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Joined: Nov 2006
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,696 Likes: 97 |
Just saw on a video from Fieldsports Britain that pigeon and crow shooting has been banned. Along with some other species. Pigeon shooting is a big thing in the UK and it helps the farmers out as well.
Mike Proctor
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,464 Likes: 133
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,464 Likes: 133 |
They also shoot jays and various other bird species they consider to be pests. That one caused me a problem on a driven shoot a few years back. Birds popping out of the cover and coming my way, too small to be either pheasants or partridge and wrong profile to be woodcock. But the Scot next to me keeps yelling "Shoot, shoot" . . . so I finally do whack one of the little critters. Walked over to collect it, showed it to the man who was running the shoot. Asked whether it was blackbirds we were supposed to shoot. Nope. My Scottish shooting companion had been referring to jays. Turns out it's not legal to shoot blackbirds . . . and I was still 23 short to make a pie.
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,554 Likes: 184
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 5,554 Likes: 184 |
USAF RET 1971-95
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Joined: May 2008
Posts: 8,158 Likes: 114
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 8,158 Likes: 114 |
What?? No more George Digweed and Tony Crow shooting pest birds in Old Blimey-- unbelieveable long range kills made by these two top clays shooters--
In MI- the native pheasants are way down, so in off-seasons, I shoot crows and feral pigeons-- the dairy farms nearby have large nubers of pigeons, blackbirds, and crows- all legal. We often get seagulls dropping in range on the fields where we set out our decoys- wish they were legal, along with doves- But what does England hope to gain by banning the killing of nuisance birds? You tell me.. RWTF
"The field is the touchstone of the man"..
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 460 Likes: 12
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 460 Likes: 12 |
The thread above is not very accurate: In the UK, a number of species have been controlled by shooting for various reason such as protecting crops, farm livestock, wildlife, and some health and safety reasons. These species included pigeons, crows and others. This was permitted under what was known as 'General Licenses'. The legality of these 'General Licenses' was challenged by a pressure group called 'Wild Justice' which is partly fronted by a well known BBC wildlife programme presenter. It became clear to Natural England (the Government body who administer and issue the licenses) that the current licences were badly drafted and would not stand up to legal challenge in court, so the licences were revoked on 26th April. New licences are being prepared to replace these with altered wording (and probably more onerous on the shooter and farmer) to fully comply with the law. The first has already been issued and others are expected to follow in days. It remains to be seen how this will alter the ability to use shooting to control these problem species. It is important to realise that these licences were in place to control pests - not for either sporting or hunting purposes. I hope that the above is reasonably clear, but this has been a very sudden and rapidly changing situation, and there may be various aspects that are not yet apparent.
To summarise - there is no 'ban' as such; existing licenses were withdrawn, but replacements are being issued. The likely effect is a (few days) cessation of the ability to control pest species, but more onerous conditions applicable to controlling pest species in the future.
Last edited by JohnfromUK; 04/27/19 02:48 AM.
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,464 Likes: 133
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,464 Likes: 133 |
Not to say we have a better way of doing things on this side of the pond . . . but it would seem that our system makes more sense. One only needs a hunting license to shoot species that are classified as game, and on which there is an established season, bag limit, shooting hours, etc. Otherwise, if a species is not either protected or classified as game, it can be shot by anyone whether they have a hunting license or not. I'm sure farmers who don't hunt appreciate being able to shoot pigeons without purchasing a hunting license.
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,753 Likes: 105
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 2,753 Likes: 105 |
John has explained it well but we don't need a license that we have to pay for to shoot game; if we have permission to be on the land and shoot game by the landowner that's all we need and with no bag limit, all it needs is that it is in season. Some species have specific seasons and some have no season at all such as muntjac deer. The pest species were covered by a General Licence which was free to those involved again with permission to shoot on the land. Hopefully it will all be sorted. Things can be followed by checking in to The British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) for short and the website of the Countryside Alliance. Natural England administer this for England so I'm not sure whether Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland are affected. Also Natural England are just an advisory body for the Government so it is not a ban instituted by the Government in this case; they are too busy (or at least I hope so) in disengaging us from the E.U. who would like to impose all sorts of other restrictions. Lagopus…..
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,238 Likes: 170
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,238 Likes: 170 |
Thanks to our good friends across the pond for setting the record straight.
Good luck chaps!
Greg
Gregory J. Westberg MSG, USA Ret
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 460 Likes: 12
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 460 Likes: 12 |
Thank you Lagopus for some clarifications and filling in a few gaps. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are not affected at present. The licenses there are administered by their own local bodies, not Natural England. In Scotland, the law may also be slightly different (Scots law differs from English law in some details). Perhaps most critically - only England has been challenged in court ....... whether Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are now challenged, or indeed if there is scope to challenge there remains to be seen.
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,696 Likes: 97
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,696 Likes: 97 |
What I saw on YOU TUBE on the Fieldsports Briton channel was the story. I admit I did not watch the entire video but that what I said was how the video started out.
Mike Proctor
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