Yeah, I've been a shooter (and hunter) for over 33 years and have always done so humanely, no matter what I'm the cross hairs.
On the fox thing. Here, they are an introduced species (by the colonists - English a couple hundred years ago) and they do massive damage the native fauna and especially sheep graziers - they target the lambs, eat out their soft parts and leave them to die. So, they are enemy number one and are generally shot on sight on farms. I cull on a big cattle farm one to two times a week and if I see one it's shot, no questions, although I do so humanely of course.
I don't know anything about hunting in the UK or the fox situation.
Thanks for your comment and opinion, and yes you're right, (unfortunately) there are some very terrible humans around.
The fox hunting situation in the UK is... colourful.
Foxes are a native species here but they are deemed a pest for the same reason as you mentioned. Their numbers are high and they wreck havoc on the agriculture industry.
In the UK the ruling/elite class like to ride around the countryside on horse back with packs of hounds until they flush out a fox and chase it to exhaustion and let the dogs rip it to pieces.
The above form of hunting is technically illegal. They are only allowed to trail hunt. Which means someone goes out before the hunt and drags a bag that is scented for the hounds to follow, seems harmless enough on paper, and the police allow them to do that. However while they're chasing the scent, obviously they're going to come across foxes anyway, and they end up getting shredded. But it's legal because "they didn't mean to".
They should be culled humanely as you do. But our ruling class are cruel and terrible humans.
Hunting foxes from horseback with hounds is what they were brought here for also, by those ruling-class assholes. It seems a rather antiquated concept these days.
Those ruling-class individuals also sent two of my relatives to the Port Arthur penal colony for minor offences back in the early 1800's and thought that brutal place was humane, especially considering both were initially handed death penalties which were commuted to transportation. Port Arthur was generally a death sentence though, however my ancestors survived their twenty year sentences. I'm proud of them.
Times were different back then I guess, there's no more convict transportation...maybe it's time to end hunting foxes with hounds?