So called friends

[the pigeon man]

Dirty, gets my goat when there are people like me who are finding it difficult to get a mentor and a permission, and others happy to abuse what they have.

This is what I was thinking :( do hard to find these days :(

[Frenchieboy]

I have had a similar experience myself, all be it that it was "Ferretting lads" that tried it on with one of the farmers whose land I shoot on. I took two lads with me ferretting one Sunday morning to clear a few awkward burrows, but before starting I explained to them that it was a "one off" and not an invitation to come and go whenever they pleased. I should add at this stage that they are not members of any forum, just someone that i had met casually! Several months later I went to shoot on the permission and as usual stopped to have a chat with the farmer first. He told me that these lads had come to see him and told him that I had sent them and said that he should give them permission to ferret the land. Luckily the farmer knew me better than that and told them that if I had said that he knew that I would have called him to explain so they had better **** off and not return - He even took their names and the registartion number of their 4X4 so I knew for certain that it was the same lads! He also informed all of the ther farmers in the area of what had happened and the lads will not be welcome on any of the other farms now. I phoned the one of these lads up to have it out with him and he tried to deny it but backed down when I told him that the farmer had given me his name and registration number. I also told him that if ever I saw him on any of my permissions in the future I would have no hesitation in getting a few photos or video of him "poaching" and then calling the police. I haven't seen hide nor hair of him since!

These same two lads did have permission on another farm where I shoot (The permission to ferret the land had been granted before I met them) but they started turning turning up with friends, dogs and air guns etc and leaving litter all over the place. The landowner knew that I knew the lads so asked me for my advice - I told the farmer what had happened on the other farm and they immediately barred them from their land.

There is no immediate answer to the problem of others that you have invited out trying to "poach" your permission. Much of it is down to trust, and if you are like me and willing to help others out (And I suspect that most of you are) how do you know who you can trust and who you can not trust? Can we tar everyone else with the same brush, no I think not? I believe that in the majority of cases it is down to the relationship that you have with the farmers that you shoot for. I am lucky in the fact that I have a first calss relationship with the farmers who I shoot for and they are happy with the standard of vermin control that I do for them. They are always happy for me to take a "guest" on their land with me, but I always remind that "guest" that it is not an open licence for them to come and go whenever they please. If they want to ask for permenent permission then that is up to them and the farmer - But I would hope that they would have the good manners to talk to me about it first. If they were to do this then all well and good, and if the farmer gives them permission then again I say good luck to them, after all it is the farmers land and not mine, and I accept that I do not have exclusive rights over it. However they should be aware that I do have a good relationship with all of the farmers and I will hear about it very quickly, and if they were to try going behind my back they would not be popular and if they were members of a forum I would not have any hesitation in naming and shaming them for trying to pull a dirty trick off.

I trully simpathise with anyone who has ben good enough to help another shooter out in the way that the OP did nad then got repayed in the same way but I really don't know what the answer is!