The Guns, The Guns...

THE GUNS, THE GUNS …

As published in the Kent and Sussex Courier Friday January 25^th 2013 under the headline 

“A shot in the arm for rural economy”

Around the turn of the year woodlands in the countryside around here are alive to the sound of … shotguns.  Pheasant shooting seems to be undergoing a renaissance.

Personally I don’t see the fun in firing a powerful firearm at a defenseless bird.  It’s just such an unequal contest.  A bow and arrow or a catapult,  yes possibly, but a high explosive charge and 400 lead pellets … really?

However it’s a traditional country pursuit, and given the state of the rural economy almost anything that helps must be good news.

The trouble is that sport for the few, can be intimidating for the many.

Just this morning the dog and I were on one of our regular walks along part of the High Weald Landscape Trail - to the accompaniment of gunfire. The public footpath took us through private coppice woodland. Myrtle was getting unsettled.  We turned a corner and there, actually on the footpath itself, a young man raised his shotgun right in front of us and fired both barrels into the sky.

I was so surprised I just bellowed at him: “What on earth are you doing? This is a public footpath you can’t shoot here.”  Actually I had no idea whether legally he could or not but within seconds another man in tweed suit and matching cap came to his defence, telling me he owned the woodland and, while I was entitled to use the footpath, they were entitled to shoot, and perhaps I should move along.

The confrontation was (just) amicable enough but the moment I got home I hit the net and looked up the law.  It didn’t take long as there isn’t much.  But the British Association for Shooting and Conservation tells members: “One should refrain from shooting when a right of way is being used as this could be construed as a common law nuisance, willful obstruction or a breach of Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.”  They also advise that signs should be posted and watchers should sound horn or whistle to stop the drive when a person is seen approaching.

Well, my land-owner was clearly in breach of that advice.  But I did discover why he was so quick to support his shooter. People pay around £25 a bird on a pheasant shoot.  So a “200-bird day” for eight guns will net him around £5,000.  Good for the rural economy as I said.  Just not so much fun for the pheasant.