IT was an encounter which might have been unthinkable just nine months ago - on one side of the fence were a vixen on heat and a dog fox, on the other more than 60 foxhounds, along with huntsman Joe Townsend. The foxes looked at the hounds, the hounds looked at the foxes, and then they both went their separate ways.

"They came right to the fence while we were going along the road, there was not five yards between my hounds and the foxes," Joe says. "But the hounds stayed with me, not a hound went. If there had been a word from me, they would have been over like a shot, and some of the older ones, who knew what it was about, were keen to get over, but they never moved."

Last weekend's unexpected meeting was one of the first occasions when Joe had been able to take some of the 40 couple of hounds of the Hurworth Hunt onto the roads to exercise. For eight months, they have been confined to the three small fields surrounding their kennels at West Rounton, between Darlington and Northallerton, the victims of restrictions introduced to try and halt the spread of foot-and-mouth.

Yesterday, the Government announced it was to ease those restrictions, allowing hunts to take place from December 17. But this applies only in those counties which have never been hit by the disease, and, even then, only if the hunt's application for a licence is approved. It means hunts in the North-East and North Yorkshire will still be unable to operate, with some writing off the whole season, which runs until the end of March.

For the Hurworth, the ban, introduced voluntarily in mid-February before it was made compulsory by the Government, has caused severe financial pressure. Two of the staff, the whipper-in, who helps look after the hounds, and the stud groom, have been laid off, leaving Joe as the only full-time employee. "There has been none of the normal income for the hunt," he says. "Mainly our income is from the subscriptions and our point-to-point, but we lost the point-to-point in the spring and we had to cancel our spring hunt ball. We have had a good number of people coming forward to give their subscriptions to the hunt so they can keep us going, and we have done lots of small functions."

As well as a race night and a puppy show, the hunt, which operates between Thirsk and the Tees, east to Stokesley and west to Darlington, also held big screen hunting nights, when a video of a hunt is put on in a pub, and supporters can donate cash.

And the ban did not stop the Hurworth holding its opening day meeting, this year on October 27. But, although it provided an opportunity for hunt supporters to gather together, they were not able to actually go hunting, and instead had to turn for home.

The neighbouring Zetland Hunt, which roughly covers the triangle between Darlington, Richmond and Bowes, held its first meeting of the season earlier this month but, again, once they had gathered in the centre of the village of Aldbrough St John, near Richmond, the hounds headed back to their kennels and the supporters back to their homes.

"A fair few people came out on their horses but it was very sad, it was like a wake," says huntsman David Jukes. "It was just grim. There were a lot of people we hadn't seen since last season, and it all seemed so strange. It was something we had done every year for such a long time, but then to just go home afterwards was very strange.

"I wore my scarlet coat with the hounds, but one or two just came on their horses and didn't get dressed up properly, it would have seemed rather ridiculous."

Like Joe at the Hurworth, David is the only full-time employee kept on by the hunt, after the groom, the whipper-in and the kennelman were let go. But the Zetland has also suffered from being unable to pick up fallen farm stock, used to feed the hounds, until recently. Instead, the hunt's 70-strong pack has been fed on bought food, at a cost of £100 a month.

"Luckily, the subscriptions have kept up, despite people knowing there was a good chance there would not be any hunting for them," David says. "We have also had to rely on fund-raising events, because we haven't got rich people hunting like there used to be in the old days, it is ordinary people . We have had a hunt ball, a hog roast, we have had a tetrathlon - riding, shooting, running and fishing - and we've got an auction of promises next week.

"But it has been very grim, very grim indeed. There is such a circle of life in this job, but it has not happened this year. We're all in limbo." Even before foot-and-mouth, hunting was under threat, vulnerable to widespread feeling among backbench Labour MPs that it should be banned. But the mood among hunt supporters is, if anything, more resilient now, David says.

"Just coping with foot-and-mouth has made everyone very aware of how grim life would be if it were banned," he says. "It has been a good thing in a way, because anyone who was slightly iffy about how committed they were to the hunt, now realises it is worth fighting for. Virtually all hunting people in this area have had a taste of what a ban would be like."

He says they are keen to start hunting again, although it is unlikely to happen before the New Year, but the crucial factor will not be any Government ban, but the feeling among the farmers. "I don't think we should go until the farmers are happy that foot-and-mouth is completely over," he says.

"We have got to be at one with the farmers. The only way we hunt across their land is if they're completely happy. It is only through their goodwill that they tolerate us, and if any farmer said he would rather we didn't, then we won't.

"If there is any chance to go this season then we will, but it is up to the farmers as far as we're concerned. If the Government gave us a licence tomorrow, we would not go unless all the landowners gave us their say-so."

But for Joe Townsend, the need to resume hunting as soon as possible is clear, not least because of his encounter with the two foxes last weekend. "We're starting to get quite considerable reports of foxes about, and them getting in farmyards a lot more. They're a bit more human-friendly, and we're getting farmers reporting that the foxes are getting in their sheds, and they're asking when we can do something about it."