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don't shoot pintail or shoveler


andrewluke
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Neither our two local clubs have said anything about not shooting Pintail or Shoveler , around our way Pintail have been in decline for a number of years , we still see them on the estuary in low numbers but if there is only 100 or so compared to several 1000 of Wigeon then they are a bit of a rarity , having said that , around the Wash which is only 70 / 80 miles away they often report in seeing good numbers and are often included in the bag , as for Shoveler , I don't think people go to far out there way to try and get one if they have already had them in the past .

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NRW are anti shooting ,full stop.If we allow them to dictate to us about wildfowl numbers we are lost.The  bird counts are done by their own people and we all know that at certain times the marsh will hold different numbers ,and if that is the day that they do the counts that will go against you.BASC must fight every step of the way or we will be walked all over by this anti shooting government department . 

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26 minutes ago, motty said:

One marsh I shoot on, there is now a rule that no pochard are to be shot. No big deal, really, but there has been a compromise reached to allow shooting there.

A compromise possibly but maybe the thin end of the wedge. Next time it may be Pintail and Shoveler and that will be three quarry species down.

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One of my areas is an SSSI and as such we have to have a consented management plan signed off by Natural England in order to shoot over it. The consent  was re-newed for a further 5 years early this year. The one change concerning quarry specie, was that we do not shoot Shoveler. No restriction on Pintail, albeit they are infrequent visitors to our bit of marsh anyway.

The request not to shoot Shoveler has no great effect on us, as in the last 5 years our records do not show a single one being shot.

JDog may quite rightly point out that this sort of restriction is the thin end of the wedge, however arguing the odds with Natural England is akin to banging your head on a wall. Without their agreement we lose our shooting rights, so there is little point in going to war over a point that we are not going to win, particularly where the specie do not frequent our little area.

 

Edited by JJsDad
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Whatever go off the wildfowl list , either voluntary or enforced, very rarely if ever come back on again at a later date , in my lifetime I have seen the Waders ( Curlew ect ) removed off the list , punt gunning banned on our estuary in 1968 , lead shot banned , boundaries moved so we no longer shoot on a Sunday , Canada geese put on a open licence and then going back a bit further  the Brent geese were removed .

What will be next .... White Fronts in England and Wales ?? , Feeding Flight Ponds ?? , not in my time, but will we see the time come where clubs are closing through lack of members ?? 

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