In *[The Markenmore Mystery][1]* (1922) by J. S. Fletcher, the chief constable was talking to a rural woman, saying:

> “Now, Mrs. Braxfield, listen to me; we know certain things. You’ve been in the habit of going to that spinney, or round about it, very early of a morning, to have a shot at foxes; the foxes, we hear, have given you trouble about your fowls. Is that so?”
> 
> “What if it is?” demanded Mrs. Braxfield. “Do you think I’m going to have my valuable fowls and chickens carried off by foxes? I’m not!—**not for all the hunting men in the country!** So there! I wish I could shoot every fox that’s running about! As it is, all I’ve done has been to frighten them.”
> 
> “You can settle your affairs about the foxes with the Master of Foxhounds, Mrs. Braxfield,” said the Chief Constable good-humouredly. “**It’s a truly awful crime to shoot a fox, in the opinion of hunting people**, but it’s one that doesn’t come within police regulations. But now, Mrs. Braxfield, what did you use in shooting at the foxes? Was it a rifle, or a sporting gun, or a revolver? Or—was it an automatic pistol? Come!”

I read in Wikipedia that [fox hunting][2] is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, **the killing of a fox**, so, how can a hunting man consider that shooting a fox is an awful crime while he himself kills them?! 


  [1]: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59818/59818-h/59818-h.htm#toc1
  [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_hunting