My reason for getting involved in this thread was to point out how relatively rare these situations are in England. No one on SD has ( apart from one close shave ) ever had a problem with this issue. Of course out of season shooting occurs, why should an immediate problem with financial consequences take 4 months to solve hence the almost never used Farmers Defence. Oh and as a farmer, stalker (sometimes as a paid job) I have more experience in Wiltshire than the vast majority of highland contractors.
Deer Control - out of season
- Thread starter evetseel
- Start date
CarlW
Well-Known Member
My reference to Wiltshire was just a random English county with lots of arable. It wasn't meant to refer to you, although now I have seen your location, and given the proximity of the posts, I can see why it appeared that way. If I offended you, it was negligently rather than consciously.
Kind regards,
Carl
No offence taken Carl, ATB Jeffrey
I do, I try and avoid shooting foxes in the spring for that reason
I'm a bit surprised that commenting that there are good reasons not to shoot animals out of season, but that the lamentable lack of resource provided to rural police means enforcement might not be one of them, has elicited such a strongly negative response.
CarlW
Well-Known Member
You are gently moving the nuance of your point with each post. I do like that you are now positioning yourself as a champion of rural policing.
iain0710
Active Member
We have Fallow on our land and they regularly come into the garden to graze. This morning, we fed our 10 hens and roughly twice that number of wild pheasant. When it comes to getting among the lettuce and carrots, the rabbits and pigeons put the average burglar to shame! My wife shrugs and says "it's all part of the joy of country living". It can be annoying, but in return, we get to enjoy venison steaks and burgers. Rabbit pie and stew and pheasant curry! (all in season) 
I don't think that's right - I wrote
Which I think is pretty clearly a lament about the police's ability to pursue rural crime (I suppose I could have written "due to underfunding and politicians' focus on urban areas over rural" but I thought that went without saying in the context of the forum); and
Which again I think is unequivocal about the ethics of oos shooting whatever the law.
I wouldn't normally go back and forth on the internet like this but I don't like being characterized as the sort of person who'd say "the police don't care, so even though it's illegal crack on and kill does with young at foot". Your interpretation makes it evident that the original post was susceptible to misunderstanding but I wouldn't want to be unclear about my views on this.
CarlW
Well-Known Member
I'm glad that's not what you meant.
Dan Newcombe
Well-Known Member
Never ceases to astound me that there is so little understanding and such wide ‘interpretation’ of the rules regarding deer.
Sonicdmb73
Well-Known Member
This sentence is part of the problem. We are not talking about rules but Laws.
Rules get broken Laws should not be.
The Farmers defence is just that a defence after you have broken the Law. The same as shooting a dog is a Defence in Law.
Yes there are times when you have no choice. But it should always be a last resort, you put your certificate at risk along with a chance of prosecution.
It costs an average of £10,000+ in legal costs (which are often not awarded to you even if you win) to go to Court and try get your certificate back. Is it worth the risk? You would have to be damn sure it was.
Roestalker39
Well-Known Member
And yet so many courses
If you have the patience to wait until the start of the pheasant season before nailing the sodding things that wreck the garden then you're a better man than I am! I'm afraid I class them very firmly as "vermin" as soon as they start impacting on my veg plots.We have Fallow on our land and they regularly come into the garden to graze. This morning, we fed our 10 hens and roughly twice that number of wild pheasant. When it comes to getting among the lettuce and carrots, the rabbits and pigeons put the average burglar to shame! My wife shrugs and says "it's all part of the joy of country living". It can be annoying, but in return, we get to enjoy venison steaks and burgers. Rabbit pie and stew and pheasant curry! (all in season)
Dan Newcombe
Well-Known Member
And yet so many courses
With no doubt more to come to allow you to become a 5 minute expert in something else marginal
Crikey! It must cause quite a stir when you start shooting pheasants in there to protect your veg supply! Especially if you're wearing a mask!Most of our fruit and vegetables are kept undercover, at Tesco.
I still don’t see how you thought it was. But evidently you did.
Illumination as to how would be interesting.Similar threads
