I used to ride with the hunt as a teenager. My parents don’t hunt, so it was my female friends and female owner of the a horse I used to ride and look after that would have influenced me. I didn’t really talk to any of the men because I didn’t know them all that well.
The only voices opposing fox hunting back then were the same voices that opposed eating meat. I can’t remember giving the issue much thought, but I suppose if I’d been asked I would have considered it to be a bit like vegetarianism; a valid opinion with a valid counter opinion. We lived in a farming community and the only contexts in which foxes were ever spoken of were negative, eg. keeping them out so they couldn’t kill the chickens, friends coming into school upset because a fox got their chickens, make sure the bin lid is on securely or you’ll attract foxes, etc. Shooting and poisoning other pests (rats, moles, etc) was a normal part of life, so I’m not surprised that the idea of killing foxes did not seem strange.
Now, as an adult, I think that fox hunting is unnecessarily cruel and supported the ban. Shooting is far more humane, and living our lives in such a way as to discourage their over-population (not leaving food waste where they can get it and so forth) is the gold standard. Regarding blood sports in general, I’m on the fence. My FIL shoots pheasants and I’m always happy to take and eat what he kills as I figure their lives are no more miserable than supermarket chickens (even so-called free range ones - I see how they actually live).
I’m sure I’ll be flamed for this, but I thought it might be interesting to give a view from behind enemy lines, so to speak.