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Close season on hares.


Walker570
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I read that a proposed closed season on shooting hares was being proposed and a complete ban by some.    These young do gooders do not seem to realise we in the countryside have had a closed season on shooting hares for many decades. Do not shoot hares in any month without and R in it, so therefore May through to August.  There was no mention of bringing the house down on the illegal coursing with garbage tearing around farmers fields in 4x4s. Many estates no longer shoot hares unless they get up to numbers where they are doing crop damage.  Only been on one organised cull day in the last 50yrs.

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48 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

These young do gooders do not seem to realise we in the countryside have had a closed season on shooting hares for many decades.

This /\

Very few shoots include hares as quarry these days.  No doubt a few will get taken locally for the pot, but I'm not aware of any 'hare shoots' around here now.

However - illegal coursing is a fast growing problem, with a couple of cases (very) locally within the past 12 months.  I understand the police know who the offenders are ........ but - you guessed it ......... can't act.

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13 minutes ago, old'un said:

most of these guys drive the fields looking for hares and rabbits, this last two years most of the farms I shoot on have installed locked gates, it seems to have done the trick.

Yes, the large estate (actually two estates, but now run as a single operation) have done that as well.  It is a real pain for them.

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19 minutes ago, JohnfromUK said:

Yes, the large estate (actually two estates, but now run as a single operation) have done that as well.  It is a real pain for them.

its a pain for me aswell, I have a bunch of keys that a jailer would be proud of, not to mention the half a dozen combination codes.:)

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1 hour ago, old'un said:

most of these guys drive the fields looking for hares and rabbits, this last two years most of the farms I shoot on have installed locked gates, it seems to have done the trick.

One of my permissions was suffering this problem and also installed locks. Portable angle grinders destroyed them on a regular basis. Heavy duty drop bars ( that drop into the ground) had to be installed. There was one unsuccessful attempt to grind off the locks. No troubles since then.

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I’ve said it many times...the biggest thing that’ll protect hares is prosecute the do as you likies and seize and destroy their vehicles. This will then massively reduce the number of landowners shooting hares - too many hares attracts the cancerous scum and brings other crimes so they end up being shot just to stop them attracting the great unwashed to the land. Chwis Packham ought to be going after them rather than legitimate legal shoots. 

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53 minutes ago, oscarsdad said:

I’ve said it many times...the biggest thing that’ll protect hares is prosecute the do as you likies and seize and destroy their vehicles. This will then massively reduce the number of landowners shooting hares - too many hares attracts the cancerous scum and brings other crimes so they end up being shot just to stop them attracting the great unwashed to the land. Chwis Packham ought to be going after them rather than legitimate legal shoots. 

We are by far, the easiest target. He could be looking at petrol bombs dropping on his property,  rather that a couple of crows hanging on his gate  !

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14 hours ago, Scully said:

We are occasionally asked to ‘get rid of ‘em’  simply because the landowner reasons that when there’s no Hares he gets no one prowling his land. 

 

13 hours ago, old'un said:

most of these guys drive the fields looking for hares and rabbits, this last two years most of the farms I shoot on have installed locked gates, it seems to have done the trick.

A couple of the farms that I shoot , ask me to kill all hares now (they were previously untouchable ). Over the last few years , the damage from poachers vehicles has gotten worse . All the gates have padlocks now , but on sunday , I noticed that a couple of gates had been lifted off at the hinges . This is a simple enough fix , but a real pain for farmers that are already flat out busy . I noticed piles of posts and fencing on one of the farms yesterday . It looks like previously hedged fields,  are about to get fenced in. One of the farms I shoot has also has a huge (prison style) gate fitted at the end of the main drive , to keep the thieves away.

Who would have thought a few years ago,  that farmers would ever need to lock gates .

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16 hours ago, JDog said:

I see fresh tyre tracks across arable fields here every day. Those responsible will not comply with any closed season.

For a while it was a similar story over here and it wouldn’t be uncommon to see people coursing a couple of times a week. I haven’t seen anybody for a while now though, perhaps the people I saw regularly have moved on.

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Us country folks have our own seasons for rabbits and hares. I might catch the odd rabbit during the summer for the pot but rarely as for hares never. Lurcher lads don't all go around driving every where like idiots. By and large we get treated like villains when the majority have a great respect for the countryside and wild life

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I agree with the earlier comments about the hare close season being months with an R in them.

Be sure the usual scum will take no notice of any close season, I have found as many half grown hares dead, as full grown ones.

In our area 4x4's drive around with large bullbars/winches on the front, just to break through aluminium pole farm gates.
The Police take little notice.
Most Farmers are digging trenches and/or putting large concrete blocks across field entrances.

The main problem is that the coursers have to be caught with a dead hare, or have witnesses to state that they killed a hare.
The witnesses are hard to find (understandably) and the dead hares are usually thrown up into a tree/bush, or in the Farmer's garden.
The Police have told me that suspicious vehicles have been stopped "and no coursing equipment" has been found.
When I asked what "coursing equipment" they were looking for, they had no answer.
The suspicious vehicles have all contained dogs, not sure what else you need, apart from a bit of rope.

Most of those that get caught "walking their dags" , get done for motoring issues (tax,MoT,insurance), although recently four of them, all from separate households were caught in a landrover and fined £200 under Covid regs.

 

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On 19/03/2021 at 15:16, Scully said:

We are occasionally asked to ‘get rid of ‘em’  simply because the landowner reasons that when there’s no Hares he gets no one prowling his land. 

Unfortunately this is the same for me. I love to see them out chasing each other around but so do the lurcher lads so I’ve been told they all have to go. 

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I don't know who proposed this season on hares but you can bet your life it has sod all to do with hare coursing and just another cinch on the belt for field sports that is getting tight and tighter. As said the people who do damage wont be affected by it any way. So basically it should be rejected as we manage our selves any way. Not that we will get any choice in the matter. 

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