James20 Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 Evening all, I'm James, long time watcher of this forum and just recently got my first permission on a dairy farm, mainly controlling the rabbits with a air rifle and a few rats, hoping to apply for a shotgun licence at some point and try my luck on clays again and hopefully some pigeons eventually, what I'm wanting to know is can I shoot wood pigeons over a grass/clover field ? Obviously when or if a new general licence comes out, Is it classed as protecting a crop or animal feed etc ? There's quite a few that fly over to get to a rape field about half a mile away that I don't have permission for but there have been a lot on the fields recently every time iv been up there, I know the land owner likes to have clover in the field and that's what the pigeons are after as well. Sorry if this is a daft question but I can't find anything online that says yes or no, just loads of YouTube videos of people doing it but nothing to say it's legal, I don't want to get a shotgun licence to lose it by breaking laws. If anyone knows I'd be grateful. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good shot? Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 (edited) That is one of a few $64,000 questions we are all awaiting the answer to. Edited May 3, 2019 by Good shot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 2 minutes ago, James20 said: Evening all, I'm James, long time watcher of this forum and just recently got my first permission on a dairy farm, mainly controlling the rabbits with a air rifle and a few rats, hoping to apply for a shotgun licence at some point and try my luck on clays again and hopefully some pigeons eventually, what I'm wanting to know is can I shoot wood pigeons over a grass/clover field ? Obviously when or if a new general licence comes out, Is it classed as protecting a crop or animal feed etc ? There's quite a few that fly over to get to a rape field about half a mile away that I don't have permission for but there have been a lot on the fields recently every time iv been up there, I know the land owner likes to have clover in the field and that's what the pigeons are after as well. Sorry if this is a daft question but I can't find anything online that says yes or no, just loads of YouTube videos of people doing it but nothing to say it's legal, I don't want to get a shotgun licence to lose it by breaking laws. If anyone knows I'd be grateful. J. Good question , without being to blunt , I am afraid until the new license comes out we just don't know on what crops we can cover , how to cover them and what we need to do before we attempt to fire a shot at whatever we are trying to keep off the crop. Sorry I cant be more helpful, but I think we are all getting a bit chessed off by now and it's beginning to show with our replies . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James20 Posted May 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 Oh ok pal, waiting game then, there's a few rabbits to be going at but it would be nice in the future to be able to bag a pigeon for the pot, il hold off getting some decoys then 🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good shot? Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 (edited) Not intending to come across as blunt at all, saw that the op was aware of the current confusion over the GL and answered his question as best I could 🙂. Edited May 3, 2019 by Good shot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James20 Posted May 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 No you didn't come across blunt at all mate, daft question to ask really given nobody knows what's going off, hopefully be abit more clear when they do put the new ones online 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 31 minutes ago, Good shot? said: Not intending to come across as blunt at all, saw that the op was aware of the current confusion over the GL and answered his question as best I could 🙂. You didn't come across at all blunt Good shot , you done well in replying to the ops question , it was me a apologizing if I sounded blunt to the op. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Good shot? Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 Two of us then 😉 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted May 3, 2019 Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 hello, welcome to the forum, i think this N/E licence fiasco has got us all in a quandary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James20 Posted May 3, 2019 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2019 Honestly fellas I didn't take it bluntly at all, and thanks for the welcome pigeon popper, you guys seem sound and I'm grateful for any info, I was on a forum years ago and most of the replys were people being tits and just sarcastic when I just needed some advice, never bothered since. hopefully this situation gets sorted out soon and we all know where we stand and what's what 🤞 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Boggy Posted May 4, 2019 Report Share Posted May 4, 2019 Back to the OP's original question, table 2 within the newly (8pm on 3rd. May) GL31 lists the crops we are able to protect and 'newly sown grass/clover' is amongst them. However, there is a very onerous rider in which the shooter has to show evidence of 'serious damage' and 'financial loss' due to that damage currently or in the past. James, I would be inclined in the first instance to download and keep with you a copy of GL31 (General Licence specific to the control of wood pigeons) and secondly, make sure that you would have the backing of your farmer, should the 'financial costs due to damage' scenario be ever be challenged. Good luck and welcome to the forum. OB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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