Our sport is under attack!

I had a strange questions asked of me last night by a telephonepolling company who were obviouslyworking for some pressure group or similar . The questions were “ do you thinkshooting and gun magazines should be 18 rated” and "Should shooting and gunmagazines be only sold from the top shelf i.e. as girlie magazines are”.
Has anyone else been asked anything similar recently?

Would be good to find out where this nonsense is coming from although I could guess.

Just another reminder that the sport we all love is underattack!
Alan
 
Hi, welcome to the site

Can you please post a proper intro, thanks
 
CSL thanks for keeping me right!

Ok I shoot and or fish 3-4 times per week and have done most of my 54 years. I am semi retired IT consultant these days working only 2-3 months per year which lets me feed my shooting addiction. Basically I am a shooting nut and proud of it. Yes I am divorced..... but that should not come as a surprise!

Highlight of my shooting life was shooting 3100 doves in one day (>10,000 in four days!) in Argentina.

I shoot pigeons and crows most weeks (>2500 each year) stalk Roe in Northumberland Sika and Red around Sutherland in the Scottish Highlands (>30 animals per year). I shoot driven pheasant and partridge in North Yorkshire and Lincoln (>30 days per year) and lamp "charlie" and rabbits around the 27 farms I have access to around Northumberland.

I also drill holes in targets at Ponteland and Otterburn ranges once a month just to bond with my rifles of which I own a .22 (Anschutz) .22-250 (Tika T3) .243 (Sauer) and .308 (Mauser M 03), all are left handed. Optics are all schmidt and bender - even on my .22 (yes I know that is mad!).

Had a charmed life; from humble beginings I have made a few bob and intend to spend the lot on shooting and fishing before I am too old to spend it on my kids. FYI I shoot 2-3 days per week most weeks with my best friend and shooting mentor who is now 82 year old. I just hope someone puts my wellies on for me and takes me shooting when I am that age :D

Alan
 
I am opposed to our "Sport".

I hate the way shooting is referred to as a sport, its NOT a sport and it is playing into the hands of the anti's to refer to it as such. I can appreciate the the origins of the word may lie in hunting but in the modern context a sport is a game, something competitive where we try to beat either each other or ourselves. To many people all stalking is is the killing of animals or fun or "sport". We know its much more than that and encompasses all kinds of other issues , environmental, agricultural and animal welfare, the sooner we stop referring to it as a "sport" the better.

That said, welcome to the forum!:)
 
Tom,

All feedback is good feedback so thanks for your comments.

By "sport" I was referring to shooting with guns and rifles (please read my bit about shooting and gun magazines). If shooting with guns is an olympic "sport", why would anyone want to stop juniors under 18 take part?

I don't just shoot to kill, I also plink targets and was once an accomplished clay shot so my message may have been mixed on what is a stalking forum.

Where you from in the Borders? I stalk Roe and shoot pigeons / crows around the Berwick area as well as back here in south Northumberland.
 
I am opposed to our "Sport".

I hate the way shooting is referred to as a sport, its NOT a sport and it is playing into the hands of the anti's to refer to it as such. I can appreciate the the origins of the word may lie in hunting but in the modern context a sport is a game, something competitive where we try to beat either each other or ourselves. To many people all stalking is is the killing of animals or fun or "sport". We know its much more than that and encompasses all kinds of other issues , environmental, agricultural and animal welfare, the sooner we stop referring to it as a "sport" the better.

That said, welcome to the forum!:)
YDS takes out paying stalkers. Is his clients deer managers. No. They are participating in field sports just as much as the pheasant shooter or the fisherman. The word sport has no other connotation in this context. You make a straw for your own back and everyone else's by trying to change that. We must defend our sport. What we cannot do is try to fudge the justification. Only two words justify the majority of stalkers actions. A hobby or a sport. I would rather justify it as a sport. Jim
 
I am opposed to our "Sport".

I hate the way shooting is referred to as a sport, its NOT a sport and it is playing into the hands of the anti's to refer to it as such. I can appreciate the the origins of the word may lie in hunting but in the modern context a sport is a game, something competitive where we try to beat either each other or ourselves. To many people all stalking is is the killing of animals or fun or "sport". We know its much more than that and encompasses all kinds of other issues , environmental, agricultural and animal welfare, the sooner we stop referring to it as a "sport" the better.

That said, welcome to the forum!:)

Thats where you are wrong hunting shooting and fishing are sports , what you and many others now refer to as sport are in fact games.
 
A really good intro here, looks like it may get spoiled a little, welcome Alan, just wish I was as well traveled in the shooting sphere as you!;)
 
Finnbear,

Just had a look at your profile and it's nice to see a man after my own heart... boy they are big foxes!

If you are ever in the North East you must look me up.

Alan
 
Yes sorry to screw up your intro, I'm just past berwick up near Duns by the way.

Little old me isn't going to change anything, but I will always be annoyed by the 'sport" definition, People will never understand the distinction that we are trying to make. We already live in a country where the vast majority of the population would happily (or at least with indifference) watch our "sport" disappear, I think the various "anti" groups have a much more media savvy approach than any of the pro shooting organisations (compare the latest LACS video with the shooting show, the difference in production values and presentation is huge). If we were to go to Saachi & Saachi and ask them to help us promote our sporting activities I suspect the first thing they would say is drop the word "sport".

Individuals like Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall do far more to help the pro shooting cause than BASC ever will, the court of public opinion turns on popular appeal, which we haven't got. If you think the restrictions of getting an FAC are bad now they could easily be made much worse, other restrictions could be applied too, politicians will always do what is popular, it's in their nature, in 20 years time we could be living in a country where deer and foxes are a protected species and we are all out shooting crows with air rifles talking about "now" as the good old days when you could have a centre fire rifle...
 
Tom,

Good post... These are not good times for those wanting to own and use firearms.

Look me up if you ever come south, I live near Hexham.

Alan
 
Well im starting out pretty much on my shooting journey in life and i hope my shooting life is as good as yours sounds like its been (so far) hope to hear some stories of your many days out in the field.

Welcome

Phil
 
hi alan a good intro welcome to the site i see your the same age as myself i am stalking in slaley at dukesfield
atb tom
 
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