Hare coursing on TV tonight

just watched it and ended up frustrated..

They basically caught the lads coursing red handed with dog catching a hare. They got away with not even a caution. Im not saying it was the policemans fault but the law in this area is full of loopholes for them to slip through. My girlfriend said that they might have just been walking their dog and it chased a hare.. I said well i hope hunts use the same excuse if theyre out drag hunting and their 20 hounds chase a fox.. im sorry 'plod i just couldnt stop them.. it wont happen again, honest.. this is pretty much the excuse the poachers used... My GF right in what shes saying but what the police should be able to do is use their discretion.. if they see a poodle chasing a bunny then tell them off and leave it at that. If you catch a group of blokes in a car with several dogs and one of their mate happening across a field after hares then the rozzer should be able to exercise his powers.

I favour a similar tac to the scots, where anything which has been used in connection with a crime is confiscated permanently and they get a criminal record.

I still think rural crimes are looked at as 'soft crimes'. i shall stop my rant before i get told off!!
 
All good and true but its perfectly legal to be out catching rabbits with a lurcher, now if a lurcher is rabbiting and a hare gets up the dog isn't going to just go "Im not allowed to course that" and return to its handler.

Its all a bit of a joke really. The programme came across like that to me to be perfectly honest, what did you think ? Its a sport that a few years ago was perfectly legal and now its a crime, made me laugh when they said its one of the fastest growing crimes. One minute its fine , the next its a criminal offence :doh:
 
All good and true but its perfectly legal to be out catching rabbits with a lurcher, now if a lurcher is rabbiting and a hare gets up the dog isn't going to just go "Im not allowed to course that" and return to its handler.

Its all a bit of a joke really. The programme came across like that to me to be perfectly honest, what did you think ? Its a sport that a few years ago was perfectly legal and now its a crime, made me laugh when they said its one of the fastest growing crimes. One minute its fine , the next its a criminal offence :doh:

Always difficult making any sort of judgement from an edited TV programme, but based on what I saw, it was pretty obvious those blokes were not just out and about doing 'a spot of rabbiting' :-|
 
Seems relatively well balanced as these things go I guess. Its hard not to get annoyed with the superficial arguments and stats they always use on the TV though! Some points:

1) How can some of Britain's wildlife be rich and rare at the same time, as the presenter says at the start - surely one precludes the other?

2) Brown Hare numbers are a great source of contention and any reading of the literature suggests that after a fall in the first half of the 20th century, they've probably stabilised (with enormous regional variations relating to pasture land, silage production and other farming practices). Either way, on a national scale they aint rare.

3) Notice that on both occasions, the blokes are warned that they might be charged under the game acts and not the load of old spherical objects that is the Hunting Act 2004.

I certainly don't condone any sort of hunting without a landowners full permission, but didn't that lurcher go nicely...

I agree though - seems like they were bang to rights to me!
 
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Coursers can be a pain in the bum , on one estate we had loads of trouble until we caught one lot and the headkeeper says "if ya only asked we could have a couple days in febuary without looking over your shoulder" they looked a bit shocked and thats what we did , those lads came beating and ferreting and we never had any more grief , good lads good days and great fun . I like watching a dog run and loved the waterloo cup , and watching a big lurcher go over an 8 foot wall after a fox the fetch it back is something else , great days .
 
I agree mate, but end of the day they gota prove it lol! Thats the law and they should follow it! Proving it would be impossible !!
 
Just adding a little flavour here,.....Poodles are retrievers or gun dogs, and can still be seen in that role most of the time. The poodle is believed to have originated in Germany, where it is known as the Pudel. The English word "poodle" comes from the Low German pudel or puddeln,[2] meaning to splash in the water. The breed was standardized in France, where it was commonly used as a water retriever, as in most situations what you may be seeing isn't always what is happening!
 
:confused:

Finnbear

You've lost me there mate!

Actually, I think I know what you're saying, but honestly - poodles?
 
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