Forestry Commission

[rimfire4969]

Does anyone have a wood on tender from the forestry commission? How are they to work with? Do you have any issues with the public access? What sort of money should I be looking at?

 

If you have any knowledge on this it would be much appreciated, pm me if you would prefer.

 

Thanks

[ColinF]

I rent a Forestry Commission wood for our syndicate shoot.

 

Generally, they are fine to work with, I've had no problems getting permission to build pens etc. They like paperwork and you will need to have risk assessment, management plans etc in place and update them each year, I normally have an annual meeting with them to sort all that out. Public access isn't too much of a problem for us, but our wood doesn't get many people walking through. There is nothing much you can do about it, and the FC just ask that you put a sign up when shooting asking the public to stick to the paths. The lease has a few restrictions in it, we cant shoot on consecutive Saturdays, and can't shoot woodcock, jays, hares, foxes or deer in the wood, but these conditions may be different in your area, or could probably be negotiated.

 

PM me if you want any more info

[Bentos]

I can second what ColinF says, I rent forestry land for a little syndicate shoot.

 

I have not had any issues working with them but it depends on the land you have, ours is classified as ancient woodland which prevents us from putting down straw for feed points etc.

 

Every three years we have to prepare a management plan and update the health and safety risk assessments.

 

Only advice I would give if you are going to do this is that all forestry land is public access, this may or may not be an issue for you. I also recommend you work hard to create a good relationship with your beat ranger and local area office, if they are onside it makes life so much easier to do things. For example we report any possible disagreements with the public straight away, we get out story across just in case a compliant comes in.

 

In our area of the country we can shoot woodock and jays but no rifles are allowed for pest control. They have been trying to let the deer licence for our wood which is a concern as it could get crowded in there and may result in disturbance for us which is what we want to avoid.

 

If you want to know more by all means pm me and I can always give you a bell.