What to tell the neighbours

Mat

Well-Known Member
One of my neighbours commented to my wife that they thought we were rushing off to hospital when they heard me drive off at 5:30 on a Sunday morning (the wife is heavily pregnant). All my wife could say was that I went out early to 'look at some animals' (not that I saw any :cry: ).

Thankfully the conversation stopped there with a reply of 'oh, that's nice'. Just wondering what other people do, just come clean, say it loud, say it proud: 'I stalk deer, so I have to get up inexplicably early on a Sunday morning!'

Or should I be stealthier and say park around the corner so no one hears me leave? When I go target shooting, I tend to make sure no one is around when I load and unload the car, or at least wait until their back is turned! I also haven't had to explain away any 6:30 departures.
 
Simple tell them your out deerstalking as a mater of a cull plan for the deer own benifit then ask them if they would like some venison steaks .My nabours all eat it and have no probs with what id do . ;)
 
I don't have any problems I live in a rural area with lots of shoots around so it is quite a 'normal' occurance.
I could see it being a problem if you live in a built up area with a lot of 'anti's'.
It doesn't bother me if I get seen loading up the car to go stalking
Jonathon
 
Neighbours

Gents

I Myself have also been very lucky on the neighbour front, as I live out on a rural road but still only about 1 mile out of the Village, my neighbours are about 300m away on one side & they have a small 40 acre farm that runs alongside & with land also to the rear of my garden which also has an old wooded railway embankment 200m below the garden & the other side neighbours are 200m further up the road.

I have a long narrow garder which is 450ft long & not only did I get permission to stalk the Roe on their ground but they were also happy for me to put a 100m range in my garden to test zero the rifles with as the land below the garden is unused.

We built a bank & used back to back railway sleepers dug into it & that stops anything I ever intend to use, so that no round ever escapes the garden & beyond is the 20ft embankment anyway.

Even the old 270wsm does not get through the 2nd sleeper let alone the earth bank.

The land beyond has a few good Roe on it & I tend to only take 3/4 each season as its just a nice place to go & sit out now & again in a highseat to overlook the wooded embankment on a Sunday afternoon before the roast dinner!

I am fourtunate in that I have an open ticket & always use a moderated rifle, I never do kick the ass out of it & just use the range to check the rifles now & again when they need it.

Had I not told the neighbours then I would not have any of this I guess.

I guess should consider myself pretty lucky in the Neighbour dept?

Regards Lee
 
I have lived in my house for 13+ years and have never had any reason to hide what i do, in fact i go out of my way to tell people what i do. If i was to get any negative feed back then tough for them, i would just fight my corner. There has been many a time when people have seen me with a deer slung over my shoulder from out of the car. My direct neighbour is a member of RSPB, English nature and one or 2 others. He knows what i do and has to my knowledge never had a problem with it. ;)

Be proud of what you do, if you hide it then to my mind you must feel that you shouldn`t be doing it.

I think you will be surprised at what reactions that you get, and that is mostly positive, because if nothing else, it`s a conversation starter. ;)

Good hunting ;)

wadas
 
I whip the guns in and out quickly because I don't want some of the people round where I live knowing I have guns in the house. If a neighbour or someone I know asks I might tell them I stalk, target shoot, or clay pigeon shoot (all of whch are correct) depending on the mood I'm in and whether I can bothered with an argument.

In urban areas you need to be more discrete - not becasue of neighbours disapproving, who cares about that, but becasue of drugs gangs.
 
I live in a suburban cul-de-sac, so most of the neighbours including me are basically townies although we're not exactly far from the countryside.

Well, I'll probably just cross that bridge when I get to it, I won't lie. I'm not ashamed in any way, I just tend to avoid confrontation. From a not-being-burgled point of view, the fewer people that know, the better. I've taken my fair share of crap from being a pistol shooter in '97... :mad:
 
All my neighbors are fine about my hunting except the old boy opposite. He hates what i do. I`ve had my shotgun for years and one morning after i had been lamping i was unloading the rabbits out of my car and in no uncertain terms he told me what he thought.
Hearing this i crossed the road to his gate and told him if not to shout me down in the street as what i do is fully legal and if he wants to discuss it then let`s talk in private. He walked away muttering to himself. As he got to his door i shouted to him that if you wanted to talk legal / illegal, you`re tax disc is out of date!!
I do try to be discreet about unloading animal carcases and guns from my vehicle though.
basil.
 
I would never hide it. I count myself as a "normal" person, and as such promote the fact that stalking/culling is done by "normal" people. If no one sticks up for the sport., then there is an open door for " antis" false properganda....just like hunting with hounds. Yes some "posh" people do it, but the majority of followers/supporters are "normal" people. As for the answers about gangs/and not wanting people to know you have guns...very sensible. Like I said, I tell people I stalk, not that I keep firearms in the house.
 
Duncs said:
As for the answers about gangs/and not wanting people to know you have guns...very sensible. Like I said, I tell people I stalk, not that I keep firearms in the house.

Agree with that. I have on occasion just said that I leave my guns at my club and/or pick up a rifle from the club if I am hunting.

I don't take any nonsense about the right and wrongs of shooting though.
 
I clean my rifle, shotgun, pistol, etc in the garden during the summer.
And I live in an estate.
:D
 
stag1933 said:
The fewer people who know what you do or where you do it the longer you will be doing it yourself !

HWH.

That's odd, because when friends do find out I stalk, twice now the lady in the scene has gone all bambi, but the husband has had a 'what's it like? could I come?' word with me on the QT afterwards!

I was going make a joke about boarding school but thought better of it. :)
 
I take great pride in being completely overt about my passion. This includes neighbours, work colleagues, clients, strangers, anyone.

I believe everyone should be the same and feel strongly about this matter.

Why would you not be??? I don't understand anyone who would not tell it how it is??? It baffles me. I have grown up shooting all my life and come from a farming back ground. You should feel proud being involved with the countryside in any capacity.
 
I don't give a monkies what people think anymore, I tell everyone I shoot, most of my friends are waiting eagerly at the thought of a nice bit of venison heading their way :lol: .

As for the neighbours they helped me drag the deer out butcher one up and skin the last one from scotland then cut it into lumps so I could take it to the local butcher to joint it and make sausages ...yummy :p
 
Thinking back to my FLO visit targetted burglary was a real concern, I dare say drug gangs looking for guns aren't everywhere though :)
 
stag1933 said:
The fewer people who know what you do or where you do it the longer you will be doing it yourself !

HWH.

A very good point by Stag1933, although all of my neighbours and friends eat the venison and other game that I provide I do not openly advertise what I do. They ask very little in the way of questions and I tell no lies!;)
 
I used to stalk muntjac in a well populated area of the Chilterns not far from Chequers and was frequently accosted by walkers when loading a deer into my vehicle. They often took the "Bambi" line although muntjac are so ugly they don't engender the same feelings that a pretty roe doe would.

I took the time to explain what I was doing and why it had to be done and almost without exception this was well received unless the person happened to be a veggie. Amazingly some didn't even know that there were deer in the area.

I have never hidden the fact that I shoot deer, game and catch fish from neighbours, friends and acquaintances but I am careful about letting anyone see my rifles and guns and always carry them to and from the car in gun slips.

Friends are always very happy to eat venison, pheasant, duck, salmon and sea trout at my house and value it because it is wild, tastes fantastic and is free of chemicals.
 
We live in a fairly built up area but our garage is effectively at the bottom of the garden which is closed off from the street by big wooden gates. Consequently only one neighbour can see what we load and unload to and from the car. As we have both fished for years any early morning departures are probably assumed to to be fishing related. Our neighbour sometimes works unsocial hours and we have met on at least one occasion as I was leaving early to go fishing but not stalking so far.

We do not hide the fact that we shoot, stalk and fish but we are very discrete about the guns. We entertain friends and relatives and take pride in presenting food that we have caught or shot. A number of our friends and relatives have also been the recipients of various game and fish parcels. On one occasion Father-in-law and a couple of friends came round to help Mr M butcher a deer then they all made off with the venison cut of their choice. One great thing from this is that some of our friends and relatives are keen gardeners so sometimes if they have a surplus, some nice homegrown produce comes in the other direction so some of our dinners are almost entirely home grown, caught or shot. We have not had any adverse comments so far.

Claire
 
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