eagle eyes Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 first off nice shooting just wondering if i were to shoot a pidgin im my mates garden who has veg growing, peas beans etc etc am i cover by the open lience ? again nice shot and im thinking about getting a box for close range's I've just sent the misses out in the back garden to dig up the lawn, looks like we will be growing our own veg from now on Hopefully the kids wont miss the odd CD from there music collection as these should deter the pesky pigeons (If this doesn't work i suppose i'll have to find another way :blink: ) Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_C Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 I've just obtained my FAC and shotgun certificates, and am obviously keen to retain them by complying with the various legal requirements. The section below is quoted from the BASC document "BASC INFORMATION SHEET ON GENERAL LICENCES FOR PEST BIRDS IN THE UK"; Each of the English licences summarised below states that persons relying on this licence must be satisfied that non-lethal methods of resolving the problem are ineffective or impracticable. This is your personal judgement based on your shooting and/or pest control experience and there is no obligation on you to have tried non-lethal methods before you utilise a licence. Each licence allows the use of a semi-automatic weapon capable of holding more than 2 rounds of ammunition in the magazine. Control methods allowed are detailed in each licence and may include shooting,.... Looking at WML Gen-L05, the general licence to prevent damage or disease; This licence applies to ............Feral Pigeon ....... and Woodpigeon. The purpose of killing is stated as preventing the spread of disease or preventing serious damage to livestock, crops, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters. I can't see anything in there that says you have to catch them "red-beaked", although it could be argued that shooting one in your back garden fails to address the issue of preventing serious damage to livestock, crops etc. I imagine that you could legitimately shoot Canada Goose on this licence as they pass overhead and without having seen them cause any damage because it could reasonably be argued that they do cause damage to inland waters and fisheries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrapWorks Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 Well - this is the where the stupid burocraucy of the general licence comes into play. What you have to understand, it that the general licenece is poorly written at best - alot of it is up to interterpation by the courts. It says you have to take both messures to prevent damage other than shooting the birds, and proof that they are causing the damage for it to be legal to shoot said speicies. You can't claim the ''might go on to cause damage'' or they ''have caused damage in the past'' but it has to be ''they are causing damage to me right now''. Futhermore you can't claim you a shooting a bird, that ''might go on to eat someone elses crops'' you HAVE to know that THIS bird is damaging the crops. This is easy to prove if he's flying above a crop of peas with wide eyes - but alot harder to prove when he's sitting on your garden fence. I'm not trying to argue you out of shooting pigeons, but rather understand why the general licence is - a bit confusing at best. I agree about the general licence. But legally where do you stand when decoying pigeons onto a field that they may have flown over otherwise? Entrapment? T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeb Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 sorry guy i know it pigeon, it the spell check i got on my luinx pc every time i writ pigeon it changes it to pidgin (it is a IM program) becuse i have writen pidgin more than pigeon so sorry i have no idea were "and im thinking about getting a box for close range's" came from all i can think is it some how got in there when i copyed the text over from writer. so like i said sorry for that im a bit confused on how that happend any idieas ? ps not going ot copy n paste over to this fourm anymore so sorry for carp spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Mark Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 sorry guy i know it pigeon, it the spell check i got on my luinx pc every time i writ pigeon it changes it to pidgin (it is a IM program) becuse i have writen pidgin more than pigeon so sorry i have no idea were "and im thinking about getting a box for close range's" came from all i can think is it some how got in there when i copyed the text over from writer. so like i said sorry for that im a bit confused on how that happend any idieas ? ps not going ot copy n paste over to this fourm anymore so sorry for carp spelling lol @ carp spelling!!! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeb Posted April 23, 2009 Report Share Posted April 23, 2009 what so funny i know loads of people who write carp instead of ****, u get band for saying things like that in loads of the fourms im on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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