Night shooting deer under CL55 - Police Notifications

[CookM]

The best way to control rabbits 12g auto, quad and lamp, had many a night with over 100 shot

The railway line from Whitchurch to The Watercress beds in Hants had me doing this every friday night in the early 90s.
Worked well.

 

[nf-fuse]

Is that correct, never read that anywhere?

The conditions of the cl55 license require you to follow 'best practice ' of I think BDS bought shooting or whoever. This best practice stipulates you need another person as a spotter and dogs available for recovery.

It's in the cl55 license. I'll have a look

 

[nf-fuse]

Is that correct, never read that anywhere?

Right sorry it was the 'deer initiative '. Under condition 10 of cl55, you're required to follow deer initiative best practice or you're committing an offence.

The document is viewable here.

https://thedeerinitiative.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Guide_Night%20Shooting.pdf

It's linked to in condition 10 of cl55.

A lot of the stuff in cl55 is lifted from this document. You'll note in the best practice you are required to inform adjacent land owners of what you're doing. So that would be adjacent land owners, the police, and, er, the police again. Every time you and your buddy go night shooting.

With your 100m shots. Oh yeah make sure you keep records of everything as well. Because you need to report that to natural England too. Every two weeks....

 

[Grand Slam]

Right sorry it was the 'deer initiative '. Under condition 10 of cl55, you're required to follow deer initiative best practice or you're committing an offence.

The document is viewable here.

https://thedeerinitiative.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Guide_Night%20Shooting.pdf

It's linked to in condition 10 of cl55.

A lot of the stuff in cl55 is lifted from this document. You'll note in the best practice you are required to inform adjacent land owners of what you're doing. So that would be adjacent land owners, the police, and, er, the police again. Every time you and your buddy go night shooting.

With your 100m shots. Oh yeah make sure you keep records of everything as well. Because you need to report that to natural England too. Every two weeks....

However it does also state that if there is a confliction between the license condition and the guidelines (Best Practice) then you are to follow the license conditions.

Condition 7 states you are to inform adjacent landowners if your activity is likely to disturb them. Best practice states to inform them every time. I will stick with the License condition on that one as I have already spoken to surrounding landowners and they are happy.

And you do not need to report your actions every 2 weeks. you have 14 to report your actions after an outing whether you culled anything or not, unless I have missed something on that one.

 

[Chris Richardson]

Sad day if that happens but I agree that you can see it happening.

and well have ourselves to blame for accepting it

 

[nf-fuse]

However it does also state that if there is a confliction between the license condition and the guidelines (Best Practice) then you are to follow the license conditions.

Condition 7 states you are to inform adjacent landowners if your activity is likely to disturb them. Best practice states to inform them every time. I will stick with the License condition on that one as I have already spoken to surrounding landowners and they are happy.

And you do not need to report your actions every 2 weeks. you have 14 to report your actions after an outing whether you culled anything or not, unless I have missed something on that one.

Yes you're right on the two weeks thing. I worded that badly.

I'm still struggling to understand what the point of the double police notification thing is when there are loads of people out shooting every night already.

 

[Mike1979]

and well have ourselves to blame for accepting it

Do you really think our views count? The decision will be made for us unfortunately.

I replied to all the consultations on lead and ultimately it didnt make a blind bit of difference and I know the issue of fox hunting is often used as another example where "our" views were ignored.

I am not admitting defeat and continue to do what I can to resist/comment/fill in petitions .. for whatever its worth.

 

[Chris Richardson]

Do you really think our views count? The decision will be made for us unfortunately.

I replied to all the consultations on lead and ultimately it didnt make a blind bit of difference and I know the issue of fox hunting is often used as another example where "our" views were ignored.

I am not admitting defeat and continue to do what I can to resist/comment/fill in petitions .. for whatever its worth.

whenever we accept things like " you need dsc for deer calibre etc " and dont challenge it we make a rod for our own backs

 

[Nickb]

It makes no difference at all , petitions etc as we have no say in the matter . The loonies in government decide.

 

[Mike1979]

whenever we accept things like " you need dsc for deer calibre etc " and dont challenge it we make a rod for our own backs

I knew you would raise that one mate. As I said ...what should I have done....it was a case of do it and get my .270 or challenge it ...FEO is the one with the power and not me so I went path of least resistance...maybe wrong on my part however its not exactly difficult, expensive, time consuming etc to do DSC 1 ....

Not easy and we cant all be perfect - to be clear Im not having a go mate .. honest

 

[Chris Richardson]

I knew you would raise that one mate. As I said ...what should I have done....it was a case of do it and get my .270 or challenge it ...FEO is the one with the power and not me so I went path of least resistance...maybe wrong on my part however its not exactly difficult, expensive, time consuming etc to do DSC 1 ....

Not easy and we cant all be perfect - to be clear Im not having a go mate .. honest

challenge it , in the short term yes youre quite right its the path of least resistance however in the long term not so much..........and that wasnt a personal dig at you at all we now see it as common practice despite being against HO guidelines

 

[Benelli m2]

Having notified my Police firearms licensing dept (Sussex ) on the only contact available (an online contact form) I’ve received this back.

Do we really have to go through this every time we wish to carry out a legal activity ? The email address to be used might help some.

Dear REDACTED

Thank you for contacting Sussex Police regarding your shooting activity.

Please complete the information below and email it to shooting.notification@sussex.police.uk.


YOUR DETAILS
Name:
Date of Birth:
Home Address:
Landline Number
Telephone Number:

LOCATION DETAILS
Location of Shoot:
Post Code of Shoot:
W3W Location of Shoot:

SHOOT DETAILS
Date of Shoot:
Start Time:
End Time:

FIREARM/TARGET INFO
Target of Shoot:
Number of Firearms:
Type/Caliber of Firearms:

FIREARMS LICENCE INFO
Licence numbers:

OTHER PERSONS PRESENT
PERSON 1
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

PERSON 2
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

PERSON 3
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

PERSON 4
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

VEHICLES
Total number present:

VEHICLE 1
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:

VEHICLE 2
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:

VEHICLE 3
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:

VEHICLE 4
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:




Thank you.

Kind Regards
Firearms & Explosive Licensing Unit
Surrey and Sussex Police - Operations Command
Sussex P
olice HQ, Church Lane, Lewes BN7

Having notified my Police firearms licensing dept (Sussex ) on the only contact available (an online contact form) I’ve received this back.

Do we really have to go through this every time we wish to carry out a legal activity ? The email address to be used might help some.

Dear REDACTED

Thank you for contacting Sussex Police regarding your shooting activity.

Please complete the information below and email it to shooting.notification@sussex.police.uk.


YOUR DETAILS
Name:
Date of Birth:
Home Address:
Landline Number
Telephone Number:

LOCATION DETAILS
Location of Shoot:
Post Code of Shoot:
W3W Location of Shoot:

SHOOT DETAILS
Date of Shoot:
Start Time:
End Time:

FIREARM/TARGET INFO
Target of Shoot:
Number of Firearms:
Type/Caliber of Firearms:

FIREARMS LICENCE INFO
Licence numbers:

OTHER PERSONS PRESENT
PERSON 1
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

PERSON 2
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

PERSON 3
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

PERSON 4
Name:
Date of Birth:
Telephone:
Address:

VEHICLES
Total number present:

VEHICLE 1
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:

VEHICLE 2
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:

VEHICLE 3
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:

VEHICLE 4
Registration:
Make/Model:
Colour:




Thank you.

Kind Regards
Firearms & Explosive Licensing Unit
Surrey and Sussex Police - Operations Command
Sussex Police HQ, Church Lane, Lewes BN7 2DZ

It's a bloody poor situation if you can't Shoot them in daylight

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

^^^^^^^^^ best post on this thread, well said!

 

[Jagdmatch]

I am not night shooting, but reaping the rewards of all the people who are going at it it the weald, (probably on their own) Seeing more fallow on my quieter areas than normal. I did think it was a good idea but now not so sure that its worth the bother. Common sense would have been to have no season on fallow males and all yearlings.

 

[T2662075]

Apologies, maybe a dumb question, but does this only refer to deer taken at night ? Or any night shooting, ie large vermin, foxes, rabbits etc

 

[Tim.243]

Apologies, maybe a dumb question, but does this only refer to deer taken at night ? Or any night shooting, ie large vermin, foxes, rabbits etc

Just deer..

 

[Chris Richardson]

Just deer..

For now …..

 

[Cris]

Things won’t improve the only way you’re gonna control their numbers is my shooting all female Deer on sight, just like muntjac!

Before anybody gives me the dependent spiel, nobody seems to care about muntjac do they?

Err some people do, yes and there are ways to tell if there could be a follower.

 

[Tim.243]

Err some people do, yes and there are ways to tell if there could be a follower.

For any new members or new to shooting Muntjac can you post your ways to identify if a doe has a follower.

Personally I shoot them all year around, with them breeding all year around the task is harder in the summer months but with them crossing boundary's then just appearing it is just a guess at best made harder at last light.



Hard to tell in both cases

 

[shakey jake]

The best way to control rabbits 12g auto, quad and lamp, had many a night with over 100 shot

Old fashioned, vhd2