8 shot

I believe they are 10 year grants. We have no info on training yet for any of the Deer, Mink or Squirrel schemes but knowing how the Government behave it will be give you in one hand take with the other. Once you get tied into these schemes they will soon have any money they give you back plus some. I can see the deer control being first into compulsory training, and this is not a shot at the BASC but they and the likes of BDS, NGO, etc. creaming off the top of these schemes. Over regulation only ends in a worse situation than you started with. It's about control

Work with your deer officer/woodland officer to produce a Squirrel Control Plan (SCP) outlining the activities you will carry out. To secure the annual funding for this supplement you must email your SCP to your local deer officer/woodland officer by the end of year 1. Your SCP will build on the draft plan that you submit with your Initial Application documents Take part in Grey Squirrel control training – your local deer officer/woodland officer will discuss these courses with you Straight from the GOV.UK WS3 website

Exactly this, DSC1 £400+ Expenses for little or no return, Squirrel Coarse £150+ at a guess no for return at all. I would assume a Mink coarse similar money. You log Stalker hours x stalkers in the field and record everything shot from every area being claimed on. All receipts and invoices I assume from sales and expenses to be recorded for taxes VAT etc. Can of worms if you ask me

It is for the ws3 Squirrel payment. Contact your Deer Officer. I also control many squirrels, in excess of 150/yr so maybe I could run a coarse for £££££. The Mink one is interesting we have about 700m of the River Ouse to claim on, but I'm sure there will be a catch...... swimming lessons maybe ?, I do have my 10m certificate from primary school. Deer Control, Where is all the Venison going ? Can't give it away at the moment.

We are looking at the payments to control Deer and Squirrels, BASC start up a Approved deer stalker register, for Landowners to use. but you must have AT LEAST DSC1 The Squirrel control payment WS3 may require some sort of regular training. I wonder who will run that.... it's the thin end of the wedge.... nothing is free

Government money ALWAYS comes at a cost, it's tax payers money and they will want to see a good return on there investment. It's happening in agriculture, They have the NFU in there pocket now, they make the bullets someone else fires them. They want control of the countryside and what's done within it

DANGER ! Compulsory Training for ALL.... I predicted this when the Phasing out of lead was first mention. It was the BASC's foot in the Governments door

As I've said before, we grow high end Equestrian Fodder and any contamination is a rejection and costly to income and reputation so are small farm shoot will cease, also I don't know what we'll do for pest control, pigeon, crows etc, I've tried some Bio wads. Eley Eco Wads are by far the quickest to degrade but were only available in No.3s at the time which are HP proof and completely ineffective on small quarry like crows pigeon etc. at any range above 30 yards due to a sparse pattern. Hull Hydrowad by all accounts takes months to degrade. Going to try the Gamebore offerings this spring.

Still no mention of the cost for essential pest control with very little or no return, Plastic wads are definite No No....and Eco wads are just to expensive.

Over the season I've beat and shot on 8 maybe 9 different shoots, and when the Lead Ban topic comes up I would quite confidently say 95% blame the BASC for it and 100% of land, shoot owners and shooters think it's completely unnecessary and there is an agenda behind it. And most DO NOT subscribe to The BASC

I think that is exactly the problem and here we are.

I see today that the BASC has launched it "Competent Deer Stalker" list ££££££££££££ compulsory testing for all who want to own a Firearms in the next year two. There will be no recreational shooter in less than five years. They are single-handedly burying all shooting.

Pri Do they charge from the USB cables and iphone type plug. Price for collection ?

It's all tying in nicely for the BASC. The Government starts this year paying Land Owner £90/Ha to control deer, you run the courses on the understanding every deer stalker is full trained, and every deer shot is traceable somewhere. ie. Taxable. VAT, Income tax etc. BASC DSC1 course Non Member £385, Members £295, saving £90...... Full membership £89..... Bingo membership triples next year or two. Oh and don't forget the refresher course after 5 years and the yearly subscription to the "Approved Deer Stalker" scheme all run by the BASC...if you can give us a Lead ban ASAP. Yes i am very cynical but this is a carbon copy of what started in Agriculture 30 odd years ago.

This is putting more people off Stalking in general than any other a regulation. Very expensive to take for the recreational stalker for no return and will put off the twice a year visitor. For me the main reason deer are almost out of control all over the country is over regulation. And it won't belong before we'll all have to do a Competence Test for ownership for all Firearms.

Couldn't agree more, have been using the HV 32g lately only because JC had run out of Pigeon Select, also a very fine cartridge too. Changed from Clear Pigeon years ago when they changed from clear cases to black, that for me is when Gamebore's game cartridge's quality dropped. Saying that the Blue Diamond and EVO clay cartridges where very good

It will largely depend on how much vermin and deer you have. One of our pens on a DIY shoot was close to a Rookery and could easily get through 40 to 50 kilos a day to Rooks and Jackdaws, had to resort to Battery operated spinners on barrel feeders. All deer love a feeder of any type during the winter months.

Stop it now it's not funny 🤣 They either have very deep pockets or no pests. At least 75% of the land I control pests over is family owned or rented by us. During Covid we lost between £5000 and £10000 due to less pest control, PM me your address and I'll send you the bill. So I'm assuming all your shooting activities of the the last X amount of years has been on your own property.

I That is a very naive and uneducated statement.... I hope just to cause a debates so i'll try and ignore it

Up until about 10 years ago there were 4 very large Estates (5000ac to 10000ac) all within a 25 mile radius of us, all shooting between 1000 and 1500 mixed bird days at least once a week from November. All owned by very wealthy Russian, Arab and English Billionaires. Nobody battered an eyelid back then, people were queuing up to get on there shoot either beating, picking up, loading or anything else. I used to beat occasionally on the nearest one and on a shoot day there were sometimes close to 100 people involved in the day. Now only two are still going, ONLY shooting up 300 a day maybe 8 times a season. On the contrary to this I've just got in from are Boxing Day shoot where Beaters, Pickers up and neighbours are invited to shoot, the bag was 48 for nearly 300 shots and some people went home without a brace as there wasn't enough to go round. Which is the "Better" day, and why ? Pest Control... I have to shoot several hundred Corvids, Rabbits and Pigeons a year to protect crops on the Farm, control Squirrels by trapping and shooting to protect new and old Plantations non other than Pigeons make it to the pot... Killing for Pleasure or Essential ? Next Deer.. we are fast closing in on Deer becoming a "PEST" nobody shoot them as nobody wants them....this time of year you can drive a 7 or 8 mile A road near us and see 6 or 7 hit by cars a week (not a pleasant experience). Could or will it become acceptable to shoot and bury deer to control there number ?...

Deer is the next big problem coming over the horizon, how to ethically reduce and then control there number while utilising there meat. I can't give away the very small amount of Venison I shoot after Christmas.

The neighbouring shoot seems to have plenty, we haven't been able to get any for years now

They're not really worth it unless your on marginal ground, Wheat is still more profitable, and your not tied to it if your situation changes. There is not a great deal of thought going in to all this environment nonsense by Government and "other" Parties, every short sighted.

I had the exact same conversation with Conor from the BASC when the Lead transition was muted. Our Agronomist told us of two big estates that after this season are scaling back from 50+ days each to no more than a dozen a season, most of the Game crops, Cover crops and Wild Bird schemes are being return to intensive agricultural production ie. Wheat etc. well in excess 0f 1000ac over the two estate. The decline has i'm afraid already started. The small farm shoots I drill Game crops on are sticking with it for the next 3 years and going to try and make the schemes work for the shoot but at the moment only in the short term.

Exactly this.... I was shooting on a shoot last weekend and the parkland around the lake was littered with them some from last season by all accounts