "The Army has sent me to war three times in the past decade, but this is the only war worth fighting.

"It's a fight for democracy and the freedom to go where you want and do what you want."

Hunt supporters hope the ban, which came into force yesterday, will be overturned in the courts or repealed by an incoming Conservative government.

Sergeant Whitbread added: "It's not the end, it's the beginning. We are not going to give up."

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the serviceman was speaking in a "personal and private capacity" and declined to make any further comment.

The New Forest Hounds ride across Crown land controlled by the Forestry Commission.

Later this year they will ask the commission for consent to stage trail hunting, which involves a cloth soaked in a fox's urine being dragged across the countryside to give the hounds a scent to follow.

The ban on fox hunting has been welcomed by Ken James of the New Forest Animal Protection Group.

He described seeing hunt supporters "whooping with delight" at the death of a fox and added: "It's killing for entertainment - that's what upsets me."