Three new general licenses released

[si brown 8,486]

 

[Stavross 13,711]

12 minutes ago, timmytree said:

Hold fire on shooting, it appears that Michael Gove has taken the responsibilty for the GL from Natural England and given it to Defra instead. That might mean that the newly issued GLs may not be valid after all. What a bloody mess!

I’ve got no idea if that’s a good thing or not because them bloody idiots don’t listen to farmers ether, I guess we will wait and see 

[knight 2]

these don't look any more usable/workable  than the rook licence  i can see shooters falling foul of the law.

[j j m 6,478]

I can se this getting worse before it gets better

[LuckOrJudgement 437]

I've always assumed that in my shooting, personal and professional life, I will be breaking some form of rule - be it legislation, moral or unwritten - on a regular basis.

I'm sitting in a pub now and there's a table to my left with 3 couples on it, all having a drink. They're on their third round now and will very likely go around again - all booze. I know for a fact they'll  drive home 3 to 4 miles,  the potential personal consequences are frigging devastating, and yet theyre not agonising about it. 

No old bill around here, and certainly none in the woods or fields.

Relax. Softly softly catchee monkey...

[Stavross 13,711]

That thumbs up isn’t for the bunch of tw*ts getting hammered before driving off home

[villaman 9,979]

How the hell are they going to police it

I can’t see police hiding in fields and woods waiting there to make sure you do everything how it says on the GL .

[Stavross 13,711]

3 hours ago, timmytree said:

 

The whole mess could be sorted in a few hours with a bit of commonsense. The pest birds we're really concerned with are first woodpigeons, then crows and magpies. Jackdaws are less of a problem as are jays and rooks except in specific circumstances.

So Defra declare the first 3 as pest birds able to be shot under any circumstance, the 2nd 3 as only to be shot on an individual licence as required. That would allow for sensible and quick control of numbers that are getting out of hand. When numbers get to a certain level then they revert back to GL or individual control.

It's completely stupid that we can deliberately breed pheasants to shoot for fun, and issue laws to protect them by allowing trapping of stoats, weasels, shooting of foxes etc,  yet we can't control vast numbers of pest birds without jumping through hoops to satisfy ridiculous laws. 

I agree with most of what you have said but up here the jackdaws and rooks are a real problem around the farm, For me I would like to see all the corvids on a pest list along with pigeons, I wouldn’t have a problem with jays not been classed as a pest, we will just have to see if defra come up with any bright ideas 

[Stavross 13,711]

2 minutes ago, villaman said:

How the hell are they going to police it

I can’t see police hiding in fields and woods waiting there to make sure you do everything how it says on the GL .

The simple answer is they can’t, 99% of people won’t even understand what the GL is and the legality of it

[mark williams 7,549]

Basically you`ll have to justify why you are shooting the pigeons to an officer of law if you get pulled up.

                 One of my shoots has a permanent gas gun cracking off approx` every 15 minutes, it`s around 360 acres in size , my nets won`t cover the fields and the pigeons take no notice of scarecrows. 

                  The local kids constantly nick the scarecrows as well .

                 I regularly take 50 plus bags off the stubble before the farmer sows again as we expect the ground to get hammered as it always does.

                 I should stand ok with this i guess including the photographic proof i have also.

                 I think the crunch will come if you are found taking a pigeon or two when out for a walk with dog and shot gun in the later months, that were flying past, or just happened to be sat in a sitty tree.

[mark williams 7,549]

 Yes TT i agree.( Blue paragraph).

                Where i`ve mentioned where alternatives to shooting were tried and failed would that be deemed ok then shooting is ok ?

                I`m sure the lads will put each other right, should they need to on here in the future 

 

              atb  Mark

[Stavross 13,711]

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/use-of-general-licences-for-the-management-of-certain-wild-birds-a-call-for-evidence/detail-of-call-for-evidence

have a read of this, the letter from NE just goes to show the complete ineptitude of tony juniper, I posted my reply in the rifle section so won’t go into it again, you can make your own minds up

 

on another note, just playing devils advocate here, but when the license says to keep records of none lethal methods, now just say in the unlikely scenario you were arrested for shooting pigeons and taken to court and asked to produce evidence that you tried everything before shooting them and you said I don’t have any evidence but I did do all them things and you will have to take my word for it, in any other criminal situation the prosecutions job it to prove you are guilty, it’s not yours to prove you are innocent so unless they have proof that you took no preventative steps how could they secure a conviction  

 

[philpot 4,925]

Defra do not have control of the GL yet and may not do so as there is so much false info and until it is announced from the gov office, I don't believe anything from Gove is supposed to have said.

One thing we have is the three links I posted which is from the gov NE site so until otherwise stated, use them as they are laid out because that is what you have, nothing more and nothing less so speculation is a waste of time.

We have only just arrived home from holiday so I have not had time to really digest the content but will over the weekend and I for one will work on the basis that these new GLs are correct.

Phil

[steg 609]

11 minutes ago, philpot said:

Defra do not have control of the GL yet and may not do so as there is so much false info and until it is announced from the gov office, I don't believe anything from Gove is supposed to have said.

One thing we have is the three links I posted which is from the gov NE site so until otherwise stated, use them as they are laid out because that is what you have, nothing more and nothing less so speculation is a waste of time.

We have only just arrived home from holiday so I have not had time to really digest the content but will over the weekend and I for one will work on the basis that these new GLs are correct.

Phil

Think they took control 09.00 hours this morning if this link works Phil.. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/general-licences-for-controlling-wild-birds-letter-from-environment-secretary-to-natural-england-chair

[philpot 4,925]

16 minutes ago, steg said:

Think they took control 09.00 hours this morning if this link works Phil.. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/general-licences-for-controlling-wild-birds-letter-from-environment-secretary-to-natural-england-chair

Hmmm it would appear that whilst I was preparing to return home, the magic roundabout has turned again so god only knows if the three new licenses are going to be used at all. Watch this space I guess.

Phil