RSPB have pheasant shoots in their sights

Longlowdog

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
Ban everything that you don't agree with....
here's my list;
alcohol. joggers. cyclists, dog owners who don't own sufficient ground to exercise them on, drugs, vegans, vegetarians, gambling to name a few. See anything there you disagree with? Stuff you, I want it banned regardless of your point of view, I'll shout loudest and pay Packham to back me you'll lose and that will be that. Okay?
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
I think it's inevitable, shooting has changed and not for the better. I'm not anti shooting, I've been shooting since I was a teenager and have seen things change dramatically, I shoot a lot and have been on all sorts of days from small walked up to big bag big ££ high bird days at big-name shoots

I think if there is any hope of saving it there needs to be some self-regulation and fast ! - I think there needs to be a cap on bag size, a ban on none wild ducks and any commercial shoot must be able to prove market/demand for the bag shot

without the above, I fear it will be lost completely
 
We have a single Boxing day shoot just for the family. Four guns, two drives, unpaid beaters, get approx 6 to 8 birds that have strayed from neighbouring shoots, they are de-breasted, sliced, breadcrumbed and lightly fried in olive oil and herbs and eaten that day. Beautiful. No waste. Have a good time. Not affecting any neighbours. Feeding wild birds too from the grain we put out. Does this really need banning?
The excesses of the few will ruin it for the rest of us I am afraid.
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
We have a single Boxing day shoot just for the family. Four guns, two drives, unpaid beaters, get approx 6 to 8 birds that have strayed from neighbouring shoots, they are de-breasted, sliced, breadcrumbed and lightly fried in olive oil and herbs and eaten that day. Beautiful. No waste. Have a good time. Not affecting any neighbours. Feeding wild birds too from the grain we put out. Does this really need banning?
The excesses of the few will ruin it for the rest of us I am afraid.

isn't that technically theft? You are actively feeding /attracting birds form another shoot?

not many I understand but the principle is the same
 

Beefsmith

Member
It’s not just the animal side of things because hmrc is also on the prowl. I’m involved with two shoots. Basically each on has an annual income from gun fees of £40,000. This isn’t invoiced and is paid out of the guns personal bank accounts in cash. You would think after tax!
Then there’s the costs of the shoots, birds, feed, pen materials etc. This leaves a profit which the owners of the shoot keeps.
There’s no vat charged and no paperwork other than a shoot rule book and each gun has to obviously have proof of insurance. So that’s just two local small shoots turning over £80,000 per year as pure cash.
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
You may not like something but why BAN it? Fines, prison, criminal record to follow. Surely folk should broadly be able to do what they want. I just don’t understand the desire people have to outlaw things all the time.

Motorcycles kill huge numbers of people every year and pee me off hugely as some of our local roads are used as race tracks. Should they be banned? No.

If I ruled the country I’d start with a good long list of things I’d legalise because at the end of the day it should be a free country provided law and order are kept.

But do we all approve of these massive shoots? Lots of things are controlled by legislation without being banned. Maybe we should do away with closed seasons, or do you accept that limitations on excesses are not unreasonable? Nobody has suggested banning cars but I don't see any mass protests against the 30mph speed limit!
 

bumkin

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
pembrokeshire
isn't that technically theft? You are actively feeding /attracting birds form another shoot?

not many I understand but the principle is the same
i dont think its theft as the birds have already wandered off he is just feeding them on his place so they dont go any further, i tried to have a shoot on my farm but the incidents of poor sportsmanship and ignorance were intolerable i didnt believe you could find so many ignorant selfish greedy and lazy people in one group it put me off shooting altogether
 

Clive

Staff Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lichfield
i dont think its theft as the birds have already wandered off he is just feeding them on his place so they dont go any further, i tried to have a shoot on my farm but the incidents of poor sportsmanship and ignorance were intolerable i didnt believe you could find so many ignorant selfish greedy and lazy people in one group it put me off shooting altogether


"wandered off" to the feeders put out .................... errrrrmm !
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
isn't that technically theft? You are actively feeding /attracting birds form another shoot?

not many I understand but the principle is the same
I suspect this is tongue in cheek, but pheasants are wild birds, you have no claim to them once they have left your property.
Half the shoots in this area would not be anywhere near as good if it was not for the generosity of a nearby Arab Sheikh :)
 

ajcc

Member
Livestock Farmer
Let’s not forget for every full time keepered commercial shoot there are probably ten or more farm shoots within a ten mile radius reaping the benefit and enjoying sport thanks to wandering game birds and professional vermin control input.
There is a British game alliance inspection accreditation process. A new industry initiative, couple of years old but. ....just like fbbl or red tractor and has just the same shortcomings . Voluntary...ie “he who pays the piper calls the tune.”
Commercial shooting needs tightened legislation cos money corrupts sport.
Ps I love shooting 80 bird days most weeks and my son is a keeper “currently”on a BGA accredited commercial shoot.
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
I see in today’s Times that Zac Goldsmith is proposing to introduce a total ban on heather burning on blanket bog as “voluntary measures” hadn’t worked egged on by Friends of the Earth who are calling for “no loopholes that could let landowners off the hook”.

Arsonists wet dream
 
I get the appeal of shooting if there's a challenge. We drove past the local shoot the other day all lined up along a banking sited next to their feeding grounds. If you missed the one you were aiming at you would more than likely hit another. Might as well go to the butchers and shoot them off the hook. That to me is the sort of shooting that needs stopping.
 

Pilatus

Member
Location
cotswolds
Pictures of a brace of pheasants thrown on road verge,as presented to the guns to take home, are showing up on our local crime watch WhatsApp page.
Looks as though some guns don’t really want the pheasants so dump them on the roadside, as I expect some of their wives would faint at the sight of a brace of dead pheasants, and that is before plucking and dressing the pheasants!!!!!!!
I say the above in all seriousness, the above practice is absolutely appalling.
The policeman who runs the Rural
Crime watch has quite rightly suggested to Gamekeeper’s and shoot hosts that they discretely get the above problem resolved, quite rightly so in my opinion.
 

Hampton

Member
BASIS
Location
Shropshire
Lost my old pointer back in the summer, missed him when i went for the 1st time this season, he loved picking up when i was shooting on the peg, the problem was he loved it so much he picked the guys birds up that was standing next to me, it was not uncommon to have a dozen or so birds dropped at your feet.:ROFLMAO: Will have to try and train the next one to a higher standard.
I once had a lab that, if I was shooting badly, would go and sit by another gun. As if to say “I’m not associating myself with that useless ...”
 

Ivorbiggun

Member
Location
Norfolk
It’s about time they banned it, just imagine you lived on a council estate and you and your mates were shooting birds you had bred. Now when the old bill turn up you explain it’s ok I’ve bred them so me and my mates can have some fun. How long will it be before you’re behind bars.
And if all these people on shoots enjoy shooting at things then send them to a war torn country where are solders are trying to make it safe. I’m sure they would love a weekend off while you take over. But then shooting some poor defenceless bird is a bit different to something that’s going to shoot back.
 

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