Response from Gemma Doyle (Labour)

If you would to discuss this letter, the issues it touches upon or anything else related to shooting sports or firearms ownership then please join us in the discussions on our Facebook page.

Gunning for justice and reason; Shooting Times

If you would to discuss this article, the issues it touches upon or anything else related to shooting sports or firearms ownership then please join us in the discussions on our Facebook page.

YouTube Video Commentary on UK Gun Owners and Supporters

Wildfowling – Why I Love It?

We are delighted that we have been given permission to cross-post this wonderful article on Wildfowling for you from the Hunt & Gather UK blog, if you enjoy Wildfowling already, have thought about having a go, or have never heard of it and would like to know what it’s all about, give it a read and let us know what you think. If you like what you read, go over to their blog and give it a follow.

Waiting on an evening for the flight. This is a splash or flooded field. The foreshore is just over the sea wall.

Decoys out on the foreshore. Shooting a tidal pool.

Waiting in a hide

Anyone who knows me, will know that I have a passion for wildfowling. To me this is truly wild shooting, that requires fieldcraft. Every bird on the ground is hard earned.I’ve have done plenty of formal driven shooting in my time, but these days it bores me. Dropped at a peg in a 4WD it just feels false, standing there waiting for the birds to come over in approximately the same direction. The wildfowler has to endure hardships, be a better shot, as the birds can come at any angle and speed, often with poor light and terrible weather.

A Wildfowler has to be a trained ornithologist, get to know the habitats of the quarry. The effect of the weather, the tides and the moon on the way the quarry behave. There is something truly magical about waiting for the sun to rise or set, with the noise of the many waders coming from every direction. The excitement and anticipation of the flight that may or may not happen, is like no other feeling for me.

We are very often on our own with our dogs, with not a soul around. I personally love that feeling of isolation, on the very remote and wild British foreshore. I feel utterly removed from the world of modern living, every worry and stress dissolves.

Ducks and geese often flight right on the edge of dusk or dawn, as a hunter we need every sense and instinct available to pick up the birds against the dark sky. The bags are normally small and very hard earned. This combined with the wild nature of the marsh or foreshore is like no other form of shooting to me. We know every sound that our quarry makes and hearing them brings all of our senses alive and our hearts fill with excitement and anticipation.

Bad weather and strong winds tend to make the birds fly lower, trying to escape the wind. This brings them into the range of our guns. Fog or snow makes them follow the contours of the land. You have to learn how the quarry behaves to be successful. The tides will push more birds off of the mud and the moon can make them flight later.

Birds will often follow rivers or drainage ditches. Taking the shortest route across promontories. Like I said every bird is hard earned and deserved. This is proper hunting in my opinion.

I always use a semi automatic 12 bore, with a synthetic stock and barrel that isn’t blued. The salt can soon destroy an unsuitable gun. The advantage of a semi auto, is that I can use heavy loads, without increasing the recoil. The third shot always comes in handy as well. There has been many occasions when I have killed with the 3rd shot. You will need hides, face masks and keep bone still, or the birds will very often see you and veer away at the last minute.

I don’t use Steel, as I personally find that it kills less effectively. The low density of steel 7.8g/cm3 leaks energy more quickly and limits the range of steel. Range is important when wildfowling on occasions. I am happy to use bismuth, tungsten matrix or Hevi-shot that have densities if 9.6g/cm3, 10.8 g/cm3 and 12.0g/cm3 respectively. Lead had a density of 11.0g/cm3 for comparison. I used to carry duck and goose cartridges and switch between them. But this proved to be very difficult on occasions. Last season I shot 42g No.3 Tungsten Matrix at everything and didn’t find this a problem, even shooting teal.

Foreshore, tide, splash (flooded fields), evening, morning and moon flighting all have there difference and appeal to me. On the roosting or feeding grounds look for signs of recent activity, like fresh feathers or droppings, by day. Using decoys and learning to call the ducks and geese, will all increase your chances. I’ve seen birds turned from 100s if yards away, to come over us on many occasions, using a call. Always use a dog or go with someone who has a dog. To me it’s a hunting crime to lose a bird in the water or reeds. On top of this wildfowling is relatively cheap and accessible.

I personally love wildfowling and I suggest that if you haven’t tried it, give it a go. But please don’t be put off, by lack of success at first, like any good hunting discipline, it takes time to develop the skills to become a good Wildfowler.

Enjoy!

My Wildfowling club Gloucestshire Wildfowlers

The ABC of Rabbit Control, DVD Review

Erika was recently fortunate enough to win a DVD entitled ‘The ABC of Rabbit Control’, kindly donated to the Pest Control UK group on Facebook; in return for her good fortune she will provide a review of the DVD bellow.

My general thoughts are that the video is very clear, easy to understand and is professionally presented; so don’t be fooled by the debatable quality of the DVD sleeve insert :-). The subject is covered in detail and is divided into sub topics beginning with an introduction to the various tools available for rabbit control. The tools are then discussed in more detail and demonstrated so that you are familiar with how to use them and how to select the most appropriate tool for your own circumstances. The DVD finishes with an “in the field” demonstration showing traps being setup and baited ready for use and highlights some of the damage caused by the rabbits.

Particularly interesting for myself was the tunnel trap and the ferrets because I am less familiar with these methods in comparison to the live catch traps and other methods mentioned. Having an opportunity to see the traps deployed in the field with the intricacies of where to place the traps discussed is also a very valuable portion of the video which I found to be engaging. If you are new to traps they are covered in great detail, with the various types explained; how and where to set them is covered as well as some historical points.

I am informed the DVD is “a bit dated now”, though it is still available on their new ‘Discount Pest Control’ website, where it is currently available for only £5.99, a bargain for any budding pest controller or someone with their own rabbit problem. On their website you will also find a collection of “live catch” traps which they make themselves.

This DVD is available from Discount Pest Control

What’s it going to be?

Join our discussion on this meme on our Facebook page.

Sums Not Possible

PPC Discussion on Airgun Licensing; Debrief

David Ewing, both a founding member of Firearms UK and the founder of the “No to Airgun Licensing in Scotland” campaign was in the Scottish Parliament on the 3rd of September 2013 to provide an opening address and answers questions on behalf of the twenty one thousand who signed his petition against the Scottish Government’s proposal to introduce a licensing scheme and further restrict low powered airguns in Scotland. The following statement has been prepared by David.

Initially I was incredibly nervous when I sat down at the table. I am not used to giving presentations especially in a venue such as the Scottish Parliament. As the proceedings were running late I had to cut down the length of my opening statement from ten minutes to around five. Unfortunately this threw me a lot and left me having to think on my feet trying to draw together parts of what I had prepared. Gratefully the Committee Chair appeared very understanding which helped put me at ease.

My opening statement basically reiterated that this proposal would be a costly burden on the Police, Taxpayer and on the individual airgun user. I also stated that the proposal was disproportionate when compared to the amount of airgun offenses and so unjustified. The committee quickly moved onto questions and discussions pertaining to the evidence I had provided and the statements I made.

I had provided the committee with examples of the variety of airgun purchase prices which prompted a question as to why people who wanted to own airguns would be against licensing, particularly when airguns can cost £1000 or more. My response was that whilst people with expensive airguns may be OK with paying for a license [the license being a small fraction of the airgun cost] for example serious competitive shooters and possibly professional pest controllers [who could offset the cost]. License fees could have a huge impact on people entering the sport and those with cheaper airguns.

A discussion regarding terminology was had. Mr Tam Parker (The Scottish Association for Country Sports, SACS) correctly stated that referring to airguns as “air weapons” was incorrect unless the airgun was being used to harm or threaten someone. An airgun used for target practise should not be referred to as a “weapon”.

Key amongst the questions was what I thought the cost of implementing a license system would be and how I had obtained the figures. I stated that at the highest end of the scale it could potentially be around £100,000,000 in processing applications using figures obtained from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). Figures which the ACPO had provided regarding the cost of processing applications for Shotgun Certificates and assuming that there would be 500,000 applications. Clearly there is unlikely to be this number of applications so to balance this I offered the more conservative estimate that even if the amount of licence applications was reduced to the more reasonable number of 125,000 it would still cost around £25,000,000 to process, again using the ACPO figures.

There was, in my opinion, a rather cheap shot fired at me by Mr Chic Brodie MSP, who after asking if I had ever been shot with an airgun, to which I responded I had not, informed me that he had been shot with an one. Mr Parker pointed out that Mr Brodie being shot by someone using an airgun is already an illegal offence. It was pointed out by a member of the committee that an airgun licensing scheme would not necessarily prevent that type of crime from occurring.

Mr Brodie then proceeded to make a comment regarding a child killed by someone using an airgun. Mr Brodie’s comment regarding the child’s death offended me greatly, as in my opinion, it was an attempt to exploit a tragedy to try get people’s emotions fired up. I responded to his comment stating that whilst every gun owner would agree that it is a tragedy, there was a similar incident where a child was beaten to death with a golf club yet there is not the same outcry against golf. The death of a child is the death of a child and you cannot blame an inanimate object for the will of the person holding or using it. (Out of interest, I later found out that Mr Brodie is part of the Cross-Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Golf)

Dr Colin Shedden (The British Association for Shooting & Conservation, BASC) mentioned that an unintended consequence of airgun licensing may be that people may not go for an airgun license, they may go straight to SGC/FAC instead.

A member of the committee highlighted that tickets for shooting sports at the Commonwealth games are among the fastest selling.

I feel that the prior to the meeting the committee did not have an understanding of the potential scale of the issue, i.e. the number of airguns in circulation (Dr Shedden confirmed that the 500,000 was a minimum figure), the potential costs of a licensing scheme and the potential impact on airgun sports.

There was a recommendation by Mr Brodie that the petition should be closed, however after a counter recommendation by Mr Carlaw of the Conservative party it was decided that it would be best to leave the petition open while the Justice Secretary responded to some of the issues presented.”

Important Announcement

Yesterday (3rd September 2013) the Scottish Government announced their “Empowering Scotland: The Government’s Programme for Scotland 2013-2014”

On page 67 under the title of “Priorities for the Year Ahead”…

“57. The actions which the Scottish Government takes over the year ahead will aim to further empower communities, continue the vital reform and modernization of Scotland’s justice system, and take the action necessary both to protect public safety and encourage people away from offending:

*the Licensing Bill will create an effective licensing regime for air weapons to protect public safety and give local communities greater influence over aspects of alcohol and civic government licensing in order to preserve public order and safety, reduce crime, and promote public health”

We will continue to provide updates, and outline continued action against such measures as soon as possible

Airgun Licensing on the Radio

URGENT There is to be a radio interview at approximately 17:45 this evening with one of our own and the founder of the No to Airgun licensing in Scotland campaign, please get the word out and listen in to show your support. Further details about today’s important meeting in the Scottish Parliament will be made available as soon as possible.