Murder

[Kev Berry]

was up at the maggot farm this morning, middle of nowhere for obvious reasons.
I was surrounded by young pheasants hoping I was going to feed them, following me around like chickens.

and some sad b******s are going to shoot them in a week or two---its not sport, its just live target practice.
I bet these little sods haven't even flown yet, no doubt they will have a keeper or two to literally throw them up in the air so its a "sporting" shot, cant shoot sitting birds ya know

(no Im not anti hunting, just anti live target practising)

[juttle]

Proper walked up shooting is something I used to enjoy. This was mainly pheasants who’d survived their first season by sitting tight when the beaters went by. These buggers had learnt a few tricks like running back behind the guns and disappearing into the trees, but when they did take to the wing they were going like hell, jinking left and right and climbing like homesick angels! Hit one of those and you’ve pulled off a decent shot! First year birds rarely get above 20 feet over the line of guns which makes a “sporting day” nothing more than mass slaughter.

I once won a days driven shooting and took to my allotted peg. The beaters started, the guns started knocking birds out of the sky, some of which you could have clubbed with the gunstock if you held your gun by the barrels. Even at that height a lot of the birds escaped. I’m stood with my gun broken in the midst of this chaos when the guy on the next peg shouts over to ask if I have a problem. I told him that I’d not seen anything worth shooting at yet.

We moved on to the next drive and my peg number had disappeared!

Fu.ck ‘em, I left them to it!

[Mike J]

That oddity living in the New Forest is going to love all this.

[Kev Berry]

That oddity living in the New Forest is going to love all this.

so you think it ok to have live target practice then Mike? Im in the "if you going to eat it then its ok to shoot it" camp---mass slaughter isnt right, especially as most of them DONT get eaten
walking up wild pheasant is a bit different from shooting young ones who need kicking to take to the air, the ones running round my feet the other day looked like battered battery farm chickens

[Mike J]

That oddity living in the New Forest is going to love all this.

so you think it ok to have live target practice then Mike? Im in the "if you going to eat it then its ok to shoot it" camp---mass slaughter isnt right, especially as most of them DONT get eaten
walking up wild pheasant is a bit different from shooting young ones who need kicking to take to the air, the ones running round my feet the other day looked like battered battery farm chickens

What I like and dislike isn't at question.
Staking out a live goat to shoot a tiger is.

[Kev Berry]

That oddity living in the New Forest is going to love all this.

so you think it ok to have live target practice then Mike? Im in the "if you going to eat it then its ok to shoot it" camp---mass slaughter isnt right, especially as most of them DONT get eaten
walking up wild pheasant is a bit different from shooting young ones who need kicking to take to the air, the ones running round my feet the other day looked like battered battery farm chickens

What I like and dislike isn't at question.
Staking out a live goat to shoot a tiger is.

Im not on about tiger shooting Mike (could always substitute the New Forest oddity for the goat )

Just had the lass from maggot farm come in---she been telling me how she has a "pet" c*ck pheasant up there, he doesn't need to go off the farm as she feeds him every day and he has somehow evaded being shot because of this.
Wouldn't like to be the bloke to put his hand up and say hes shot her pet
she had to get out her van on the way here and shoo all the new pheasants out her way

[Mike J]

Actually I used to enjoy a days rough shooting from a 14year old with a Webley .410 up to 50+ with a double twelve.
Plenty of rough and very little shooting as the saying goes eh Juttle.

I dont have an opinion on driven shooting, but when I went duck shooting in NZ none of the family told me that when I shot my first Paradise Duck I had to kill its mate because would keep flying around quacking until it died of exhaustion. Never shot another duck anywhere, from that day to this.

[juttle]

Actually I used to enjoy a days rough shooting from a 14year old with a Webley .410 up to 50+ with a double twelve.
Plenty of rough and very little shooting as the saying goes eh Juttle.

Ain’t that the truth! I must’ve walked miles up hill and down dale on some right rough old stuff, even my poor old springer was knackered at the end of it, without firing a shot. An average day would result in a couple of rabbits and, if I was very lucky, a pheasant. Personally, I’d rather have a brace of woodies rather than the pheasant but beggars, etc...

It was always a good day out and coming away with anything was a result. As far away as possible from the mass slaughter that is driven game!

[wid]

Never been much for guns but love hunting this way, much fairer odds

[juttle]

Yep, done that as well! We, my shooting mates, had four Harris’s between us as well as the springers and an assortment of ferrets. You’re right, a much better way of doing things!

[Monts]

was up at the maggot farm this morning, middle of nowhere for obvious reasons.
I was surrounded by young pheasants hoping I was going to feed them, following me around like chickens.

and some sad b******s are going to shoot them in a week or two---its not sport, its just live target practice.
I bet these little sods haven't even flown yet, no doubt they will have a keeper or two to literally throw them up in the air so its a "sporting" shot, cant shoot sitting birds ya know

(no Im not anti hunting, just anti live target practising)

That sounds as sporting as shooting Fool Hens!

[Stewlaws]

Kev ... As a passionate fieldsports advocate, as ever there are extremes in the community, mostly from ignorance, Im not going to condone all behaviour or the try to defend the indefensible but more good comes from the shooting fraternity than from those that tarnish it through ignorant behaviour, the ethos of shooting is defendable, there are so many facets that to look at it one dimensionally is unjust. But agree there are and is an as#hole element in every sport, but fieldsports is the very fabric of our countryside. Long may it continue to be....

Look forward to filling your glass next weekend mate!

[Kev Berry]

Kev ... As a passionate fieldsports advocate, as ever there are extremes in the community, mostly from ignorance, Im not going to condone all behaviour or the try to defend the indefensible but more good comes from the shooting fraternity than from those that tarnish it through ignorant behaviour, the ethos of shooting is defendable, there are so many facets that to look at it one dimensionally is unjust. But agree there are and is an as#hole element in every sport, but fieldsports is the very fabric of our countryside. Long may it continue to be....

Look forward to filling your glass next weekend mate!

I fully agree Stew, without the hunting shooting and fishing the countryside would be fecked.
However the "corporate days out" is nothing to do with sport its just money. Hundreds of young birds blasted to pieces, unable to be eaten as they were mostly blasted from a very short distance, you certainly cant class it as a fieldsport. Like going into a chicken shed with a shotgun and calling it sport

[Stewlaws]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

[Kev Berry]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

driven shoots with high birds and difficult shots are streets apart from what I refer to Stew--as I think you know

[Stewlaws]

Then on that I'll agree... Catch up Saturday kev

[Kev Berry]

Then on that I'll agree... Catch up Saturday kev

cant wait

[Mike J]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

Exactly!


Kev,
You should refer to my previous analogy before casting futher stones onto a calm water.

[Kev Berry]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

Exactly!


Kev,
You should refer to my previous analogy before casting futher stones onto a calm water.

I will throw as many stones as I like Mike----because some "good" comes out of shooting birds barely able to fly, and that think all humans carry a bucket of wheat to feed them, doesn't make it ok to have live target practice with them

[Mike J]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

Exactly!


Kev,
You should refer to my previous analogy before casting futher stones onto a calm water.

I will throw as many stones as I like Mike----because some "good" comes out of shooting birds barely able to fly, and that think all humans carry a bucket of wheat to feed them, doesn't make it ok to have live target practice with them

So what is your public condemnation actually aimed at achieving?
Shooting has its own governing body why not voice your objections to them https://basc.org.uk/about-basc/contact-us/

Your distaste is understandable but throwing stones when your inside a glasshouse is unhelpful and could result in a negative response.

[Kev Berry]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

Exactly!


Kev,
You should refer to my previous analogy before casting futher stones onto a calm water.

I will throw as many stones as I like Mike----because some "good" comes out of shooting birds barely able to fly, and that think all humans carry a bucket of wheat to feed them, doesn't make it ok to have live target practice with them

So what is your public condemnation actually aimed at achieving?
Shooting has its own governing body why not voice your objections to them https://basc.org.uk/about-basc/contact-us/

Your distaste is understandable but throwing stones when your inside a glasshouse is unhelpful and could result in a negative response.

I didnt realise I was chucking stones in a glass house

[Mike J]

Having been on the business end of commercial shoots kev: again I've seen various aspects that encompasses the spectrum between the acceptable face of driven shooting and the unacceptable...again, to blanket the concept that it's all as you describe would be do it a disservice.

Exactly!


Kev,
You should refer to my previous analogy before casting futher stones onto a calm water.

I will throw as many stones as I like Mike----because some "good" comes out of shooting birds barely able to fly, and that think all humans carry a bucket of wheat to feed them, doesn't make it ok to have live target practice with them

So what is your public condemnation actually aimed at achieving?
Shooting has its own governing body why not voice your objections to them https://basc.org.uk/about-basc/contact-us/

Your distaste is understandable but throwing stones when your inside a glasshouse is unhelpful and could result in a negative response.

I didnt realise I was chucking stones in a glass house

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