Legal "vermin" list in the UK?
Russell Fray
Can anyone tell me where I can find a list of what vermin/animals I can, and
hence can't, legally shoot in my back garden? I am in the UK (North West
England).
I've bought an air gun primarily to shoot targets and the occasional rat,
but might be tempted to shoot birds and don't want to get in trouble
shooting an owl or a swift etc - and wondered what else is on the protected
list? I know all the legal rules about distance from public routes, not
allowing pellets to leave the garden boundary etc, so am purely looking for
a list of animals that I can splat.
For those interested, I have gone for a RatCatcher 2250B .22 Co2 "Rifle" and
am waiting for the silencer to arrive. I'm using the supplied scope (not
wonderful but will do for now!). I used to shoot a few years ago and am
just starting to get back in to it.
Thanks,
Russ.
Richard Layton
Lose the "Animals I can splat" attitude first. Air rifle shooters/field
sports have a bad enough press in the UK as it is.
Certainly not Owls or Swifts, that you would even consider shooting these is
disturbing. Sorry to lecture but that has freaked me out a bit that anyone
would think that shooting anything like that in the first place might be ok.
The legal quarry species considered as being suitable for authorised
dispatch with an air-rifle (and not air pistol) are: Brown Rat, Collared
Dove, Crow, Feral Pigeon, Grey Squirrel, Jackdaw, Jay (Although can be rare
in some areas and are a very pretty bird, I would not shoot one), Magpie,
Rabbit, Rook and Woodpigeon.
Nothing Else.
Cheers
Rich.
PS. Consider joining either the BASA (British Airgun Shooters Association)
or The British Association for Shooting & Conservation, BASC.
willitwork
"Richard Layton" <cr...@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
news:bc09ql$nak$1...@sparta.btinternet.com...
> The legal quarry species considered as being suitable for authorised
> dispatch with an air-rifle (and not air pistol)
Where does it specify only air-rifle and not air pistol?
Best Regards
Rob
Spike
Fray" <ne...@it-logic.com> wrote:
On 6/8/03 02:28 PM, in article bc09ql$nak$1...@sparta.btinternet.com, "Richard
Layton" <cr...@btopenworld.com> wrote:
> Hello Russ
>
> Lose the "Animals I can splat" attitude first. Air rifle shooters/field
> sports have a bad enough press in the UK as it is.
> Certainly not Owls or Swifts, that you would even consider shooting these is
> disturbing. Sorry to lecture but that has freaked me out a bit that anyone
> would think that shooting anything like that in the first place might be ok.
> The legal quarry species considered as being suitable for authorised
> dispatch with an air-rifle (and not air pistol) are: Brown Rat, Collared
> Dove, Crow, Feral Pigeon, Grey Squirrel, Jackdaw, Jay (Although can be rare
> in some areas and are a very pretty bird, I would not shoot one), Magpie,
> Rabbit, Rook and Woodpigeon.
> Nothing Else.
>
> Cheers
> Rich.
> PS. Consider joining either the BASA (British Airgun Shooters Association)
> or The British Association for Shooting & Conservation, BASC.
>
>
<LOL>
Shocking.
Agri Design
AND it is also legal, or was last year to shoot brown sparrows (they are
included in the BASC quarry booklet)
Also..... whats wrong with shooting hares with an air rifle??
matty
Alexander S. Wood
"willitwork" <willthisw...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3ee3b...@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com...
Thus if one wishes to be certain of an instant kill one would tend to choose
a rifle. I am not denying that some people are very good shots with a
pistol, however, except in a very few hands, the pistol lacks the degree of
certainty of precise aim that a rifle provides.
When exterminating vermin, or hunting game try to remember that your quarry
is a living breathing thing quite capable of feeling pain and fear. While it
is relatively easy to justify despatching the said animals/birds it is
impossible to justify having them suffering because the shooter thinks a
pistol might be more fun.
Before I moved down here from northern Scotland I used to stalk and shoot
red deer (obviously not with an air rifle - or pistol). We used to think
along the lines of "if it will hear the shot - don't shoot it". i.e. the
bullet should have killed the animal before the sound of the shot reaches
it. Certainly anyone who had to chase after a wounded animal (leaving it is
utterly unacceptable) carried with him a slight social stigma for a time.
--
Alec Wood M1BNK
Teesside UK
Interested in Ham Radio....have a look at www.ukradioamateur.org
Alexander S. Wood
"Agri Design" <agrid...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20030609093608...@mb-m13.aol.com...
The first two are widely recognised to be in serious decline in the UK at
the moment. If not already done, the sparrow should be coming out of the
book by its next reprint. One has to ask why the hell anyone would want to
shoot sparrows anyway. They do little harm and are a bit small for eating.
Hares have never been considered vermin (the subject of the original
question), but I believe they are considered legitimate "game", if so
shooting them would be OK. BTW the meat is lovely, much richer than rabbit.
Richard Layton
"Alexander S. Wood" <alec...@dont.spam.me.ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:Pn3Fa.5401$0d7.1...@newsfep4-glfd.server.ntli.net...
>
> "Agri Design" <agrid...@aol.com> wrote in message
> news:20030609093608...@mb-m13.aol.com...
> > whats wrong with shooting starlings with air rifles?????
> > AND it is also legal, or was last year to shoot brown sparrows (they are
> > included in the BASC quarry booklet)
> >
> > Also..... whats wrong with shooting hares with an air rifle??
> >
> > matty
>
> The first two are widely recognised to be in serious decline in the UK at
> the moment. If not already done, the sparrow should be coming out of the
> book by its next reprint. One has to ask why the hell anyone would want to
> shoot sparrows anyway. They do little harm and are a bit small for eating.
>
> Hares have never been considered vermin (the subject of the original
> question), but I believe they are considered legitimate "game", if so
> shooting them would be OK. BTW the meat is lovely, much richer than
rabbit.
>
My understanding of Hares was, A) They are not anywhere near as common as
rabbits and B) Require a game licence to shoot and you would at least need
an FAC air rifle to be sure your first shot was going to kill it.
Rich.
Russell Fray
Hi Richard,
"Richard Layton" <cr...@btopenworld.com> wrote in message
> Lose the "Animals I can splat" attitude first. Air rifle shooters/field
That was a joke. Although to be honest, it is my intention to splat them -
I shall look in the dictionary for a more suitable word.
> Certainly not Owls or Swifts, that you would even consider shooting these
is
No no no, I said that I _wasnt_ going to shoot those - and asked what else I
shouldn't shoot.
> dispatch with an air-rifle (and not air pistol) are: Brown Rat, Collared
> Dove, Crow, Feral Pigeon, Grey Squirrel, Jackdaw, Jay (Although can be
rare
> in some areas and are a very pretty bird, I would not shoot one), Magpie,
> Rabbit, Rook and Woodpigeon.
Thanks. I expect I will limit my shooting to rats... I appreciate that they
can feel pain/fear etc, but I've had a council worker trying to poison the
little buggers for weeks to no avail, and im sure the poison makes them
suffer more than a swift pellet to the head. Plus, they are digging up my
garden, and I don't care how cute they look - they have to go!
Russ.
Agri Design
I did not say that I shoot sparrows - I was just saying that one can do so if
he/she wishes..... why anybody would though is beyond me.
Secondly...
Starlings are a major pest, and nobody could tell me otherwise. They might well
be in 'decline' but try telling that to the littlebuggers that $hit all over my
chimney, roof, car, patio etc etc etc - no no no the starlings are DEFFINATLEY
vermin and I have more problems with them that I do with rats and mice put
together. Plus, I live in an extremley rural area well off the beaten track so
these are deffinatley not urban flocks.
Ok, Hares..... well it kind of depends how you look on this one, are they
vermin or are they game???
I'm sure that the big estates round me in suffolk dont have driven hare days
just for the game shooting and sport, it's almost a certanty that they are
controling them because of the damage they cause, otherwise why would we have
shot 420 of the buggers in one day??
I can also see that they could be classed as ground game but the habitat round
suffolk is ideallysuited tothem and they breed like 'ell, no shortage of them
for sure.
But, they do have an 'open' season, you can shoot them all year round, you just
cant offer them for sale between March and August.
Shooting hares with air rifles is dodgy ground, personally I'm one of theese
types that does shoot them with my air rifle (sorry if that upsets anybody) but
to be honest I cant ever remember shooting one that hasnt died straight away,
perhapsthat because I _always_ limit my shooting range for hares down to about
15yds. Any more than this would require a .22rf/FAC air rifle.
OK question foryou guys now.... some blithering idiot in my local pub is
running round telling people he shot a fox last week with his theoben rapid7 at
40 yards, now I know this air rifle is only 11.9 ft/lb because I sold it to
him!!
Has anybody else attempted this with an air rifle? surely there is not enough
power at 40yds for a fox?
Matty
H Wood
also present on the vermin list, though this can so vary as to where about
you live, for instance where I live we have a bounty on such winged vermin
and they are, carrion crow , hooded crow, wood pigeon, jackdaw, magpie,
rook , all these birds command between 2 - 5 shotgun shells on the
Government bounty, herring gulls or should I say shite hawks have been taken
off the bounty list for the time being but they still remain on the overall
vermin list as long as they are not shot within 1 mile of the coast line
same for the Black back gull , although my sheep farming neighbour would
have everyone of them wiped of the face of the earth due to the lambs he
lost to them during the spring lambing season.
willitwork
> > Where does it specify only air-rifle and not air pistol?
> >
> >
> > Best Regards
> >
> > Rob
We are a newsgroup that gives good accurate advice. I do not know of
anywhere, where it specifies only air-rifle.
I agree that you should only hunt with an air rifle. Although I clear vermin
from barns with my .177 air pistol. These are close shots 5-10 yds max. No
probs.
Richard Layton
Walking the dog this evening and a sodding huge brown rat ran across the
road in front of my wife and I. I am quite pleased in a way as it has
almost given me a free hand to get another air-gun to deal with them more
safely in the back garden. Woo Hoo!
The way your worded your first post certainly implies an occaision when you
might shoot at owls and swifts. Sorry if that was not what you meant. I used
to have an owl (that we eventually go to go wild again) when I was a kid and
I get very riled by the thought of anyone harming them at all.
Anyone know of any good "rat bait" that I can lure them to safe shooting
range from my window?
Rich.
"Russell Fray" <ne...@it-logic.com> wrote in message
news:bc2np7$s8f$1...@news8.svr.pol.co.uk...
Richard Layton
cliff tops. He was always going on about going to the cliffs to shoot the
gulls and I always thought that was just him wanting to shoot something,
anything for the sake of shooting. Cheers for that info. I might be more
inclined to go out to the cliffs with him now then.
Rich.
"H Wood" <hw...@mcb.net> wrote in message
news:a82cnYtJJYA...@mcb.net...
Mick Tilley
Hares - I used to shoot and eat a fair number of hares (mainly with
shotguns, occasionally .22rf), but nowadays I leave them alone in view of
their well-recorded nationwide collapse in numbers. Personally I don't
believe that the vast majority of air rifles have sufficient power to make a
clean kill on a hare even if the countryside were knee deep in them,
Fox - there's a generic term for people who claim to have killed foxes at 40
yards with non-FAC air rifles. It's "lying bastards." Most shooters
wouldn't take fox with a .22rf further out than 25 yards max, and a .22rf
generates well over ten times the muzzle energy of a non-FAC air rifle and
the bullet is around three times the weight of a .22 air rifle pellet. Do
the sums - it's unadulterated bullshit.
Agri Design
willitwork
> HP SAUCE (brown sauce) on a piece of toast - rats love the stuff!
Does it have to be HP?
LoL
Rob
Bart
> range from my window?
>
> Rich.
You need to use something they can't pick up and run away with...sloppy dog
food is good. This way they tend to stay and eat where the bait is.
The bait may be ignored or "tested" (rats are not stupid) for a couple of
days and when they know it's safe and good to eat they will be back...then
you make the kill.
Never handle rats with your bare hands... I always use pliers or disposable
gloves and it is a good idea to carry some antiseptic disposable hand wipes.
Bart.
Richard Layton
Waiting for a replacement front cover for my S410 magazine before I can
shoot again though. Mine self destructed on Friday night. Got a rabbit for
Satudarsy BBQ though, so not a complete disaster.
"Bart" <sy...@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:uTeGa.31$6e2....@newsfep2-gui.server.ntli.net...
