Legality and Efficacy of Bowhunting in the UK

[OllieRiordanDeer]

and the authorities want to increase participation and reduce hoops????

I WISH!

 

[nun_hunter]

I use the drone 10 so have more than 20 mins...

So what's your backup shot when the deer darts through the hedge and out of sight? Or takes off running at speed? Are you shooting many running deer at 100m with the Drone 10?

As I said, you're suggesting problems for the sake of problems when you don't even have a solution with a rifle and yet you're happy to be out shooting

 

[Tim.243]

So what's your backup shot when the deer darts through the hedge and out of sight? Or takes off running at speed? Are you shooting many running deer at 100m with the Drone 10?

As I said, you're suggesting problems for the sake of problems when you don't even have a solution with a rifle and yet you're happy to be out shooting

We were shooting teal in the last bit of light this evening and they move faster than deer also a lot smaller...no runners just a few ripples where they landed...back up was the second barrel.
Shoot lots of deer with the drone 10...no runners just a bit of puffing back to the truck.8 with the drone 10 on the .243+ 2 foxes and 2 with the .270.
Missed a fox but got it the next night...no arrows were harmed in the outings...

 

[Morkai]

So what's your backup shot when the deer darts through the hedge and out of sight? Or takes off running at speed? Are you shooting many running deer at 100m with the Drone 10?

As I said, you're suggesting problems for the sake of problems when you don't even have a solution with a rifle and yet you're happy to be out shooting

You'll only receive facetious answers, Nun Hunter.

 

[25 Sharps]

Wildlife and countryside act prohibits it

As is the case currently, but, say bow hunting becomes commonplace, an FAC holder has a compound for shooting in the garden he decides to take it out for a deer and landowner doesn’t ask to see FAC. He will just go bow hunting.

My point is, how will it be policed?

 

[OllieRiordanDeer]

As is the case currently, but, say bow hunting becomes commonplace, an FAC holder has a compound for shooting in the garden he decides to take it out for a deer and landowner doesn’t ask to see FAC. He will just go bow hunting.

My point is, how will it be policed?

In the same way that current certificate restrictions are. You could use your example with someone with a closed ticket shooting on other land.

It's down to the FAC holder and land owner as it is currently.

Please correct me if I'm missing your point Sharps

 

[25 Sharps]

BUT I CAN!






Here in the UK/GB what we have are hunting laws act's and county wide anti's and tree hungers, bunny huggers and Bambi lovers that for any excuse would love to be given a reason shut down hunting in a hart beat given the choice .
---------------------------------NEWS HEADLINE just in -----------
Today a RED DEER was SEEN RUNNING DOWN THE M62 WITH GLOWING NOCK and long BLACK ARROW with blood running down its side -------Stop
------- A TREE WAS SEEN GIVING CHASE -------
Police have arrested two poplars and one elm tree found nr the scene who are keeping quite? but look shady !.

Plenty of people leave injured deer running around with rifles, the antis don’t care if we’re hurting deer with bows, shotguns or rifles, they want it all stopped.

 

[25 Sharps]

In the same way that current certificate restrictions are. You could use your example with someone with a closed ticket shooting on other land.

so it will happen all the time then…..

 

[paul o']

Plenty of people leave injured deer running around with rifles, the antis don’t care if we’re hurting deer with bows, shotguns or rifles, they want it all stopped.

May be in your world they do not mind! You may remember the arrow in the swan it was on every news station and in every news paper .
anyone who cant kill what they aim at should not be aiming at it in the first place! or am I wrong.

 

[25 Sharps]

May be in your world they do not mind! You may remember the arrow in the swan it was on every news station and in every news paper .
anyone who cant kill what they aim at should not be aiming at it in the first place! or am I wrong.

You are wrong, things go wrong for everyone occasionally.

I’ve seen videos in YouTube of people guy shooting rabbits and laughing as they limp off. Dickheads shoot guns as well as bows.

 

[25 Sharps]

From what I’ve seen, admittedly it may not be the full picture, from videos on YouTube etc. bowhunting seems to be a case of sitting in a blind or up a tree waiting for an animal to visit a feed stand or even follow a trail on a game ranch. That’s to say you’re looking at playing the waiting game until a suitable quarry animal comes within your effective killing zone.

This simply wouldn’t work with the deer we have here - try getting within bow range of a mob of fallow in a field of winter wheat! Maybe you could stalk a roe buck in the rut or call a Muntjac into range but that’s not going to cut it when you’re trying to cull large numbers of does in the winter months.

I’m sure those north of the border will highlight similar issues with reds on the hill, or even roe.

Sorry, but to me it’s just not an effective solution to the need to manage a growing deer population.

Tin hat on & awaiting incoming!!

Do you genuinely think our deer, that have evolved to fill exactly the same niche as the deer in every country that allows bow hunting, are different?

How do you think our ancestors hunted those same deer?

Fallow are bow hunted in NZ and Oz plus some European countries.

What is wrong with hunting on occasion just for the skill and pleasure of it?

No one is suggesting removing rifles as an efficient means for reducing populations, just the chance to use a bow for the challenge and satisfaction it brings.

 

[Cootmeurer]

Wishful thinking. You’ll never get to the point of it being considered because your own shooting community will sabotage the proposal at every turn. Too many ignormauses that have never shot a game animal of any sort with a bow, forming their opinions based on watching YouTube.

It’s been well proven here. In the state of Kentucky alone (about 20% larger than Scotland) the deer harvest for 2023 was 140,000 head. Of that number about 35,000 were taken via archery. There were approximately 325,000 licensed hunters (not all were licensed for deer).

If you google the past season the fatal mishaps aren’t weapon related at all. A couple falls from tree stands and a freak event where a “dead” deer came back to life and stabbed the hunter in the leg, puncturing the femoral artery.

 

[Sol]

So I have friends over the pond that have shot upwards of 10 deer in a single day in the same spot with compound bows all deer being dead within ~1min of said shot, I know groups that have shot upwards of 30 on doe days.

I think many people here answering no are under the impression ALL Bow hunting is Spot and Stalk when almost all of it is done from Treestands, as expected the most non-lethal shots are coming from Spot and Stalk where distances are sometimes uncertain. There's species in this country where it would be basically ineffective on (roe) and others (Reds, Sika) where it would likely work incredibly well on Its all about patterning the deer game trails and setting up trail cameras, even better for the ones that ping images right too your phone you can see real time when the deer are leaving for feeding and returning for bedding, It gives a chance to do woodland hunting where otherwise it would never be touched.

Deer dont react to arrows nearly as spooked as rifles, Yes there's cases where deer dont run or even investigate there fallen pals after a rifle shot but its *much* more common with bows, not to mention a deer's natural curiosity gets the better of it almost all deer stop to investigate blood.

Personally however I would never want to see compound bows legalized as fun as they are, the UK Is all about deer management and the more sensible (ethical) choice is the crossbow with the significant increase In poundage, and not to mention the ability to lean on surfaces just like rifles for a clean steady shot.

Anyone can pick up a rifle and shoot a deer but It does take good knowledge and understatement on how to use a bow to ethically bring down big game, You have one chance, Its why I think a mandatory In-person In-depth test is required.
Assuming bows stay accessible as how they are at the moment, I think its sensible to have an in-depth test since (logically) It would still be much less than getting a FAC the government need's a fail-safe.

I dont think DSC1's 3 day session would cut it I think I'd be wanting several tests over several weeks lmo. (again... still easier than applying for a FAC In reality)

We have strict parameters on shotgun deer hunting, nothing saying bows cant be legalized, licensed, and be under the same parameters.

Dont get me wrong I dont have any issue regarding people that would never ever allow bows on there syndicates or use them yourself, but given were attempting to keep up with sika on the battle of hybrization and there a notorious woodland species hard to cull, I wouldn't be discrediting other means of controlling the population that can be ethical under the right hands.

 

[Dunwaters]

The South Africans studied the lethality of bows vs rifles before they legalised bow hunting, the two methods are of similar lethality.
Bow hunting is used as a hunting method to increase hunter participation while keeping the harvest within limits.
Why would you want to license bows?
You know already how that works.

 

[Sol]

The South Africans studied the lethality of bows vs rifles before they legalised bow hunting, the two methods are of similar lethality.
Bow hunting is used as a hunting method to increase hunter participation while keeping the harvest within limits.
Why would you want to license bows?
You know already how that works.

Given it seems like Scotland will soon be having a mandatory DSC1 to shoot deer, I dont think its far fetched that possible future legalization of bows should also do so.

I would NOT want bows to be required to be on FACs It would be borderline impossible to control since there's been sport competition shooting for decades and decades, However in turn for having no FAC I strongly believe a test should be under more scrutiny.

Then again showing up for a shooting test and hunters education one month, then another shooting test the following month is still much simpler than going for a FAC, and cheaper especially if we get that upped cost's that were talked about a while back.

 

[OllieRiordanDeer]

so it will happen all the time then…..

Yes you could be right. I'm not saying that licencing would be my preferred outcome but the most likely way of getting it legalised.

 

[OllieRiordanDeer]

The South Africans studied the lethality of bows vs rifles before they legalised bow hunting, the two methods are of similar lethality.
Bow hunting is used as a hunting method to increase hunter participation while keeping the harvest within limits.
Why would you want to license bows?
You know already how that works.

Not lobbying for bows to be licensed at all.
It would be a stipulation that you can use a bow for stalking in order to get it legalised, not because I want bows controlled.
I agree Bows are a hugely ethical way of taking game.

 

[bogtrotter]

Bow hunting has not always been illegal in the UK. And was.not.that popular when it was

 

[OllieRiordanDeer]

Bow hunting has not always been illegal in the UK. And was.not.that popular when it wasw

With the current surge in popularity I think it would have a much increased participation now.

 

[Sol]

Bow hunting has not always been illegal in the UK. And was.not.that popular when it was

Back when It was theoretically allowed modern compounds hadn't hut the scene and in general there was a lot more folk out and about shooting with rifles.

With the current surge in popularity I think it would have a much increased participation now.

I think hunting as a whole across the youth has had a huge surge across the last few years during the pandemic, I'm a clear cut case of it! I wiggled my way into deerstalking and so forth directly because I was influenced by games.

You can tell I had a bit of free time during the pandemic.... my main account got banned in 2022 too..... yikes glad I do real stalking mostly now lol.