Garden shooting rules?

[Pop Larkin]

Hi all.
It is with a heavy heart that I am giving up shooting FAC, its way too much of a faf now adays and I don't shoot often enough, so come renewal in August, I very much doubt that my renewal will be approved.
However, I am going to venture in to the realms of non-FAC airguns.
I still hope to shoot at my local club, but also want to shoot in my back yard.
Will be using PCP air-rifle and CO2 pistol.
What exactly are the rules regarding shooting non-FAC in your own back yard.
I had an open ticket for FAC deer stalking ect, but could do with some clarification about shooting in my back yard.
TIA
Russ

[Segata]

Sorry to hear your woes with FAC, Garden shootings not too different in a way to shooting on a perm.

You must have the Landowners permission if you do not own the Property.
All Ammunition must remain within the property boundry and reasonable means to keep it that way, i.e good backstop etc.
You must not shoot in a way to cause impedance to a road user or prove possible risk withing 50m of a roadway (simply avoid shooting towards roads/footpaths and if you must make sure nothing can get through, again good backstop)
Noise wise its pretty much the same as anything, do your best to keep it down but as long as it's within acceptable levels and sociable hours all should be good.

If you want to hunt something it's pretty much small game only for sub12, species you will need to check if it is acceptable to shoot as some birds are protected as are things like red squirrels but your common all garden feral pigeon, rats and grey squirrels are all fair game and being already a hunter you'll know about appropiate shots etc.

Part of the fun I've found with my Garden shooting is being able to build and experiment with my own targets, plinking has so many options you won't find yourself missing the extra power.

[Antoni]

You must not shoot in a way to cause impedance to a road user or prove possible risk withing 50m of a roadway (simply avoid shooting towards roads/footpaths ...

I suspect a bit of gold plating of the rules here.

My memory is that if someone considers you to be causing a problem that belief can be reported, It is not directly illegal to shoot nearer to a right of way than that. And that the distance is 50 feet from the centre of a public right of way.
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That's from my memory. If I'm wrong I'd like to know that.

[Edit:

Wot a bloody mess the above text is! In my defence I was tired!

The distance we are interested in is fifty feet from the shooting to the centre of a public ROW.
Greater than that distance, all else being sensible, no legal problem at all.

Less than that distance, if someone is offended by what you are doing, for example because of spooking a rider's horse, or other 'reason', once that belief is held by the offendee the law has been broken.
If no-one is offended the law has not been broken.

Again this is paraphrasing from my memory, but no-one has contradicted my crappy text.

/Edit]

[Segata]

Beg your pardon mixed up metres with feet but yeah it's a bit thats open to interpretation, you can shoot near yes but you can't be seen to be likely to case an impedence so you have to gauge it on how an Officer might see it, this is where going heavy on your backstop can save you as it shows reasonable prevention so the complaint is not upheld.

[Pop Larkin]

Thanks guys, pretty much as I expected to be honest.
Will be shooting to the rear of my modest back yard, probably no more that to check zero, however, we do have a bit of an issue with the odd rat or two!
I live in a mid terrace, wooden fences all round but have a three inch thick, by 4 1/2 feet diameter tree trunk section mounted on the fence, over which I have a metal pellet trap.
Rifle will be moderated.
My main concern is that neighbour's can over look my back yard and I do not want to 'scare' them....'Oh no!!! There's a man with a gun in his back yard, lets call the police!!!'

[Segata]

Tbh if you own the place theres little they can acctually do unless you do something actually illegal, I'm in a similar set up, Mid-Terrace with wooden fenced gardens that in my case go to a bit of waste ground and then a school field, situated my range so any backstop failure goes into a rubble pile and no further (it can happen so always account for it), backstops wise if you're unsure there was a thread a little while ago that has a lot of good ideas and if you're ever unsure you can always ask here and one of us will help.

[Jacklurcher]

I suspect a bit of gold plating of the rules here.

My memory is that if someone considers you to be causing a problem that belief can be reported, It is not directly illegal to shoot nearer to a right of way than that. And that the distance is 50 feet from the centre of a public right of way.

That's from my memory. If I'm wrong I'd like to know that.

It's 50 feet from the centre of a carriageway, not a public right of way (e.g footpaths aren't covered by the legislation). You can shoot closer than that to a carriageway, provided a user isn't “injured, interrupted or endangered”.

Injured and endangered are covered by having an adequate backstop. “Interrupted” is slightly ambiguous. Since the legislation dates back to horses, it could be argued “interrupted” means telling them to wait or take a detour, rather than them stopping to rubberneck.

[Steyr]

It's 50 feet from the centre of a carriageway, not a public right of way (e.g footpaths aren't covered by the legislation). You can shoot closer than that to a carriageway, provided a user isn't “injured, interrupted or endangered”.

Injured and endangered are covered by having an adequate backstop. “Interrupted” is slightly ambiguous. Since the legislation dates back to horses, it could be argued “interrupted” means telling them to wait or take a detour, rather than them stopping to rubberneck.

You can shoot in the middle of the carriage way if you don't cause impedance to travellers. 50 foot is about 16 yards or bloody close if you prefer.

If you want to shoot over your boundary, you can always ask permission from the neighbour or the person who holds the shooting rights as not always the land owner.

Nuisance will be a big factor. Metal back stops are bloody noisy. Lead is great but dry sand with heavy paving slabs is the best.

ALL wildlife is protected under various statutes pretty much. The GENERAL LICENCE is a variation that allows certain species to be controlled. The species can come and go for example starlings used to be on but removed. Parakeets have become a recent addition like ringed and monk. HOWEVER the GL's also set the rules of what why when etc you can engage. If you don't comply you can be prosecuted. As ignorance is no defence at law, then you need to know the terms of the GLs and what species can be shot.

[Gavlar]

If you want to hunt something it's pretty much small game only for sub12, species you will need to check if it is acceptable to shoot as some birds are protected as are things like red squirrels but your common all garden feral pigeon, rats and grey squirrels are all fair game and being already a hunter you'll know about appropiate shots etc.

I think you'll find feral pigeons are not 'fair game' and cannot be shot just because they are in your garden in the same way you might shoot rats. They can be shot under the terms of the general licence (GL41 and GL42 if you want to google them) otherwise they are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

As I understand it, the Act protects ALL bird species.

[madcarlos]

I think you'll find feral pigeons are not 'fair game' and cannot be shot just because they are in your garden in the same way you might shoot rats. They can be shot under the terms of the general licence (GL41 and GL42 if you want to google them) otherwise they are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

As I understand it, the Act protects ALL bird species.

This has always confused me over the years, We've used a pest controller for years where I worked , I've always asked why they dont use guns , Was told its not quite as simple as shooting pests, Apparently shooting should be a last resort, preventing them access or removing food source etc etc. The norm on most shooting forums is have permission and kill anything. Hey like I said , I've had conflicting info. Dont know myself but hopefully someone can clear it up with the right info.

[rapidresponse1]

as long as your pellet does not leave your garden and theres not a constant loud bang all the time i cant see any issues my neighbours are fine adding lead to the target quitens things right down i wish you well

[Dornfelderliebe]

Would a gazebo prevent them seeing you or can they see you from the side?

I thought I had taken every step possible to hide my shooting from my neighbours including raising a double brick wall three feet behind my back stop.
A few weeks ago my neighbour whilst taking some books to the charity shop handed me one saying 'here this will be of interest to you'. It was an American sniper novel.

[angrybear]

This has always confused me over the years, We've used a pest controller for years where I worked , I've always asked why they dont use guns , Was told its not quite as simple as shooting pests, Apparently shooting should be a last resort, preventing them access or removing food source etc etc. The norm on most shooting forums is have permission and kill anything. Hey like I said , I've had conflicting info. Dont know myself but hopefully someone can clear it up with the right info.

Gavlar has just cleared it up

ALL living creatures are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 unless an exception has been made, and it's the shooters responsibility to know the law.

In the case of birds there are "general licences" covering a number of bird species ,which state that, if scaring them doesn't work it may be legal to use lethal methods 'under specific circumstances' which may include; crop protection, health risks, protection of other wildlife, shooting 'for the pot' is not classed as a good reason.

With mammals species classed as "vermin" have no protection, the control of Rabbits is a legal requirement for land-owners, invasive alien species like grey squirrels & mink should be controlled at every opportunity,
anything else is legally protected.

The home office guide to firearms law has got an entire section (13) of about 15 pages of rules if you want to read the whole lot

[madcarlos]

[QUOTE=angrybear;8292770]Gavlar has just cleared it up

ALL living creatures are protected under the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 unless an exception has been made, and it's the shooters responsibility to know the law.

In the case of birds there are "general licences" covering a number of bird species ,which state that, if scaring them doesn't work it may be legal to use lethal methods 'under specific circumstances' which may include; crop protection, health risks, protection of other wildlife, shooting 'for the pot' is not classed as a good reason.

With mammals species classed as "vermin" have no protection, the control of Rabbits is a legal requirement for land-owners, invasive alien species like grey squirrels & mink should be controlled at every opportunity,
anything else is legally protected.

The home office guide to firearms law has got an entire section (13) of about 15 pages of rules if you want to read the whole lot

All makes sense but its rarely ever followed going by what you see or read on the forums, Unfortunately.