THERE was a cheerfully defiant mood of optimism in the country pursuits tent at the North Devon Show this year.

Last year the Journal reported that sheer bloody-mindedness had helped rural activities such as hunting and shooting to thrive in the area, and nothing seemed to have changed since then.

That determination, and attachment to traditional ways, had, if anything, become stronger, partly thanks to the change of Government earlier this year.

Stallholders, many still angry about the ban on hunting with dogs, welcomed the fact that Conservative ministers were now in power.

The Kellaway family from West Down — mother Paula, father Gordon, and son Andrew — run the North Devon Beagles hunt.

Andrew's 10-year-old son, Lewis, a junior whip, was also there.

As well as letting children pet their highly-trained pedigree dogs, they were on hand to explain what they did in the field now, instead of "real hunting".

Andrew said the NDB had continued to enjoy a boost in popularity since the 2005 hunting ban, partly in a mood of rebellion.

Landowners in North Devon still welcomed the hunt on to their land to follow man-made trails or to catch rabbits, both lawful activities.

Andrew, who works as a landscape gardener, said: "It's good for people to come and see the dogs and we can explain what we do. People are interested in them."

And he added: "I'm optimistic the new Government will overturn the hunting ban.

"It would go back to the way it was and it would stay just as popular. I think country people would be happy if it changed.

"They felt victimised for something they had done for generations. It would bring back the tradition."

The hunt meets every Saturday between September and mid-March as well as some Wednesdays and more regularly over the Christmas period. It typically attracts between 30 and 40 followers, with up to 100 on Boxing Day.

Nearby in the packed-out marquee, the stand of the North Devon Working Gundog Club, which has more than 650 members — aged between four and 91 — used the show once again as a valuable marketing tool.

Chairman Maurice Stanbury, from Molland, said people liked to ask specific questions about gundog training and the club was in rude health, having just celebrated its 25th anniversary

As a hawk display got under way in the show ring outside, the Journal caught up with Brian Mitchell, the head gamekeeper at the Castle Hill estate at Filleigh.

Mr Mitchell is the chairman of the Devon and Somerset branch of The National Gamekeepers' Organisation, which has been going for 13 years.

He said the group had more than 16,000 members, including more than 5,000 full-time professional gamekeepers.

He too welcomed the recent change of Government, saying it was "brilliant" the Conservatives and Lib Dems were on the side of the countryside, unlike the previous Labour administration.

"Shooting in North Devon is on a big high," he said.

"There are now more gamekeepers employed and there is a large following."

There is no shortage of people who want to be beaters or pickers-up.

Responding to criticism from some quarters that the rearing of game birds, particularly pheasants, was cruel or wasteful, he said that all the birds shot in North Devon were used for human food.

And the industry, he said, brought in millions in tourism money and kept people in jobs.

In fact, the birds he shot were exported to Belgium, he said, because there was a bigger market for game meat on the continent than in the UK.

His stall at the show was all about public relations, he said, and helping explain what gamekeeping was all about.

A few metres away, Paul Messenger was doing a similar job, helping to explain the work of the South West branch of the British Deer Society.

He said the steady increase in deer population had continued during the past year, although the types of deer had not changed, and more and more people were looking for deerstalkers to help reduce numbers.

Deer can cause major headaches for farmers and landowners by eating grass and damaging trees and fencing.

The BDS, which has 1,400 members in the south west, helps to train deer managers to humanely kill the animals.

Mr Messenger was confident the new Government would remove official Forestry Commission deer managers and that work would return to private deerstalkers, such as himself, which would be cheaper for the public.

He said: "Last year people were saying we have got a couple of deer and it's lovely and now they are saying there are 10 deer and we can't cope.

"Next year they will be saying they need someone to come and manage it."

The Journal asked if many people visiting his stall had objected to the killing of deer but he said not, although one person had taken exception to a stuffed fox.

And he had also now branched out into preparing and selling venison at local farmers' markets. The meat was "flying off" the stall, he said.