Bad news from FEO

Foggy011983

Active Member
I had a phone call from my FEO a while ago telling me that my mentor was suitable and the land was cleared for 308 use and that the application was going to be granted.

However I had a phone call today telling me they were speaking to the land owner and wanted to walk the land. It now appears that the land owner has changed his mind.

I have no idea why and im only hoping that he has only changed his mind on the use of a 308 and not me in general.:scared:

I will have to have a word at the weekend to find out what is going on but doesnt look good. I was really looking forward in to the variation. Only thing I can do now is speak to the land owner or try and find my permission which isnt easy.
 
Have you thought about joining a rifle range and get use out of the 308 that way, You could have reason for owning a 30 cal for Target , Stalking and vermin ,
 
Good point from Outback - I'm a member of a target club and have my rifle on for target as well as stalking which means that should I ever find myself in trouble in terms of land to stalk then I still have good reason for keeping the rifle while I get things sorted out. It is worth considering as a route to follow.
 
Good point from Outback - I'm a member of a target club and have my rifle on for target as well as stalking which means that should I ever find myself in trouble in terms of land to stalk then I still have good reason for keeping the rifle while I get things sorted out. It is worth considering as a route to follow.


If your a member of B.A.S.C they have facilities for their membership on at least two maybe three areas in England and Scotland where members can stalk which would comply with the need requirement under the firearms act.
If need be all it would require to comply with those requirements under the act would be proof of membership and a booking at one of those venues or to have shown in the past you have had a booking.
 
If your a member of B.A.S.C they have facilities for their membership on at least two maybe three areas in England and Scotland where members can stalk which would comply with the need requirement under the firearms act.
If need be all it would require to comply with those requirements under the act would be proof of membership and a booking at one of those venues or to have shown in the past you have had a booking.

That sounds great. I am a member of the BASC so ill have a look and see what I can find. I take it information will be on their web site somewhere.
Any other info on this would be much appreciated.

Many thanks Steve
 
Ive been looking in to this a bit further and I have contacted the BASC. I never realised if I was to book a few deer stalking days then that is enough grounds to get a 308 granted.
Do you guys think it is worth doing a dsc1 before booking some days or just book the days first.
Other thing is how far away should I book the shooting days to make sure the licence comes back with the variation added on to it, as I have withdrew my application today so it doesnt show I was to get refused the variation.

What annoys me is I stated when i applied for the variation that I had two permissions I could shoot on and I also wanted it for arranged deer stalking days. He never mentioned that if I go regular stalking I wouldnt need land with deer on it.

One permission didnt get cleared for 308 (the one where I was allowed to shoot the deer) the other cleared but the land owner wont allow me to shoot the deer as they like them.


Oh and to clarify why the land owner had changed his mind in wanting me to shoot a 308 on his land is because the firearms officer told him I was applying for a different caliber and said I was allowed to shoot deer on his land. He had not given me permission to shoot deer on his land only fox which is what I stated on the application form. The permission I didnt get granted was where the deer are that I was allowed to shoot.

Now I have to go and appologise to the landowner at the weekend telling him that its the firearms officer that messed up and that I wasnt being ignorant and ignoring his requests.
 
It sounds like everyone has got a little confused and that is not helping your position. As you say you need to get to the landowners and make it clear to them what has happened. Also I know you say you contacted BASC but have you actually phoned their firearms people and had a word? My local BASC people were able to sort out a few "misunderstanding" type problems I had with firearms in a few minutes on the phone, within 20 minutes I had a resolution and my application had been pending for 9 months by then. They may be able to find out why your land will not get cleared for 308, would it clear if all shooting was done from a high seat for example? I know that might not be ideal but it would at least give you gound to shoot over.

BASC have stalking schemes in Thetford, the Lake District and on Arran in Scotland. My understanding was that you need to have DSC1 and be working towards level 2, or have level 2, in order to stalk on Arran but I might be wrong on that. I think that the Thetford scheme is aimed at the beginner with few requirements other than that you turn up. Also there may be some professional stalkers local to you who would take you out on a few paid days. Try and book days for cull hinds/does if you can as you pay less money (i.e. can afford more days) but gain just as much infromation, experience and enjoyment as days for expensive stags/bucks.

In terms of doing your DSC1, well it can't hurt. I'm a bit opposed to you "needing" to have it but having recently done it myself I enjoyed it and found it interesting. I would say that you should only do it if you want to do it but it might be worth working up the motivation and doing it now before it does become a legal requirement. Things are certainly heading that way and once the government gets involved the one thing we can be sure of is that it will not become easier, involve less red tape or be less expensive than it is now.
 
If you don't get your ticket back in time, you can always use the estate rifle for the first outing ;)
 
It sounds like everyone has got a little confused and that is not helping your position. As you say you need to get to the landowners and make it clear to them what has happened. Also I know you say you contacted BASC but have you actually phoned their firearms people and had a word? My local BASC people were able to sort out a few "misunderstanding" type problems I had with firearms in a few minutes on the phone, within 20 minutes I had a resolution and my application had been pending for 9 months by then. They may be able to find out why your land will not get cleared for 308, would it clear if all shooting was done from a high seat for example? I know that might not be ideal but it would at least give you gound to shoot over.

BASC have stalking schemes in Thetford, the Lake District and on Arran in Scotland. My understanding was that you need to have DSC1 and be working towards level 2, or have level 2, in order to stalk on Arran but I might be wrong on that. I think that the Thetford scheme is aimed at the beginner with few requirements other than that you turn up. Also there may be some professional stalkers local to you who would take you out on a few paid days. Try and book days for cull hinds/does if you can as you pay less money (i.e. can afford more days) but gain just as much infromation, experience and enjoyment as days for expensive stags/bucks.

In terms of doing your DSC1, well it can't hurt. I'm a bit opposed to you "needing" to have it but having recently done it myself I enjoyed it and found it interesting. I would say that you should only do it if you want to do it but it might be worth working up the motivation and doing it now before it does become a legal requirement. Things are certainly heading that way and once the government gets involved the one thing we can be sure of is that it will not become easier, involve less red tape or be less expensive than it is now.

Hi the land would probably need a high seat. The other thing which I was hoping is both the permissions I have neighbour one another so I was hoping although one permission is a relitively small piece of land in width (1000 yards wide maybe where i can shoot the deer) the other permission which neighbours it would enable a suitable backstop as its view is not obstructed and is a rising hill. I dont know if two permissions would count like that though.

If I can get the variation granted by going on a few shoots then at least i can take some pictures and forward them to the firearms department. Its a pain when they go to check the land but dont inform you so you can show them where and how you intend to shoot.

I think what I am going to do is book a dsc1 as I would be interested in what it has to offer then book a couple of shoots then apply again in a few months.

I decided to withdraw the application so it didnt get refused thus making it harder for me to apply later on.
 
I would like to thank a couple of members for contacting me and giving me the chance to book a stalk with them. The light has got a little brighter, even if I do have to fill out that application form again LOL :D
 
I recently renewed and told my FLO that I had no land as the guy I stalked with had given up. It was no problem and I've now got an open ticket in terms of where I can use my rifles the only requirement is that it is suitable for the use of the rifles.

The difference might be that I've been stalking for over 20 years and this is my 4th renewal with the same police force.
 
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