Re Hunting license

Bavarianbrit

Well-Known Member
Funny how wherever you go in the world the local authorities are hot about hunting license sales yet in the UK we got rid them years ago.
Just another tax or does it really go to help the animals like with the US
Pittman–Robertson Act,?
Martin
 
And some people think it would be a good idea to make people buy a license for sea angling, saying that c£2M would be available, out of £24M collected, to be spent on conservation. Sea anglers already pay c£70 in VAT every year. What does that get spent on?
 
And some people think it would be a good idea to make people buy a license for sea angling, saying that c£2M would be available, out of £24M collected, to be spent on conservation. Sea anglers already pay c£70 in VAT every year. What does that get spent on?
I echo your thaughts JTO
 
Funny how wherever you go in the world the local authorities are hot about hunting license sales yet in the UK we got rid them years ago.
Just another tax or does it really go to help the animals like with the US
Pittman–Robertson Act,?
Martin

In the US, most State wildlife programs would cease to exist without the hunting license fees. Likewise State parks and availability of public hunting lands. In the UK you really don't need licenses, and if you had them, they would definitely be a tax. After all, the percentage of public hunting lands to privately held lands must be very small. In my State I pay $37 for a license to hunt upland game, Antelope, and take two deer - the seasons stretching from September to December, and I have millions of acres to hunt on for that fee: 30 million to be exact. It costs me just $1.23 US to hunt for three and a half months, per million acres of land. Add to that the fact that coyotes, rabbits, prairiedogs, etc. are considered vermin and require no license. Free and unlimited shooting year round. All in all, that's a bargain.

Nope. I have never complained about license fees.~Muir
 
Funny how wherever you go in the world the local authorities are hot about hunting license sales yet in the UK we got rid them years ago.
Just another tax or does it really go to help the animals like with the US
Pittman–Robertson Act,?
Martin

Martin I assume that you are talking about the old game license that you purchased in the post office which was something from another era and not really a hunting license.

I don't know when the license to take game was introduced but initially wasn't it introduced as a measure to control poaching and to tax the poor man out of shooting? With time and inflation in the end it was costing more to collect and issue these licenses than the revenue received.
If I remember correctly while it still existed there was no need to have a game license for deer stalking on enclosed land.
 
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It seems to be a cash cow in many countries.
In the US as Muir says, for state residents it represents a great deal (I was in New Mexico for 2 years) but if you come in to hunt from another state then the price hike is usually large.
Seems to be a tit for tat measure between the states as the price can differ depending which state you come from and what they charge their non residents.
Really my post was biased more to all the eastern European and asian lands.
Martin
 
Remember that here in UK there is no "xxxxx" of taxes. I forget the word, hence the "xxxxx", but what it means is that taxes collected from one source are not allowed to be ring fenced just to be used for the benefit of the citizens or businesses that provide that source of revenue.

So vehicle excise duty has never been ring fenced to only be allowed to be spent for the benefit (road users) of the citizens that provide that source of revenue. Would that it were. We'd have the finest roads in the wlorld if we did.

I pay enough in VAT on what I buy for shooting. How much of that does shooting see back? Heck! Maybe all VAT on shooting purchases should be used to give us FREE FACs and SGCs? The money I pay in VAT on a new (or used) gun is certainly more than the £ 20 cost of a variation to be allowed to buy it!
 
There might not be tickets or licences to shoot animals in the UK, which provide income to the government, in effect the land owners.

But in the UK, there are things called "stalking fees" or "syndicate fees" which provide that income to the land owner. Different place, different methods, that's all.
 
Remember that here in UK there is no "xxxxx" of taxes. I forget the word, hence the "xxxxx", but what it means is that taxes collected from one source are not allowed to be ring fenced just to be used for the benefit of the citizens or businesses that provide that source of revenue.

Hypothecation, where all or part of the taxes raised are used for a specific purpose rather than going into a pot called "general taxation"?
 
There might not be tickets or licences to shoot animals in the UK, which provide income to the government, in effect the land owners.

But in the UK, there are things called "stalking fees" or "syndicate fees" which provide that income to the land owner. Different place, different methods, that's all.

In general those fees provide income to whomever holds the stalking rights - which may or may not be the land owner.

In a perfect world a hunting license would fund either the appropriate government department or wildlife conservation in general. That way there is a direct correlation between hunting and conservation, such as the State wildlife programs Muir refers to above and as seen in some other parts of Europe.

Personally I'd be happier spending my funds this way than on subscriptions to the various fieldsport organisations.
 
It's not that long ago we needed to include a current game licence to attend the B.A.S.C. stalking schemes, seem to remember they alternated in colour blue/red etc, bit like tax discs.
 
Just hope comrade Sturgeon and her evil politburo are not reading this in case it puts ideas into their head. Already with their plans to introduce business rates for shooting and stalking Scottish Sporting Estates are going to be at a financial disadvantage cpmpared to those south of the Border.

Blackpowder
 
The following is a quote from BASC Scotland:
"BASC Scotland and the post office in Dunkeld are offering to issue the licences for £7 (which includes a £1 handling fee) so people don't have to trawl around looking for a post office which stocks them. People can either call 01350 723226 01350 723226 or write to BASC Scotland, Trochry, Dunkeld, Tayside, PH8 0DY with their full name and address and a cheque payable to BASC.

"Although game licences have been abolished in England and Wales, the Scottish Executive's plans to scrap game licences will not happen before this coming game shooting season which is why all who shoot game in Scotland will still require a game licence."

Dr Colin Shedden, BASC's Scottish director, said: "We are still working to get rid of the game licence in Scotland. We sought assurances from the Crown Office that no prosecutions would be taken forward given the cross-border situation, but this guarantee was not forthcoming. What we have now is a mechanism to allow all who shoot in Scotland to comply with the law".
Remember buying two for a trip to Arran with Flyboy.
 
UK sees nearly all sporting taking part on private land, without bag limits, unlike the US where if you tag out in the first hour of opening day, you're season is over [unless you can buy over the counter tags likes in Colorado]
 
UK sees nearly all sporting taking part on private land, without bag limits, unlike the US where if you tag out in the first hour of opening day, you're season is over [unless you can buy over the counter tags likes in Colorado]

I've lost your meaning. Do you mean that if you pay to shoot someone's land you can shoot until you are out of ammo, or your wallet out of cash? Here we can travel to adjacent States to hunt if we wish. If one had the money and lived in Montana, they could hunt Idaho, Wyoming, South and North Dakota; limiting out as each license allows. Maybe that's one in each State? So two deer in Montana and one in each adjacent State. That's 6 deer. I have mentioned this many times before, but understand that in the US you can NOT sell game meat taken from the wild. I live alone and three deer is a lot of eating for me. I eat a lot of venison but still manage to have steaks in the freezer come hunting season's return. So with that light played on the subject, how many deer would you think it sportsman-like for me to take? Just keep shooting? Or put up just what i can eat?

I would like to hunt / shoot deer for weeks and weeks on end but I wouldn't, even if I could. It would be a waste.~Muir
 
The following is a quote from BASC Scotland:
"BASC Scotland and the post office in Dunkeld are offering to issue the licences for £7 (which includes a £1 handling fee) so people don't have to trawl around looking for a post office which stocks them. People can either call 01350 723226 01350 723226 or write to BASC Scotland, Trochry, Dunkeld, Tayside, PH8 0DY with their full name and address and a cheque payable to BASC.

"Although game licences have been abolished in England and Wales, the Scottish Executive's plans to scrap game licences will not happen before this coming game shooting season which is why all who shoot game in Scotland will still require a game licence."

Dr Colin Shedden, BASC's Scottish director, said: "We are still working to get rid of the game licence in Scotland. We sought assurances from the Crown Office that no prosecutions would be taken forward given the cross-border situation, but this guarantee was not forthcoming. What we have now is a mechanism to allow all who shoot in Scotland to comply with the law".
Remember buying two for a trip to Arran with Flyboy.

Here's what I found; at least I hope that's right as I've just checked my paperwork & the last one I bought covered me up to this point.

View attachment 58546
 
Remember that here in UK there is no "xxxxx" of taxes. I forget the word, hence the "xxxxx", but what it means is that taxes collected from one source are not allowed to be ring fenced just to be used for the benefit of the citizens or businesses that provide that source of revenue.

So vehicle excise duty has never been ring fenced to only be allowed to be spent for the benefit (road users) of the citizens that provide that source of revenue. Would that it were. We'd have the finest roads in the wlorld if we did.

I pay enough in VAT on what I buy for shooting. How much of that does shooting see back? Heck! Maybe all VAT on shooting purchases should be used to give us FREE FACs and SGCs? The money I pay in VAT on a new (or used) gun is certainly more than the £ 20 cost of a variation to be allowed to buy it!
Its not that they can't be ring fenced (or more correctly that current legislation couldn't be amended), it is that it is convenient not to "on the grounds that spending priorities should not be determined by theway in which money is raised". http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn01480.pdf Like you say, makes a lot of sense for roads & transport infrastructure, but also perhaps health, etc.
 
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I live alone and three deer is a lot of eating for me. I eat a lot of venison but still manage to have steaks in the freezer come hunting season's return. So with that light played on the subject, how many deer would you think it sportsman-like for me to take? Just keep shooting? Or put up just what i can eat?
~Muir

If we only admitted to shoot what deer we eat ourselves, our police might say we do not have 'good reason' to own the rifle.
 
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