Shooting Magpies in your garden???

[DEL67]

I am not asking for me but am trying to clarify for anyone who may consider this. It's not a pigeon making a mess of your garden furniture, its Magpies killing songbirds/chicks etc. As already has been said it's a bit of a grey area that needs to be clarified. A 'YES' or a 'NO' would be what people are looking for but it would seem not. This is the trouble with laws and regulations people can read into them differently.

[bushtrekker]

There was a post on here a couple of weeks ago about someone whose son had shot a pigeon. A chat to the neighbours can have unexpected results. a couple of years ago we had a major problem with squirrels in our garden, but
I was wary about shooting them as the woman who backs onto our garden feeds birds and this is what was attracting them. I bumped into her boyfriend in Sainsbury's and he mentioned the squirrels, adding that his girl friend hated them and could I do something about them( He knew I had an air rifle after a rat problem, again caused by her bird table.) I started ambushing them from the patio door early in the morning and soon got rid of a few, but was horrified the next time I saw the neighbour to hear that he had been deliberately putting down rat poison for them...ON THE BIRD TABLE!!!

Cheers, John

[ateallthepies]

Kent, i think reason is going out the window as each year passes. People may be lucky in their shooting career and never have a problem but there are people totaly againsed shooting that can lead to trouble if us shooters stray from the law, stupid or not.

I personally would be mortified if i was nicked for breaking air-gun laws so do my best to keep within them. At times it may interfere with our shooting to stay legal but to me it means everything.

Are you still a copper? If so you must know how our justice system works and how 'reasonable' can be interpreted from one party to another.

Steve.

[supersonic]

i can't find where it says you must demonstrate 'other methods' of control like with the licence for preventing serious damage or disease does in paragraph no. 5.

I think you are correct. It would certainly make sense

[ateallthepies]

Del,

There is no grey area. You are most definitly allowed to shoot maggies on land where you have permission if the said maggies are a threat to the wild birds present as stated by this licence....

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Ima..._tcm6-7672.pdf

You don't need to employ other scare tactics before killing them like with woodies which are dealt with by this licence....

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Ima..._tcm6-7669.pdf

How a case could be proved to a conviction if a complaint was made for shooting maggies for the conservation of wild birds is beyond me?

HTH,

Steve.

[fullbandit]

at the end of the day it doesn't matter if you in the right or not if your neighbours keep ringing the cops every time you have your rifle in the garden your life is going to crap

[kdubya]

shooting maggies crows woodies gulls etc in your garden is NOT worth the risk
make a larson trap and use it problem solved, it catches them when your in out or whatever.

cheers KW

[ateallthepies]

Maybe lloyd, but there will be a time plod will get the hump with being called out to a legal shooting session and then the snitch will get a rolliking for wasting police time

Shoot well my friend,

Steve

[fullbandit]

Maybe lloyd, but there will be a time plod will get the hump with being called out to a legal shooting session and then the snitch will get a rolliking for wasting police time

Shoot well my friend,

Steve

I agree but a 5 min chat can stop many a problem

[Raygun]

shooting maggies crows woodies gulls etc in your garden is NOT worth the risk
make a larson trap and use it problem solved, it catches them when your in out or whatever.

cheers KW

And what do you do with the maggies you catch ?

ATB
Ray.

[fullbandit]

And what do you do with the maggies you catch ?

ATB
Ray.

shoot them out of sight

[Raygun]

shoot them out of sight

So cut out the middle trap and shoot the buggers on sight.



ATB
Ray.

[Born Again]

The law is based upon what is reasonable in the circumstances. No need to go to the extreme lengths above. Providing what you do is reasonable you will have no problem...

That's the key really. Shooting baited Woodpigeons on your lawn because you fancy a snack would not be considered reasonable. Shooting Grey Squirrels in your loft because they are chewing cables would be OK. Shooting Rats in your pigeon loft ? Fine. Shooting Magpies because they might be preventing songbirds nesting in your bushes ? Not fine unless you have good reason to believe that they are doing it.

If you have a genuine reason to shoot something on general licence then you'll be fine, if you just fancy hunting something for the fun of it then you'll likely fall foul of the law.

That doesn't mean that you can't enjoy hunting, I do, it just means that you must have a realistic reason for doing it. Nothing does the airgunner more harm than the publics perception of us killing anything that lands in our garden, for fun.

I understand the desire to shoot in the garden, shooting land isn't easy to come by and the temptation to put your skills to use on live quarry is strong - especially when you read hunting stories on these sites - but you have to ask yourself if the garden is really the place to do it.

[ateallthepies]

If you think larson traps are the way to go, read this site and see what you will be up againsed...


http://www.againstcorvidtraps.co.uk/

Steve

[DEL67]

[QUOTE=Born Again;3324773]

Haven't seen your name pop up in a while!
Are you still keeping those squirrels in check.