OJW

No free. And not shooting with the person, but on their permission or on land "they look after". Sometimes the fields may not be near a farm house, they may be fairly remote so checking how they are behaving may not help if not in view of the farm house. I am not a paranoid person, the only reason I am asking these questions now is because I know that otherwise these questions would creep up on me when i'm sitting alone in the hide without any real proof of permission. They may also be unwilling to give you written permission for that day incase you reproduce the paperwork with their signature, instead preferring you to phone them if anything comes up. Thanks for your responses

I've seen offers of permission advertised on various Facebook groups and forums, with permission scarce for many, such an offer is nearly irresistible, however how do you trust that the person offering the shooting, has the right to do so? The onus is, and rightly so, on the shooter to provide proof of his SGC and insurance, but what protects you from say being the victim of someone claiming they have the right to offer you some shooting when they don’t, or worse someone literally setting you up? Asking them to pull out deeds to the land seems a bit extreme. Is the answer just to ask to see their own permission form? The best I have been able to do is research the individuals online presence, i.e they seem well known and have made multiple posts over the years. Companies offering shooting have a reputation to protect and are easily researchable. If the person didn’t have the right or was some mad anti who set you up in a field then rang the police, saying "I met him online, he told me I could shoot here", in hindsight, leaves you rather exposed. While this may seem far fetched as the VAST MAJORITY OF PEOPLE are honest and simply trying to be nice, my question is how do you protect yourself when taking up an offer of shooting from someone you don’t know, and isn’t the principal land owner? I haven’t taken anyone up on an offer yet but would appreciate any advice regarding this. Thanks

I had seen the other advert but as I had already replied to you on here and via PM, didn't think I should for a third time till I heard back. I would still like to come, if thats alright? I like Long Siberia, have shot it a few times. Hope the weather holds out.

Very interested, sent you a PM

Hi guys, please can I join the list for the group, I live in Surrey and am in London each day during the week. New to this forum and gutted I missed the first meet!

The CPS guidelines state what they look for when deciding whether to prosecute someone. A person commits an offence if, while he has a firearm [or imitation firearm] with him, he enters or is on any land as a trespasser and without reasonable excuse (the proof whereof lies on him) From that, I would have thought that the tenants permission grants you a reasonable excuse to be on the land (with the burden of proof on you to show that was the case). Considering that trespass is a civil tort, and armed trespass a criminal offence its hard to know what similarities can be drawn between the two. Alternatively with offences, that also involve being on someones else's property, I think you must either know that you don't have permission or "be reckless" as to the fact. If that was the case here then knowing the estate owner has said no, and going ahead on the farmers permission anyway, may be seen as you being reckless and combined with the fact your on the land complete the requirements for the offence. Then again it may simply be a strict liability offence, although that would seem slightly unreasonable considering the possible penalties. Just my 2pence I wouldn't go on knowing the estate owner is against it without getting some proper advice or getting the farmer to sort it out.

Hi there, thanks for having me! I live in Surrey however all my game shooting is in Sussex and Shropshire, I shoot clays in and around the area. Forum looks great, loads of information on here thats already been really useful. I have already seen a "Pigeon watch London" thread that looks spot on! I look forward to meeting some fellow shooters in the area. All the best OJW