apache

I do believe that there should be a compulsory test on shooting law when given an initial FAC/SGC. If you look at the questions on all the shooting forums, every day someone asks a simple legal question or posts a picture of their 14 year old son and his first deer...... If you want to shoot deer alone I do think you should have level 1. If you want to pass them into the food chain you should have level 2. Formal qualifications should be a valid route into the sport - not everyone was taught by their fathers. I don't buy the 'too many hurdles will put people off' argument. There's more active shooters than ever before. People are out their cutting each others throats for a bit of land to stalk deer or even paying to shoot rabbits! The clay shoots are heaving. Go to the Midland Gamefair and try and move around about 1pm. Shooting is thriving. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The price of insurance is relative to the risk. I've never claimed on my liability insurance - have you? I don't know what you do for a living but next time you get a liability quote ask for a price for a plumber who uses naked flames and see this in action! The prices we charge reflects the amount of work done and the costs involved in doing the work. Lets say I do a caesarian on a dog and a cow - as an example. The dog is done in my surgery, I have that to heat, light and clean. The dog occupies and dirties a kennel. The dog then gets some expensive drugs and connected to the anaesthetic machine - using oxygen and anaesthetic gasses. I will have a nurse and possibly one other assistant for a caesarian - if it's night time they are to call in and pay. I then have gowns, gloves, suture materials and consumables to pay for. Then once everything is back in the kennel and awake we have to set on cleaning the surgery and re-steralising all the kit etc. With the cow I turn up, use a sterile kit and some suture materials. No premises, no staff for me to pay. Just the kit to clean afterwards, not a surgery. Couple of bottles of local anaesthetic at a few pounds each. Do you see why the cow caeser is 1/2-1/3 of the cost of the dog?

The insurance companies are running a business too. If they paid out more than they took in then they would no longer be there! I suspect if everyone had insurance the premiums would fall significantly as the dogs currently insured represent a higher than average risk of claim (in a lot of cases). Maybe not a popular view, but I would be in favour of a minimum level of mandatory insurance.......

I don't see any need to tell your FEO anything. Ask the chap nicely for permission and see what he says.

You all moan about the cost, but the thing that puts me off is actually how busy they are! The Midland especially - you can hardly move by the middle of the day. I say triple the entrance fee and remove the riff raff (I suspect that is one reason the CLA costs more on day one, just maybe not enough more!)

Here with a degree of vested interest. Pet insurance is great. We see the wrong side of things all the time and so often we are forced to give sub-optimal treatment or put animals to sleep that could have been fixed for a few hundred/thousand pounds. The other side is people who want treatment beyond their means and then end up with us having to chase them for the money, send them to court etc etc. None of that is why I (or any one else I know) chose to study veterinary medicine. Pet insurance is just that - insurance. If you have a lot of money then there is no need. If the dog requires expensive treatment and all you will do is have it put to sleep then OK. Beware that the Animal Welfare Act 2006 puts the onus on the owner to get appropriate veterinary treatment when the animal needs it. If you vet contracts out their out of hours cover a simple cut sustained whilst working could cost you well over £500...... What you cannot do is keep changing insurer - pick one and stick to them. If you change then anything that has gone on before will be excluded - a bit of a limp at 6months can mean the arthritis tablets are not paid up for when the dog is 10. You cannot shop around. The cheapest insurer is never the best. Read the small print, and ensure you are comparing like for like. If I was insuring my own dog (this is a personal opinion and not as a vet) I would use PetPaln or NFU. I wouldn't consider anyone else. I do wish that vets earn the kind of money people thought they do - the provision of the service is expensive. In 2012 the average salary was £33,700 - didn't even make the top 100. With all the additional vets flooding the market from the UK and abroad that figure is falling. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-2269520/Best-paid-jobs-2012-Official-figures-national-average-UK-salaries-400-occupations.html

Very likely. We see a lot of pups from good breeders with lice, fleas and ear mites. Very, very common. Of the itchy dogs I suspect well under 5% have anything to do with diet, whereas 95%+ are caused by parasites. Concentrate your effort where you are likely to get the best reward!

Very. You pay them £26 and usually the paperwork is back in about a week. Good reason would be 1 for night vision one for day. Maybe bolt action and a semi auto. If you are doing much shooting you can have another gun in the same calibre as a back up or spare. I have 2 X .22RF, 2 X .17HMR and slots for Mach2 and WMR. North Yorkshire Police are great. So, so good to deal with.

Yea, we are all open in North Yorkshire. If you had permission to buy two in the same calibre it would say ".22 rimfire rifle X 2".

Honestly, almost all bleeding can be dealt with by proper bandaging. Tourniquets are great if you've had your leg blown off in Afghanistan and are under fire whilst they drag you to the nearest military hospital, but almost no use in civilian life. They are painful to apply properly and can do only one task. A couple of decent dressings will deal with so much more. You are most likely to cut your hand with a knife if stalking. A tourniquet risks nerve damage and may be so painful you cannot leave it in place. A decent dressing will deal with it in comfort. I've dealt with nasty wounds (including limb amputations) successfully with bandages many, many times. Celox is a good product, but needs a bandage over the top to augment the effects. Celox and a couple of decent dressings will see you right.

Find a friendly farmer and learn from them. Smallholders vary, but frequently their knowledge is shocking. The suggestion above may be the best....

That's what the sterile hypodermic needles are for in my kit!

They are in mine. I know what they are. Not quite sure what you mean? Stalking alone - always. Roughshooting close to the car maybe not.

I'll try not to waffle. You can break the items down into 'comfort' items and 'trauma' items for convenience. You are by far more likely to need the comfort items, but without the trauma items you could be very much worse off. A decent dressing is a must. I recommend either: http://www.spservices.co.uk/item/SPServices_T4TraumaDressingPadwithElasticatedBandage_23_68_3503_1.html or http://boundtree.co.uk/first-aid/haemorrhage-control/trauma-bandages/traumafix-dressing-10-x-18cm-pad Both comprise a pad with an elasticated bandage that can deal with major wounds, grazes, be used as an eye pad, even as a sling or support bandage or used to fix the dog! A tourniquet is a last resort item. This is my stalking kit - the tablets are a couple of painkillers and a few anti-histamines. A headache or blister can ruin a stalk, but a deep knife wound can ruin a lot more...... [i carry a much more comprehensive kit in the car]

On the balance of probability (now that a urinary tract infection and kidney problems have been ruled out) the most likely diagnosis is something called urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence. Basically the dog is unable to hold the urine once the pressure builds in the bladder. The animal is frequently unaware this is happening. Very common in spayed female bitches, but we see it in unspayed bitches and males too (and old ladies!). Treatment via Propalin or Incurin tablets. Wet food has a high water content, and so the dog will consume more liquid and therefore urinate more. With dry food the dog will just drink the amount of water required.

Card. I would always use a credit card as greater protection. The facility is always there, but the mobile signal can be patchy during busy periods.

You cannot shoot game or wildfowl with a section 1 shotgun. If you only hold your FAC for a section 1 shotgun there needs to be land 'tied' to your FAC if there is the option of shooting living quarry. There is no requirement to limit your shooting to that land. To the OP - you should automatically have clay shooting added as a condition (it's in the police guidance).

They need checking by a vet, lice, fleas, mites all common and require different treatment. When you disinfected the kennel, did you rise it well? I've seen skin irritation from too enthusiastic use of disinfectants, especially the older products.

I come late to this thread. I'm actually really saddened that you rolled over so easily. It just helps set a gradual president and gives the next applicant a slightly harder time. If you have good reason then I would have stood my ground, very firmly. There was absolutely no reason not to allow you to have a .22 and a .17 if you wanted one. You should have fought your corner.

Yes. Also anything else you fancy. FAC air is a easy slot to get, and if you don't fill it you can do a free 1 for 1 variation for a bigger calibre. Remember to ask for moderators separately for each firearm.

They seem expensive, but put a price on your hearing. I have the digital ones and they are truly excellent!

I drove a Navara for 2 years and it was awful (2007 model). Light on the back end so awful to corner. Noisy. Rubbish off road compared to my Freelander/Disco. Uncomfortable. Noisy if going fast. Crazy long if you need to back a trailer. I wouldn't buy another doublecab.

For the short run, with no derating 6mm will take 40A.

I've seen reports of chips moving in the past. I've never known a quality chip fail or move that's been implanted properly by a professional. There is an ever increasing number of poor quality 'cheap' chips available. I fear the numbers will increase when it becomes compulsory. There was a recent case in the media of a lay person putting a chip into a dogs spine. Pay the ~£20 and get a proper chip done by a professional.

'shared' conditions are common. Depending on your FEO you can borrow a shotgun from another SGC holder for 72 hours so possibly no need to have them on both certs.