Hares….yay or nay?

[Ratel]

We have a large quantity of hares and I shoot a few but only with a rifle and not until October. Our major farmer is quite happy to see them and knows that they nibble and move on unlike rabbits. Cereal crops are not really damaged by hares even when ready to harvest. In fact we used to initially graze them off with sheep years ago when young to promote growth.
Sugar beet growers don't like them or the deer but we don't grow any and I've never seen them damage what beans we grow.
Hate hare drives and haven't been on one for 40 years.

 

[finnbear270]

It needs a Wildlife crimes team to reduce interlopers, the Hares are fine.

 

[TringSaint]

I have recently been asked to reduce hare numbers on one of my permissions and to be quite honest I’m in two minds about it.

I have said I won’t even consider doing so until after the 31st of July.

At the moment it’s herbal ley (grant incentivised) that has been cut and bailed for haylage for horses. There’s nothing to be damaged. I’m unsure if he’s planning a second cut, but given that it’s July now I doubt he will be.

Part of their consideration is to avoid the land being used by “our friends in Mitsubishi shoguns with dogs”, their words not mine, for coursing, but I think barriers and sensible precautions would do a better job.

Ive sat for a few hours this week and each evening I have counted not less than 12 hares within an area of about 60 hectares. Which I believe puts their numbers about bang average.

Any thoughts or input would be appreciated.

I’m airing on the side of no at the moment but obviously don't want to upset the apple cart.

I would appeal to the farmer to make his field entrances as p!key-proof as possible and leave the hares be. Whack some big lumps of concrete in there and hide nail boards in the entrances to knacker their tyres.

They have a bloody tough life and by the time winter hits their number will have dropped naturally due to wild predators.

I haven’t shot one in probably a decade as I (and my landowners) would rather see them in the fields, even though they are a target for the dog-boy scum.

 

[TringSaint]

I've worked on two estates where they were removed to prevent coursing and the hassle that generated, when you say no damage is being done, three hares will eat the same as one sheep. I get no pleasure from shooting hares, however if you don't do as the farmer asks, someone will. In some areas, hares are a massive success and do need reducing, other not so much and need leaving.

You must have bloody big hares or small sheep!! My valais weigh in at 80kg for a ewe and 120+ for a ram. Not seen many 25kg hares about. 10kg with guts in, maybe.

 

[finbar]

The op obviously never seen proper coursing or lurcher work when it was legal
Most good hares will out run most dogs unless lamped
A good daytime hare is just about un beatable
As for the bell ends driving through fields Carnt defended that
I’ve had to shoot hares on wor shoot for the same thing
But this year been good for hare & rabbit
Long live Hartley

 

[Bo Diddley]

Set some traps for the coursing crew. We dug some Vee ditches in strategic places that provide easy access to the fields, such as alongside the farm tracks where we have barriers and along the main roadside. We had two captures within the first month, nothing at all since, the two 4x4's stuck good and proper, just let them become overgrown with grass and you can't tell they are there... they are so effective I even got caught myself in the Gator one night .

We shoot a few hares to keep 'em in check, only when the dealers are paying £4 - £5 for a large. I counted 106 on one field last winter, maybe 40 acres.

Sad situation you find yourself in. I used to love coursing, kept lurchers when I was younger. It's just the trouble that follows the doasyoulikeys, takes a bit of putting up with.

 

[Apthorpe]

Unless this permission covers a very large area, I rather doubt that shooting hares off a couple of hundred acres would have any effect. And even then, it doesn't guarantee that you don't get illicit behaviour.
I'd devote the energy instead to making it inhospitable to uninvited guests.

 

[jb1]

I have only been asked once for the very reason you mention, what someone had done was they left a load of 2x2 timbers that must have been used for fencing in the gateways, and to make matters worse the screws had been left in. They must have fallen off the trailer or something.

 

[Pine Marten]

I can't even bring myself to eat hare, I find it fairly a unpleasant meat

As I've told you before, you must be doing it wrong .

 

[JockStalk]

I’ve taken the odd hare for the pot over the years but not interested in taking numbers down. Lovely creatures.

 

[finnbear270]

I used to clean the Hare same day, Roast as I would a Chicken next day, let cool then chill, slice meat & dress with a little light mint sauce, instant lamb sandwich flavour!, BUT I couldn’t get my head around a wounded Hares cries, so the last one I shot was late 70’s

 

[finbar]

Set some traps for the coursing crew. We dug some Vee ditches in strategic places that provide easy access to the fields, such as alongside the farm tracks where we have barriers and along the main roadside. We had two captures within the first month, nothing at all since, the two 4x4's stuck good and proper, just let them become overgrown with grass and you can't tell they are there... they are so effective I even got caught myself in the Gator one night .

We shoot a few hares to keep 'em in check, only when the dealers are paying £4 - £5 for a large. I counted 106 on one field last winter, maybe 40 acres.

Sad situation you find yourself in. I used to love coursing, kept lurchers when I was younger. It's just the trouble that follows the doasyoulikeys, takes a bit of putting up with.

A lot on here started our journey to where we are now with the humble ferret lurcher & terrier most of which has been stolen of us

 

[Smellydog]

I can't complain about any of the sentiments expressed here.
But I must add breaded fried hare is very good

 

[Bo Diddley]

A lot on here started our journey to where we are now with the humble ferret lurcher & terrier most of which has been stolen of us

That was my story also. I remember the moment it was triggered as a child at primary school. I would run home at lunchtime so that I could watch Jack Hargreaves' Out of Town on telly,
the ferreting episode where they set the purse nets and slipped a ferret down the hole on the bank, a rabbit slipped the net and the little Jack x Whippet coursed and caught the rabbit... I was sold on that way of life from that moment onwards... I realised that the .22 air rifle with its bent barrel wasn't the only way to hunt... I'm happiest with a hunting dog as company.

 

[Ratel]

As someone else has said it's relatively easy to catch the caravan dwellers out. We have wide grass margins along which you can drive at speed. But where there is a dyke we leave that open and move the entry to the next field in a different place. Had one lot so far and they were quite badly hurt. You can use gates but they all have angle grinders now so still get in. The good thing is with so many hares it spoils their coursing and betting so they now tend to go elsewhere.

 

[buckfever]

My best days and nights was out with the dogs just a shame its a lot more restricted now. And getting worse. Social media and folk driving the land helped speed up the process 🫩

 

[Nimrod1960]

Only for the pot, delicious , but never on my own land.

 

[Cyres]

I shoot them to order if need be. Head shot with .204. probably shoot no more than five a year. Doesn't take long some fields it's easy to see 20+ with the thermal. I am now seeing hares on a perm for the first time in 30 years. Having v few foxs helps them no end.
D

 

[JMikeyH]

As I've told you before, you must be doing it wrong .

Happy to receive a doggy bag next time you treat your family

 

[stumac]

Landowner wants them shot and considering the reason I would shoot every one that I could. If you dont want to do it then dont but I wouldnt then be upset if the farmer got someone else to do it.

Dont get me wrong, I like to see hares but if there was a risk of the same happening where I live and where I shoot I would wipe them out rather then the alternative.

No wonder shooters are giving up and shooting people are frowned apon