Sorry, in advance for the log post.
Last Friday I had a call from one of my FAC sponsors, a farmer.
He had a call from the local police enquiring if he had anyone shooting on his ground, he said yes they are shooting pigeons on a stubble field.
The officer said he had had a complaint from a near neighbouring house holder regarding this, and that a licence was needed to shoot on that ground. He was going to call at the farm in 15 minutes, and that if those shooting had not packed up and left he would take the guns and certificates and have them revoked.
They did pack up and leave, as getting confiscated guns and licences back is never simple, and not a fight they needed.
I told the farmer I was 100% sure that the police officer was wrong as I am very familiar with the local protected areas.
I know the shooters personally so I phoned them and clarified exactly where they were shooting, as the ground in question is difficult to shoot legally if one is not familiar with the protected area and GL 001 licence.
In Wales the whole of the Usk and Wye including its tributaries are protected sites.
This protection covers huge areas of Wales, as on these two river systems the General Licences cannot be used within 300m of centre of the river on both banks.
An individual licence has to be granted by NRW if one wants control species in these areas on the General Licence.
I was incensed that a threat of revoking certificates was used prior to any investigation of the complaint from a member of the public.
Over the weekend I printed off the current GL 001, also a copy of the map of protected areas, helpfully coloured in yellow.
I printed Google Earth maps showing all measurements relating to the shooting site so that it would be obvious to anyone that there was no breach of any law.
Monday morning I took a copy of this to the local police station, luckily there was an ex FEO working, and having explained my view of the situation, he thought as I did, no law had been broken, but could not confirm all was OK. He asked for copies of the paperwork, and said he would contact me when he had confirmation of the situation.
That afternoon I had a call to say the firearms dept had already been looking at the complaint, and had decided there was no breach and we could continue.
I asked him to phone the farmer direct, which he did.
Today we went pigeon shooting on the exact same ground.
We had agood bag and no further threats of licence revocation.
To anyone who is sure that the police have acted in an unacceptable, bullying manner,
I would say, do your homework and respectfully, fight your corner.
To the ex FEO I say thanks.
To anyone wanting to use a general licence near a watercourse in Wales, I'd say know your ground.
Do yourself a favour, Download Data Map Wales showing all protected areas.
Last Friday I had a call from one of my FAC sponsors, a farmer.
He had a call from the local police enquiring if he had anyone shooting on his ground, he said yes they are shooting pigeons on a stubble field.
The officer said he had had a complaint from a near neighbouring house holder regarding this, and that a licence was needed to shoot on that ground. He was going to call at the farm in 15 minutes, and that if those shooting had not packed up and left he would take the guns and certificates and have them revoked.
They did pack up and leave, as getting confiscated guns and licences back is never simple, and not a fight they needed.
I told the farmer I was 100% sure that the police officer was wrong as I am very familiar with the local protected areas.
I know the shooters personally so I phoned them and clarified exactly where they were shooting, as the ground in question is difficult to shoot legally if one is not familiar with the protected area and GL 001 licence.
In Wales the whole of the Usk and Wye including its tributaries are protected sites.
This protection covers huge areas of Wales, as on these two river systems the General Licences cannot be used within 300m of centre of the river on both banks.
An individual licence has to be granted by NRW if one wants control species in these areas on the General Licence.
I was incensed that a threat of revoking certificates was used prior to any investigation of the complaint from a member of the public.
Over the weekend I printed off the current GL 001, also a copy of the map of protected areas, helpfully coloured in yellow.
I printed Google Earth maps showing all measurements relating to the shooting site so that it would be obvious to anyone that there was no breach of any law.
Monday morning I took a copy of this to the local police station, luckily there was an ex FEO working, and having explained my view of the situation, he thought as I did, no law had been broken, but could not confirm all was OK. He asked for copies of the paperwork, and said he would contact me when he had confirmation of the situation.
That afternoon I had a call to say the firearms dept had already been looking at the complaint, and had decided there was no breach and we could continue.
I asked him to phone the farmer direct, which he did.
Today we went pigeon shooting on the exact same ground.
We had agood bag and no further threats of licence revocation.
To anyone who is sure that the police have acted in an unacceptable, bullying manner,
I would say, do your homework and respectfully, fight your corner.
To the ex FEO I say thanks.
To anyone wanting to use a general licence near a watercourse in Wales, I'd say know your ground.
Do yourself a favour, Download Data Map Wales showing all protected areas.
