Dougan wrote:
There's no doubt that shooting (including countryside sports) deserves far more recognition for the number of participants and the amount of money it turns over in the economy...
...but 'whether or not it's good for the environment' is a difficult question, and can't be answered 'yes or no'...on the program, the landowners made pains to point out that burning was done responsibly and that they were not killing predatory species etc, etc...but just the same as any other industry, some have integrity and some don't, and it's a fact that some estates are very cynically managed...
...that said, there's no reason why with a bit more understanding on all sides (not all estate managers are murderers, and not all environmentalists are rabbit-shaggers), that a reasonable balance can't be found.
Sadly one tactic the antis try to employ is divide and conquer. We need to stick together and support anything legal with a trigger.
I don't really care what some folk want to get up to as long as it is legal, but when it brings shooting as a whole into the spotlight (should that read lamp?
) then I will support shooting, every time, regardless.
I gave up rabitting and squirreling because I felt I had seen enough death and destruction in the Army and out hunting. I could never divorce the fact that I enjoyed hunting and therefore enjoyed killing, which I was never comfortable with. I have never understood big game hunting or driven shoots (even though I was an enthusiastic beater for years), but I would never do anything to interfere with or stop people doing them. its their choice and bit by bit the freedoms and latitudes are being eaten away.
Likewise, I would never say I would never hunt again, particularly if the bloody rats return tesnews
The problem with a lot of these things is that the various bodies have convenient memories and often lie by omission.
They do a lot of controlled burning here in the forest, you can see the benefits fairly soon after the burn.
Many of the conservation bodies employ pest control on their patches (I had a run in with one years ago and how he and the particular body involved were conducting themselves was very poor) but neglect to mention it.
I used to hunt on a managed estate, and the difference in the wildlife on the estate and off of it was marked. I saw many species on there that just would not have got on without the protection offered by our keeper (who was not rabid about birds of prey, he just took them as another fact of life).
So we need to stick together....lets face it, TR must be hell on the wild cow population
) then I will support shooting, every time, regardless.
).
