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Hunt supporters across the West are steeling themselves for five more years of the ban they hate, after it became clear a new government may not mean a repeal of the Hunting Act.

Not only has the new Liberal-Conservative coalition quietly dropped any explicit mention of tackling the hunting ban, any free vote appears doomed to fail too.

When the Conservatives fell short of an overall majority, it also meant the hunting campaign appears to have fallen short of a majority of pro-hunting MPs in the new parliament.

Pro-hunt campaigners are now pinning their hopes on a Great Repeal Bill announced yesterday by the coalition government, which will undo New Labour legislation on a range of human rights issues.

Whether the hunting issue forms part of that bill remains to be seen and last night both sides of the hunting debate were lobbying in earnest for their cause.

New figures released by the anti-hunt League Against Cruel Sports claimed that if the free vote promised in the Conservative manifesto were to happen, Parliament would decide by 328 votes to 293 to maintain the ban.

The league said it was basing its figures on the views taken by candidates before they were elected.

More than half expressed their opinion on hunting to both the league and the pro-hunting Countryside Alliance, and of those who were voted in last Thursday, 210 supported the ban and 169 wanted it repealed.

"We have extrapolated the total figures based on which parties the MPs who didn't express their views beforehand belong to – a Conservative MP is much more likely to support hunting, for instance," said a league spokesman.

"But these figures, while unscientific, suggest there may be a majority in the new House of Commons which is opposed to repeal. It is also worth noting that if all the Conservative MPs who we predict would vote against repeal did not do so, this would still leave a majority against repeal of 13," he added.

Leading figures in the West's pro-hunting community also played down the chances of the Government immediately repealing the Act.

Tory MP James Gray said: "I've never taken the view that hunting is an incredibly important issue at a time like this, and frankly hunting is not top of the agenda."

The Countryside Alliance's Wessex spokeswoman Delly Everard said: "David Cameron is committed to repealing the Hunting Act; however, there are much more important issues affecting the countryside.

"We will be lobbying all MPs, including the new intake, to inform them of our rural manifesto, which outlines five top priorities, including the repeal of the Hunting Act," she added.

The Countryside Alliance celebrated some notable Parliamentary wins – its own chief executive Simon Hart was elected to become an MP in west Wales, and has since announced he will stand down as boss of the lobby group.

But when Nick Clegg and David Cameron released their manifesto, the Tories' promised free vote on hunting was conspicuous by its absence.

The alliance's chairman and Labour MP Kate Hoey said it would continue the fight.

She said: "If there is an opportunity to push for the repeal of the Hunting Act we will take it. But even if that is not possible in the short term, the election was still a huge step towards repeal.

"One thing is certain, there will be many more MPs who understand the value the countryside and rural communities in the next Parliament than there were in the last one," she added.

Tim Bonner, spokesman for the alliance, said: "We are very confident that at some stage during the five-year Parliament the manifesto commitment will be brought forward."