Err, no. They wandered up my house drive (I live on a small farm) because they thought the hunt was in the area. They refused point blank to speak to me, the men all wore balaclavas and they carried bottles of a substance (might have been ammonia). They then went into one of my fields, loitered there, wandered off over some winter barley, then came back and were near my horses's stables. At that point I phoned the police and there was a bit of a kerfuffle, and they were escorted off the premises.
There is no hunting anywhere near me. The nearest hunting is around 10 miles away. The police told me that they had "heard there was a hunt in the area" and told me to keep an eye out for them coming back, particularly at night, to spray anti-scent stuff. I now have cameras up.
Really quite scary. Particularly strange was the fact that they would not speak to me at all. Not one word. Even though I was perfectly polite and civil to them and asked them at first if they were lost. Just wouldn't reply.
I have heard that they are paid by a couple who live in the nearest city to us and organised by them, often being recruited on university campus.
I found nothing whatsoever heroic about them. You have no idea how idiotic they appear to people who actually live in the countryside and who have to deal with things such as speeding vehicles causing roadkill and fly tipping. And then they come for a day out to tell us how to live our lives! I look forward to the day they hijack a speeding car on a country lane, or a vehicle transporting animals live to slaughter to check their condition - now the latter is a real animal welfare problem that a blind eye is turned to!
Along with halal slaughter and conditions in slaughterhouses generally...