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Use of shotgun on own boundary


bunnybasher84
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Afternoon all,

Can someone clarify the law on using a shotgun within your own boundary? My garden is quarter of an acre quite overgrown in places with a 6ft thick timber fence around the boundary... In the last few weeks I've been getting a fair few game bird's on my garden and fancied having a pop at them. Now I'm not daft, I'd never shoot while they were in the air I'd only shoot while they're on the ground so the trajectory is at a downward angle. Is this allowed as I've heard mix opinions. Thanks. ☺️

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We get a lot of pheasants, hares, mallard, rabbits etc in the garden. It may seem strange as food is food, but to me it seems alien to kill them here rather than enjoy their beauty. If I step the other side of the fence onto the farmland working the dog then it’s another matter. Weird I know but I only kill pests in my garden (squirrels, corvids, the odd rat). 

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bunnybasher84, Do you have direct neighbours? If not how far is your nearest neighbour?

Don't know if its still practised on the big shoots but a few keepers I knew would drive around the estate at the end of the season and shoot cock birds with the rim fire or shotgun, unsporting yes, but necessary in their eyes.

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29 minutes ago, old'un said:

Don't know if its still practised on the big shoots but a few keepers I knew would drive around the estate at the end of the season and shoot cock birds with the rim fire or shotgun, unsporting yes, but necessary in their eyes.

Out of interest, why would they do that?

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Air rifle and head shots will do it no problem, or RF if you have a suitable backstop. 
If you keep it discreetly you won’t attract any unwanted attention.

A lady I know who owns a massive garden isn’t averse to flinging open a sash window and potting a rabbit or pheasant as they graze her lawns. Nearly 💩mesen first time she did it! 😂

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39 minutes ago, Windswept said:

Out of interest, why would they do that?

The old boy keeper I knew would do it as they only need a few cocks for the hens for next year’s broods and they worry about too high a density of cocks. If there isn’t enough food they wander off and take the hens with them. 

On the moors the keepers used to rifle old cock grouse on their stands. It was thought that the having too many old birds reduced the brood sizes as they didn’t have enough lead in t’pencil or sommit. 

Edited by WalkedUp
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13 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

The old boy keeper I knew would do it as they only need a few cocks for the hens for next year’s broods and they worry about too high a density of cocks. If there isn’t enough food they wander off and take the hens with them. 

On the moors the keepers used to rifle old cock grouse on their stands. It was thought that the having too many old birds reduced the brood sizes as they didn’t have enough lead in t’pencil or sommit. 

I know keepers who have done this also; I would think that if this season doesn’t pan out better than it currently is, there’ll be quite a few doing it. 

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1 hour ago, Windswept said:

Out of interest, why would they do that?

Think walkedup as answered the question but I will also add that to many cocks fighting and chasing hens will also push birds away.

During catchup Feb/March if a keeper thought there were to many cock birds any caught in the traps had their necks pulled.

And that leads onto a question, if game birds are classed as live stock whilst penned and wild once released, what is the status of caught-up birds that are penned, wild or live stock?

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1 hour ago, Scully said:

Air rifle and head shots will do it no problem, or RF if you have a suitable backstop. 
If you keep it discreetly you won’t attract any unwanted attention.

A lady I know who owns a massive garden isn’t averse to flinging open a sash window and potting a rabbit or pheasant as they graze her lawns. Nearly 💩mesen first time she did it! 😂

An airgun pellet to the head will certainly  kill the pheasant  but it will also go into a massive flapping fit ,rolling around all over the place for a few minutes  in its death throws .

A much cleaner method is to use a .22 pellet straight between the shoulder blades targeting the H/L area.

This will result in a instant death and immobility. 

 

Edited by Ultrastu
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2 minutes ago, Ultrastu said:

An airgun pellet to the head will certainly  kill the pheasant  but it will also go into a massive flapping fit ,rolling around all over the place for a few minutes  in its death throws .

A much cleaner method is to use a .22 pellet straight between the shoulder blades targetingvthe h/ll area.

This will result in a instant death and immobility. 

 

I’ve found that if you head shoot with a RF, there isn’t a lot of flapping about. 

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7 minutes ago, Ultrastu said:

An airgun pellet to the head will certainly  kill the pheasant  but it will also go into a massive flapping fit ,rolling around all over the place for a few minutes  in its death throws .

A much cleaner method is to use a .22 pellet straight between the shoulder blades targeting the H/L area.

This will result in a instant death and immobility. 

 

Think I know which shot I would go for, head, air or RF.

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I have shot a fair few pheasants. I started with the head at first .but its a big bird that can have a lot of energy, when you head shoot it switches off the control room and the thing just goes into super flap about mode .even more so than a pigeon .

The H/L shot is much less frantic looking .

Thats my experience  and is why I prefer body /neck shot pigeons over head shot ones .

 

you have to remember the brain isn't the primary organ on a bird .the heart is .

The opposite for a mammal 

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head shot a cock pheasant in the garden with the .22 air rifle, flapped a bit but not for long, took it to my pals up in the lakes, he cooked it and we had it for dinner, said that it was the nicest pheasant  he had ever had, he eats a lot of game over the season its his staple diet from beating and picking up, he's 70yrs plus

 

nothing to do with the topic but

zoomed photo from the firing point in the summer, notice the young buzzard, was not interested in the pheasant, I think it was looking for slug and worms, pheasant was there a while after not bothered at all 

P1010362.JPG

Edited by itchy trigger
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