Shooting hares to be banned for 9 months of the year.

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Mungo said:
Of course no one is really grappling with the fact that they’re not even native…

Ignoring that, the legislation is based on assumptions about hare numbers that are 25 years out of date.

Certainly any long term data set I’ve seen shows that they’re stable or increasing almost everywhere. They’ve done very well in many areas where rabbits have been wiped out by VHD.

I also don’t really understand all the romanticisation that goes with hares. They’re just a fairly standard lagomorph and taste much better than rabbits.
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We have on our bookshelf a copy of “British Fieldsports” by William Scott written in 1818. The writting is rather diddly diddly and effusive of the time - however there is a long chapter on the hare, of which the attached make interesting reading
 

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Bowland blades said:
many places ! like right here in the Forrest of Bowland numbers have really suffered , though we still see them every year for about the last five years or so . Previously we where tripping over them ! They certainly had some sort of infection some sort of bug and i have seen them acting like we might with a dose of flu - Very little spaying happens on the land where i am pretty sure its some kind of bug that's effecting them . I used to bring a guy on with his hawks and shot a few Hares myself but hares do no real damage to the upland grazing , indeed the way a Hare feeds your not going to see much if any depletion of grazing by Hares.
Not against taking a couple of hares myself , i would again IF /WHEN there is an up-turn in the numbers . Its wonderful meat when cooked correctly
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a good friend of mines a keeper near bowland , hes seeing some good numbers of course i realise it can be localised
 
On the famous Norfolk shooting estates in victorian times, hares were the most shot quarry. Followed by partridge & then pheasants. Hare numbers according to the GCWT are cyclical, no one seems to know why. Maybe in a few years time we will be moaning about lack of Hares. Interesting to note that the current upsurge corresponds with the demise of the rabbit.
 
Mr Tree said:
On the famous Norfolk shooting estates in victorian times, hares were the most shot quarry. Followed by partridge & then pheasants. Hare numbers according to the GCWT are cyclical, no one seems to know why. Maybe in a few years time we will be moaning about lack of Hares. Interesting to note that the current upsurge corresponds with the demise of the rabbit.
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It also has a lot to do with the resumption of badger control and improved predator control. Badgers and fox used to mop up nearly all the leverets on our ground with very few surviving to adulthood.

The only good reason for restricting shooting or otherwise taking hares is that the population is endagered by shooting pressure. Whatever your inclination, it cannot be argued that there is any evidence demonstrating that to be true.
 
Apthorpe said:
It also has a lot to do with the resumption of badger control and improved predator control. Badgers and fox used to mop up nearly all the leverets on our ground with very few surviving to adulthood.

The only good reason for restricting shooting or otherwise taking hares is that the population is endagered by shooting pressure. Whatever your inclination, it cannot be argued that there is any evidence demonstrating that to be true.
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Huh? As I said in my post.
 
I've not read all the replies to this but I can't see why it's unreasonable to have a close season to allow things to breed in peace. There should be plenty of time to get on top of management in the season. The emotive writing style is just the usual uninformed anti bull****, it shouldn't blind us to the need for season on welfare and management grounds though.
 
Tyla said:
I've not read all the replies to this but I can't see why it's unreasonable to have a close season to allow things to breed in peace. There should be plenty of time to get on top of management in the season. The emotive writing style is just the usual uninformed anti bull****, it shouldn't blind us to the need for season on welfare and management grounds though.
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You don't need to, as all that 5 pages of this shows is perspicacity is in short supply.
Counts, coursing, or crop damage aren't relevant at all to the close season.
There's a lot more of this to come for everyone to chew over at Christmas.:zzz:
 
I think a closed season is good in someway.

But I dont buy into the numbers declining. Unless you actually go out and look for stuff you won't see them.

Must of counted +20 in one field last year in our area to the point we had to shoot them off to stop the dog men coming and causing even more damage.
 
Tyla said:
I've not read all the replies to this but I can't see why it's unreasonable to have a close season to allow things to breed in peace. There should be plenty of time to get on top of management in the season. The emotive writing style is just the usual uninformed anti bull****, it shouldn't blind us to the need for season on welfare and management grounds though.
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They will breed almost all year round. Only last night I watched two jacks chasing a doe around.
Ignorant laws made by the ignorant for the stupid. Reactive career politics.
 
Chris Richardson said:
a good friend of mines a keeper near bowland , hes seeing some good numbers of course i realise it can be localised
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We have Hare all over Bowland but at this particular time the amount we are seeing is down . I wont be shooting any till things look brighter for them . There is hardly any planted ground needing pest control of Hare . Unlike Rabbits the Hare takes a Nip here and a Nip over there it doesn't even count as grass damage because of this important fact ! Rabbits however take to the grass until its barren dead at the very roots , you can see the warrens of rabbits because of the long dead areas near the warrens .
 
Bowland blades said:
We have Hare all over Bowland but at this particular time the amount we are seeing is down . I wont be shooting any till things look brighter for them . There is hardly any planted ground needing pest control of Hare . Unlike Rabbits the Hare takes a Nip here and a Nip over there it doesn't even count as grass damage because of this important fact ! Rabbits however take to the grass until its barren dead at the very roots , you can see the warrens of rabbits because of the long dead areas near the warrens .
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shouldnt that read I not we, not sure any one has agreed with you yet.
i will continue to lamp them as long as i can
 
Its a good idea, give them a bit more respect, who wants to shoot a hare outside those months anyway.
They seem to have slowly increased in many places, no shortage of them, ive only shot 2 in my life, one was wounded and screamed like a human baby, a truly awful sound and I dont really like their meat.
 
Smellydog said:
They will breed almost all year round. Only last night I watched two jacks chasing a doe around.
Ignorant laws made by the ignorant for the stupid. Reactive career politics.
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In that case why not remove all seasons for all wildlife?

Shooters are so programmed to operate within existing seasons that all all logic seems removed. The season for fallow bucks should be year round excluding the rut until Christmas and yet we cling to the existing seasons.

We still shoot rabbits, regardless of their massive population crash simply because we always have.

Logically we should have a complete moratorium on rabbit shooting everywhere excluding the few places where they are in over abundance. By the same theory we should be managing badgers in most places as their populations are far higher than can be supported without massive negative affect on their prey species.

If emotion and politics could be removed from the equation and populations of all species could be managed to maintain sensible levels through out the ecosystem the environment, and shooters as managers of the land, would be far better off.
 
Nickb said:
This is it , a lot of areas now have more hares than rabbits ...go figure 😁
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Rabbits used to be in big numbers in northumberland/durham.vhd took care of that just starting to see rabbit numbers pick up.but plenty of hares.
 
Smellydog said:
I don't understand your question. The context is hares.


I hardly shoot rabbit compared to how I use to. If I do I single out bucks to my best ability.
You sound a touch presumptuous.
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It's not really a question. I just think there's no reason to automatically fight all changes to wildlife management legislation. The natural world is in perpetual flux and as such the rules for managing it need to be flexible too.
 
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