I believe that it wasn't that the Anglo-Saxons were reluctant to hunt, but because it was easier and less dangerous to eat domesticated farm animals, than it was to eat wild animals. Farming is almost a guaranteed success, whilst hunting is not, one day you may not get anything, the next you may etc. another reason is that it is expensive. If you were to go out hunting, you would need: Men, Tools, Some sought of Weapon probably a spear as I will talk about later, and perhaps dogs as well. So you have to buy a lot and here is how much it may amount to: Firstly the Dog. There were 3 types of dogs in Anglo-Saxon society, however they were all mongrels and that word does also come from the OE - "gemong" meaning mixture. The largest dog was similar to the modern day Deerhound, but small not 75cm in height but 55-65cm, as tall as an Alsatian. These were used as Hunting hounds or as guard dogs. The next type was slightly smaller (48-56cm in height) and was like a modern day Collie and was used as a sheep dog. Finally, the smallest dog may have been similar to a Jack Russell Terrier or another type of terrier, and was predominantly used to keep rats away. Now you want a hunting dog. Lets say you want it young, not when its eyes are still shut, as it will still need its mother, but young is a good age, easy to train. This young pup will cost you £600 (modern day). However, as you are working your farm, you won't really have time to train it, so why not buy instead a 1 year old, probably slightly well trained, but it will cost you £1,200! Now,you'll need a spear, spears are good, as they have long range, and especially good against the Wild Boar, as it can get it right in the throat. However, this spear may need a crossguard. Why? well wild boar could sometimes push themselves up the spear and still keep fighting until they died. So this spear will cost you £660, and £1,770 if you want a shield as well. So the total price is at the most £2,970 and at the least £1,260! You'll also need more men and the business is very dangerous, why well England had: Boars, Bears and Wolves all lurking in the woods! Wolves and Bears are always thought of as the "Kings of the Forest", wolves are good in packs, whilst the bear is a colossal beast. However, the bear only ways around 100lb-265lb however standing upright it would be around 5-10ft! But, the bear is thought to have "gone" in 500 BC with a few remaining, and becoming extinct in 1000 AD, so you are not really likely to meet a bear. Wolves were prominent in the woods, if met in one, you could get away, but if you met a pack and provoked it maybe not (of course depending on numbers and other stuff). However, I want to talk about the wild boar. The boar is a huge part of Germanic culture, from Ing (Frey) riding one to the Suebi wearing boar skins. There are also 3 helmets featuring boars on them: Benty Grange, Pioneer and Sutton Hoo out of 4 found helmets! The wild boar was a worthy foe, 6 ft in length and 3.5 in height, weighing 200 lb and sometimes even up to 700! The boar was also best when it was in the worst situations, you had to always concentrate on hitting it through the mouth or throat and make sure it was dead. However, it was also really nice and used at Yule. However, it was easier to farm. People wouldn't have enough money to feed all the boars (domesticated) in winter and so would salt them all besides one, which they would eat at Yule with apples! Again, we get back to the point that it is easier to farm then hunt. Hunting requires a lot of money, is very dangerous and time consuming. Why stop farming to go out hunting so you can get food when you could just get it hazard "free" and at a more affordable cost. This is why hunting developed into a higher class sport. The king/Ealdorman/Thegn could afford many dogs, tools and men, whilst with a Ceorl it wouldn't be necessary. Since the neolithic times, hunting had become more like a sport and a luxury, and to put it simply somebody who isn't high up can't really afford to do that if they can do it in a more efficient way!
Here are the websites I used and these are good, especially the first one for understanding Hunting in Anglo-Saxon England:
http://www.regia.org/research/misc/fauna.htm Animals and Hunting
http://thethegns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/the-dog.html Dogs
http://thethegns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/boar.html Boars
http://www.regia.org/research/misc/costs.htm Prices (note: for the dog prices I had to use a "king's" dogs so the price may have actually been cheaper)
http://thethegns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/ajt11.html Wolves
http://thethegns.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/bear.html Bears
Sorry it was quite long!!!