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thanks for that ernyha a great job well done,

 

do you think that it maybe the size that im haveing a problem with , that photo of the swans should have been jpg .i will have alook some time latter to see if i can get it up ;):beer: that big geese went 12 lb :*)

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australian black swan are a protected bird in there native australia but not in new zealand and like all swan they do not decoy well and the only real way to control there numbers is through hunting. they fall well and do not have as thick down as northen birds they fall as well as phesant when hit well with the right shot size i guess u could call then colanal phesant but they are a we bit bigger and most wrech them selfs on hitting the water

 

how we do it here is once a year we have a drive where we use smal dingeys to push the swan into a large shallow bay on the harbour that i live on we then get out of the boats and walk up to a line of bouys that have been place out the day befour and form a line this year there where about 4-500 guns in the line and about 2500 swan in the bay the guns are about five twenty feet apart you sort of stick with your mates when the line is formed the birds start flying though this year a lot of birds got out when we where walking up to the line swan charge the line all over the place and i think its one of the most exiting shoots there is if you gould emangen swan comeing at you like low high pheasents some of them make it through . most shooters shoot semis and the shot barrrage is incredable this year we got about 1400 birds which where all breasted out for what ever sausages ext after all the birds have flowen out of the bay the guns pick up it really is a great days shoot and its not uncommen to get shot raining down dont look up have a safe day it lasts for about a hour i used fifty rounds lets say it a pretty big bome up

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why swan are game birds here and theres heaps of them here.

the fact we shoot them like we do is the fact that they do not decoy well and by doing it in a fish and game orgaized hunt we get some great sport out of them which is really hard to do any other way dont you guys shoot heaps of pigeon at times and by driving swan makes them a top sporting bird. all the birds in the photo are fresh and will get there breast meat taken they are not wasted dont be sad these bird proved that they are one of the worlds great sporting birds in line with any other fowl and belive me they fly high and fast bill

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Interesting to hear about this but it exposes many cultural differences.

I can't imagine that many PigeonWatch members reading Bill's slightly gruesome description of the shoot would have any desire to be a part of it.

I understand the need to cull but to describe Bill's day out as exciting and challenging sport I cannot understand.

 

This is not a criticism but an observation.

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I think Bill's picture of the swans is a bit disheartening to us :beer:

as we have our swans protected and only ever shoot wildfowl in small numbers

However like Bill says we do shoot pheasants 200 to 400 in a day between 6 or 8 guns. and some of the Pheasant shoots i have been on have not been very sporting at all.

So really we should not criticise the way others go about their sport and traditions

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Since posting that picture for Bill, i have read the comments with interest and on ballance i have to go with the views of HH on this one.

 

Is it the word "swan" that is getting the emotions running high because people can only think of those grossly overweight white birds that paddle along our rivers living off all the junk food that the visitors throw to them and need a good headwind and 1/2 mile of runway to get airborne on the rare occasions that they try to fly.

 

If the N/Zealand authorities allow a cull of this nature i am sure there is a good reason for doing so, just as we can go out every day of the year and shoot as many woodpigeons as possible if we want to.

 

I think we need more facts on the Black swan, their population and the damage they do before we rush to condem what shooting practices take place in other countries. I am sure people in other countries as well as our own can come up with a few arguements on the morality of breeding game birds to just be shot at.

 

Lets not get into a scenario of the pot calling the kettle. :beer:

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I think that neither Braindead, Deako or myself were looking to condemn the act of shooting these birds. This would be hypocritical and indicative of precisely the sort of ignorance we have all fought, marched and protested against for the past few years.

 

My point - as I clearly stated - was an observation. I carefully read Bill's account of the shoot and certain parts of it - along with the photograph - made me feel uncomfortable. In spite of Bill's claims that this is challenging and highly sporting - I could identify no art or skill to the cull.

 

I am definitely not saying it is wrong - I am simply saying that I would hate to be involved. Read it again yourself and see if you agree.

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I am totally amazed at the above comments.

 

I personally would like to thank Bill for taking the time to talk to us about his sport as it is always interesting to see how things are done in different countries and it really does sound quite exciting.

 

Some of you may also be a bit upset to hear I shot a fluffy red fox last week and I didn’t even do it for food I did it purely for sport and number control.

 

Which one saddens you more ?

 

 

Crapshot

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I can remember when the Collard Dove was listed in the back of the birdnesting books as a rare visitor. Now look at them, everywhere. Everything is relative.

If birds or anything else is a menace then it is better culled in an organised way over a short period. That way there are not so many wounded birds abandoned.

The density of human population in NZ is much lower than in the UK. If our swans were taken off the protected list, there numbers wound dwindle pretty quickly.

I would love to take part in a NZ swan cull. I like big splashes.

 

We do a similar thing with coot once a year.

 

Leave the 'Holier than thou' attitudes to some of the coarse fishermen.

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