Hares

[stevethefish 80]

Come on guys lets not all fall out on here, lets just agree to disagree on certain things and move on eh!

[Lab 10,979]

I like to be open minded and sit on the fence... I've coursed hares, lamped them and shot them... I normally leave them unless a farmer wants them gone, some like them around the farm, others say everything needs to be controlled... I used to get more enjoyment watching a dog course old lepus than you will ever get pulling a trigger, but one form of control is legal and much more efficient than the other, although maybe not benefical for the hare itself...

 

If an estate can have a shoot and take 3000 a season, theres a serious hare problem, and they need balancing out if thats arable land...

 

It seems harsh to lurcher lads to see this amount of hares shot, but it has to be done regardless of what anyone says. Farms cannot sustain this amount of hares and as the only LEGAL way of control is shooting that is what happens. In this quantity hares ARE vermin and without control the farm crops would be devastated, if dogs were legally allowed to course hares then I would imagine they would be having coursing days, not over a couple of days but months. I am not saying that there would be as many caught but you never know, would that still be cruel? some say that dogs should be allowed to course, I would agree I have always had lurchers for over 30 years until 4 years ago and loved watching them course especially to the lamp. But the powers that be say no, the EU pressure and feckin do gooders/antis have more say than the people who know whats what.

Please excuse my probably knife edge post, but it does not seem wrong around here, its excepted and needed.

 

 

Steve matey, i know it needs doing, just like a lot of things that are as i said before a 'necessary evil'. Any sensible person in touch with the country side will know that in some areas culling hares with the gun is needed to balance things out and protect rural industry (and the price of food etc). There will always be issues between those that see them as the ultimate quarry to test a dog and protect them for that end and those that just want them gone. But what gets to folk is when people (and i dont mean you) hold it up as a real triumph and give themselves a real pat on the back for killing a few hundred on a days driven shooting. It's got to be done, but if it doesnt at least cause you some discomfort and distaste then i honestly believe that you are no hunter/countryman at heart. You have to remember that i lad putting up 10 lamped hares would get the same kind of stick from the dog men. It is ironic that the ban on coursing has probably done more damage to the hare in this country than any other thing since the invention of the combine!

 

As for folk like 'Iksopener' - well what a f*****g tool.

Just wondering then if 50 lurchermen were asked to run these hares over the course of a week and caught 1 hare each totalling 350 hares dead........would that be acceptable...

 

50 x 1 = 50 (not 350). The only differences for me would be the survival of the fittest element (ensuring a healthier over all population) and the beauty of the chase. All i'm saying is that a gun to me is a tool and shooting like this is a job that needs doing that makes you feel a wee bit sick, but u get on with it and then forget about it. No issue with it being done just an issue with folk thinking they are the great white hunter for doing it. There is little skill in that kind of shooting or shooting foxes with rifle on lamp/n.v. I taught my missus to do it! lol. Fair do's if your dog has coursed and caught a decent fox on decent land then be proud. N.V/rifle combo from a truck across the other side of a field - why would you feel any 'pride' in what you done - if that makes sense?

Its a decent question and you know fine well i ment 1 a day ffs............. But its good to see that actually the numbers mean nothing to you, you dont like shooting and its a them and us attitude once again. Never thought you were like that when reading your posts.....

 

 

Ok lab - first things first - i was joking i grasp what you mean numbers wise. Secondly - where do i say i am 'anti shooting'. You know i shoot, and you know (at least i think you do) that i help run a driven shoot. Now i have shot all my life and own several shotguns, rifles, air rifles etc. I mix with a lot more shooting folk than i do lurcher men and on the whole judge them as i find them. ALL I WAS TRYING TO SAY WAS - i accept shooting as an effective tool for the control of certain species, i am just questioning how somebody can get a thrill, enjoyment or take pride in themselves for certain kinds of shooting, when it is piss easy, a bit sickening, but needs doing. For example i have to clear a certain part of an estate of cock birds soon as the wind drops, it will be done by sticking feeders out and knocking them over with a rifle from a nice warm barn as the feed. A large number will be shot in a day probably 100 + - will i feel pride at my large bag? At my accuracy? At the kills? No way, i will feel like a bit of a shit and be to ashamed in many senses to mention it. I certainly wouldnt go about bragging about my solo 100+ bird day. Make sense to you? lets not have cross words matey!

Right i'm glad its not going to go down the arguement route mate, thats not what i'm after at all. The fact is everytime the shooting hares threads starts it always goes 1 way. Now personally i'm sick of it and to be honest if i was on any general forum then i'd just be quiet and get on with it, but on here!!!......christ we are ment to sticking togther...

Now you've got a job to do with your cock birds on the shoot......not been funny but if the killing them part really bothers you so much bud then why not catch them up and give them to a local game rearer who might take them and give you some poults back or some beer tokens, just an option... Staying on that subject you are completeing a job that has to be done at the end of the year.....similar to tidying up a few hares when they are in massive amounts that are causing crop damage.

I agree gloating about it would be wrong but was Steve really doing that? I found it a decent read of a mans day out on a driven hare day....

[stevethefish 80]

I like to be open minded and sit on the fence... I've coursed hares, lamped them and shot them... I normally leave them unless a farmer wants them gone, some like them around the farm, others say everything needs to be controlled... I used to get more enjoyment watching a dog course old lepus than you will ever get pulling a trigger, but one form of control is legal and much more efficient than the other, although maybe not benefical for the hare itself...

 

If an estate can have a shoot and take 3000 a season, theres a serious hare problem, and they need balancing out if thats arable land...

 

It seems harsh to lurcher lads to see this amount of hares shot, but it has to be done regardless of what anyone says. Farms cannot sustain this amount of hares and as the only LEGAL way of control is shooting that is what happens. In this quantity hares ARE vermin and without control the farm crops would be devastated, if dogs were legally allowed to course hares then I would imagine they would be having coursing days, not over a couple of days but months. I am not saying that there would be as many caught but you never know, would that still be cruel? some say that dogs should be allowed to course, I would agree I have always had lurchers for over 30 years until 4 years ago and loved watching them course especially to the lamp. But the powers that be say no, the EU pressure and feckin do gooders/antis have more say than the people who know whats what.

Please excuse my probably knife edge post, but it does not seem wrong around here, its excepted and needed.

 

 

Steve matey, i know it needs doing, just like a lot of things that are as i said before a 'necessary evil'. Any sensible person in touch with the country side will know that in some areas culling hares with the gun is needed to balance things out and protect rural industry (and the price of food etc). There will always be issues between those that see them as the ultimate quarry to test a dog and protect them for that end and those that just want them gone. But what gets to folk is when people (and i dont mean you) hold it up as a real triumph and give themselves a real pat on the back for killing a few hundred on a days driven shooting. It's got to be done, but if it doesnt at least cause you some discomfort and distaste then i honestly believe that you are no hunter/countryman at heart. You have to remember that i lad putting up 10 lamped hares would get the same kind of stick from the dog men. It is ironic that the ban on coursing has probably done more damage to the hare in this country than any other thing since the invention of the combine!

 

As for folk like 'Iksopener' - well what a f*****g tool.

Just wondering then if 50 lurchermen were asked to run these hares over the course of a week and caught 1 hare each totalling 350 hares dead........would that be acceptable...

 

50 x 1 = 50 (not 350). The only differences for me would be the survival of the fittest element (ensuring a healthier over all population) and the beauty of the chase. All i'm saying is that a gun to me is a tool and shooting like this is a job that needs doing that makes you feel a wee bit sick, but u get on with it and then forget about it. No issue with it being done just an issue with folk thinking they are the great white hunter for doing it. There is little skill in that kind of shooting or shooting foxes with rifle on lamp/n.v. I taught my missus to do it! lol. Fair do's if your dog has coursed and caught a decent fox on decent land then be proud. N.V/rifle combo from a truck across the other side of a field - why would you feel any 'pride' in what you done - if that makes sense?

Its a decent question and you know fine well i ment 1 a day ffs............. But its good to see that actually the numbers mean nothing to you, you dont like shooting and its a them and us attitude once again. Never thought you were like that when reading your posts.....

 

 

Ok lab - first things first - i was joking i grasp what you mean numbers wise. Secondly - where do i say i am 'anti shooting'. You know i shoot, and you know (at least i think you do) that i help run a driven shoot. Now i have shot all my life and own several shotguns, rifles, air rifles etc. I mix with a lot more shooting folk than i do lurcher men and on the whole judge them as i find them. ALL I WAS TRYING TO SAY WAS - i accept shooting as an effective tool for the control of certain species, i am just questioning how somebody can get a thrill, enjoyment or take pride in themselves for certain kinds of shooting, when it is piss easy, a bit sickening, but needs doing. For example i have to clear a certain part of an estate of cock birds soon as the wind drops, it will be done by sticking feeders out and knocking them over with a rifle from a nice warm barn as the feed. A large number will be shot in a day probably 100 + - will i feel pride at my large bag? At my accuracy? At the kills? No way, i will feel like a bit of a shit and be to ashamed in many senses to mention it. I certainly wouldnt go about bragging about my solo 100+ bird day. Make sense to you? lets not have cross words matey!

Right i'm glad its not going to go down the arguement route mate, thats not what i'm after at all. The fact is everytime the shooting hares threads starts it always goes 1 way. Now personally i'm sick of it and to be honest if i was on any general forum then i'd just be quiet and get on with it, but on here!!!......christ we are ment to sticking togther...

Now you've got a job to do with your cock birds on the shoot......not been funny but if the killing them part really bothers you so much bud then why not catch them up and give them to a local game rearer who might take them and give you some poults back or some beer tokens, just an option... Staying on that subject you are completeing a job that has to be done at the end of the year.....similar to tidying up a few hares when they are in massive amounts that are causing crop damage.

I agree gloating about it would be wrong but was Steve really doing that? I found it a decent read of a mans day out on a driven hare day....

 

Thanks, was not gloating at all and will keep off the subject in future to save conflict.

[danw 1,748]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

[stevethefish 80]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

 

I'm sure he meant he had done before the close season.........

[Ideation 8,216]

I like to be open minded and sit on the fence... I've coursed hares, lamped them and shot them... I normally leave them unless a farmer wants them gone, some like them around the farm, others say everything needs to be controlled... I used to get more enjoyment watching a dog course old lepus than you will ever get pulling a trigger, but one form of control is legal and much more efficient than the other, although maybe not benefical for the hare itself...

 

If an estate can have a shoot and take 3000 a season, theres a serious hare problem, and they need balancing out if thats arable land...

 

It seems harsh to lurcher lads to see this amount of hares shot, but it has to be done regardless of what anyone says. Farms cannot sustain this amount of hares and as the only LEGAL way of control is shooting that is what happens. In this quantity hares ARE vermin and without control the farm crops would be devastated, if dogs were legally allowed to course hares then I would imagine they would be having coursing days, not over a couple of days but months. I am not saying that there would be as many caught but you never know, would that still be cruel? some say that dogs should be allowed to course, I would agree I have always had lurchers for over 30 years until 4 years ago and loved watching them course especially to the lamp. But the powers that be say no, the EU pressure and feckin do gooders/antis have more say than the people who know whats what.

Please excuse my probably knife edge post, but it does not seem wrong around here, its excepted and needed.

 

 

Steve matey, i know it needs doing, just like a lot of things that are as i said before a 'necessary evil'. Any sensible person in touch with the country side will know that in some areas culling hares with the gun is needed to balance things out and protect rural industry (and the price of food etc). There will always be issues between those that see them as the ultimate quarry to test a dog and protect them for that end and those that just want them gone. But what gets to folk is when people (and i dont mean you) hold it up as a real triumph and give themselves a real pat on the back for killing a few hundred on a days driven shooting. It's got to be done, but if it doesnt at least cause you some discomfort and distaste then i honestly believe that you are no hunter/countryman at heart. You have to remember that i lad putting up 10 lamped hares would get the same kind of stick from the dog men. It is ironic that the ban on coursing has probably done more damage to the hare in this country than any other thing since the invention of the combine!

 

As for folk like 'Iksopener' - well what a f*****g tool.

Just wondering then if 50 lurchermen were asked to run these hares over the course of a week and caught 1 hare each totalling 350 hares dead........would that be acceptable...

 

50 x 1 = 50 (not 350). The only differences for me would be the survival of the fittest element (ensuring a healthier over all population) and the beauty of the chase. All i'm saying is that a gun to me is a tool and shooting like this is a job that needs doing that makes you feel a wee bit sick, but u get on with it and then forget about it. No issue with it being done just an issue with folk thinking they are the great white hunter for doing it. There is little skill in that kind of shooting or shooting foxes with rifle on lamp/n.v. I taught my missus to do it! lol. Fair do's if your dog has coursed and caught a decent fox on decent land then be proud. N.V/rifle combo from a truck across the other side of a field - why would you feel any 'pride' in what you done - if that makes sense?

Its a decent question and you know fine well i ment 1 a day ffs............. But its good to see that actually the numbers mean nothing to you, you dont like shooting and its a them and us attitude once again. Never thought you were like that when reading your posts.....

 

 

Ok lab - first things first - i was joking i grasp what you mean numbers wise. Secondly - where do i say i am 'anti shooting'. You know i shoot, and you know (at least i think you do) that i help run a driven shoot. Now i have shot all my life and own several shotguns, rifles, air rifles etc. I mix with a lot more shooting folk than i do lurcher men and on the whole judge them as i find them. ALL I WAS TRYING TO SAY WAS - i accept shooting as an effective tool for the control of certain species, i am just questioning how somebody can get a thrill, enjoyment or take pride in themselves for certain kinds of shooting, when it is piss easy, a bit sickening, but needs doing. For example i have to clear a certain part of an estate of cock birds soon as the wind drops, it will be done by sticking feeders out and knocking them over with a rifle from a nice warm barn as the feed. A large number will be shot in a day probably 100 + - will i feel pride at my large bag? At my accuracy? At the kills? No way, i will feel like a bit of a shit and be to ashamed in many senses to mention it. I certainly wouldnt go about bragging about my solo 100+ bird day. Make sense to you? lets not have cross words matey!

Right i'm glad its not going to go down the arguement route mate, thats not what i'm after at all. The fact is everytime the shooting hares threads starts it always goes 1 way. Now personally i'm sick of it and to be honest if i was on any general forum then i'd just be quiet and get on with it, but on here!!!......christ we are ment to sticking togther...

Now you've got a job to do with your cock birds on the shoot......not been funny but if the killing them part really bothers you so much bud then why not catch them up and give them to a local game rearer who might take them and give you some poults back or some beer tokens, just an option... Staying on that subject you are completeing a job that has to be done at the end of the year.....similar to tidying up a few hares when they are in massive amounts that are causing crop damage.

I agree gloating about it would be wrong but was Steve really doing that? I found it a decent read of a mans day out on a driven hare day....

 

No problem buddy. When it comes to the cocks - we catch up the hens and get some poults back, but no one will take the cocks and they need to be thinned out, for reasons that you know. Killing them only bothers me in so much as its just a job that needs to be done - its not hunting and its not a 'pleasure'. I wasn't suggesting that steve was gloating (you know that steve right?) and what i was saying was not aimed at him, but just a general point about what riles certain folk about the hare shooting situation. I think where its at its worst is when large numbers or hare are shot purely to stop folk running them with dogs, a situation created by the ban, but thats another story.

 

P.S - its discussions like this that make forums purposeful, more so than 'nice dog'/'lets see your bull x' etc.

[Ideation 8,216]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

 

 

Sorry mate, my typing, i got the tenses wrong.. . . .

[danw 1,748]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

 

 

Sorry mate, my typing, i got the tenses wrong.. . . .

 

 

Perhaps I misunderstood :thumbs:

[Lab 10,979]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

This is the real world dan........... When do you propose i ask the keepers to catch up some hens for laying, maybe the start of January maybe.....

[Lab 10,979]

I like to be open minded and sit on the fence... I've coursed hares, lamped them and shot them... I normally leave them unless a farmer wants them gone, some like them around the farm, others say everything needs to be controlled... I used to get more enjoyment watching a dog course old lepus than you will ever get pulling a trigger, but one form of control is legal and much more efficient than the other, although maybe not benefical for the hare itself...

 

If an estate can have a shoot and take 3000 a season, theres a serious hare problem, and they need balancing out if thats arable land...

 

It seems harsh to lurcher lads to see this amount of hares shot, but it has to be done regardless of what anyone says. Farms cannot sustain this amount of hares and as the only LEGAL way of control is shooting that is what happens. In this quantity hares ARE vermin and without control the farm crops would be devastated, if dogs were legally allowed to course hares then I would imagine they would be having coursing days, not over a couple of days but months. I am not saying that there would be as many caught but you never know, would that still be cruel? some say that dogs should be allowed to course, I would agree I have always had lurchers for over 30 years until 4 years ago and loved watching them course especially to the lamp. But the powers that be say no, the EU pressure and feckin do gooders/antis have more say than the people who know whats what.

Please excuse my probably knife edge post, but it does not seem wrong around here, its excepted and needed.

 

 

Steve matey, i know it needs doing, just like a lot of things that are as i said before a 'necessary evil'. Any sensible person in touch with the country side will know that in some areas culling hares with the gun is needed to balance things out and protect rural industry (and the price of food etc). There will always be issues between those that see them as the ultimate quarry to test a dog and protect them for that end and those that just want them gone. But what gets to folk is when people (and i dont mean you) hold it up as a real triumph and give themselves a real pat on the back for killing a few hundred on a days driven shooting. It's got to be done, but if it doesnt at least cause you some discomfort and distaste then i honestly believe that you are no hunter/countryman at heart. You have to remember that i lad putting up 10 lamped hares would get the same kind of stick from the dog men. It is ironic that the ban on coursing has probably done more damage to the hare in this country than any other thing since the invention of the combine!

 

As for folk like 'Iksopener' - well what a f*****g tool.

Just wondering then if 50 lurchermen were asked to run these hares over the course of a week and caught 1 hare each totalling 350 hares dead........would that be acceptable...

 

50 x 1 = 50 (not 350). The only differences for me would be the survival of the fittest element (ensuring a healthier over all population) and the beauty of the chase. All i'm saying is that a gun to me is a tool and shooting like this is a job that needs doing that makes you feel a wee bit sick, but u get on with it and then forget about it. No issue with it being done just an issue with folk thinking they are the great white hunter for doing it. There is little skill in that kind of shooting or shooting foxes with rifle on lamp/n.v. I taught my missus to do it! lol. Fair do's if your dog has coursed and caught a decent fox on decent land then be proud. N.V/rifle combo from a truck across the other side of a field - why would you feel any 'pride' in what you done - if that makes sense?

Its a decent question and you know fine well i ment 1 a day ffs............. But its good to see that actually the numbers mean nothing to you, you dont like shooting and its a them and us attitude once again. Never thought you were like that when reading your posts.....

 

 

Ok lab - first things first - i was joking i grasp what you mean numbers wise. Secondly - where do i say i am 'anti shooting'. You know i shoot, and you know (at least i think you do) that i help run a driven shoot. Now i have shot all my life and own several shotguns, rifles, air rifles etc. I mix with a lot more shooting folk than i do lurcher men and on the whole judge them as i find them. ALL I WAS TRYING TO SAY WAS - i accept shooting as an effective tool for the control of certain species, i am just questioning how somebody can get a thrill, enjoyment or take pride in themselves for certain kinds of shooting, when it is piss easy, a bit sickening, but needs doing. For example i have to clear a certain part of an estate of cock birds soon as the wind drops, it will be done by sticking feeders out and knocking them over with a rifle from a nice warm barn as the feed. A large number will be shot in a day probably 100 + - will i feel pride at my large bag? At my accuracy? At the kills? No way, i will feel like a bit of a shit and be to ashamed in many senses to mention it. I certainly wouldnt go about bragging about my solo 100+ bird day. Make sense to you? lets not have cross words matey!

Right i'm glad its not going to go down the arguement route mate, thats not what i'm after at all. The fact is everytime the shooting hares threads starts it always goes 1 way. Now personally i'm sick of it and to be honest if i was on any general forum then i'd just be quiet and get on with it, but on here!!!......christ we are ment to sticking togther...

Now you've got a job to do with your cock birds on the shoot......not been funny but if the killing them part really bothers you so much bud then why not catch them up and give them to a local game rearer who might take them and give you some poults back or some beer tokens, just an option... Staying on that subject you are completeing a job that has to be done at the end of the year.....similar to tidying up a few hares when they are in massive amounts that are causing crop damage.

I agree gloating about it would be wrong but was Steve really doing that? I found it a decent read of a mans day out on a driven hare day....

 

No problem buddy. When it comes to the cocks - we catch up the hens and get some poults back, but no one will take the cocks and they need to be thinned out, for reasons that you know. Killing them only bothers me in so much as its just a job that needs to be done - its not hunting and its not a 'pleasure'. I wasn't suggesting that steve was gloating (you know that steve right?) and what i was saying was not aimed at him, but just a general point about what riles certain folk about the hare shooting situation. I think where its at its worst is when large numbers or hare are shot purely to stop folk running them with dogs, a situation created by the ban, but thats another story.

 

P.S - its discussions like this that make forums purposeful, more so than 'nice dog'/'lets see your bull x' etc.

The most civilised debate i've had on here too...

[danw 1,748]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

This is the real world dan........... When do you propose i ask the keepers to catch up some hens for laying, maybe the start of January maybe.....

 

It isn't me that proposes you catch up in season british law does.

 

as I said I am not sure that I would admit to it I didn't say it doesn't happen, fact is though it is illegal to catch up after the season so maybe the reason you ask keepers to catch up then and break the law is so that greedy shoot owners get their moneys worth from the birds I am sure the anti's will just love to hear all about that

wonder how you get on with getting your rifle varied to shoot game birds out of season???

Edited February 6, 2011 by danw

[Catcher 1 639]

Come on guys lets not all fall out on here, lets just agree to disagree on certain things and move on eh!

 

 

[scent 509]

My first thoughts were - thats obscene shooting that many. However when you think more they are all wild and if they are shooting those numbers year in year out clearly the population can withstand it. Whats more the numbers clearly need to be controlled. Is it because numbers are lower elsewhere that the rest of us think its not on. If he had written saying he had caught that number of rabbits there would have been loads of congratulations and well done's on here. I personally can not even imagine that number of hares or for that matter the damage they could cause.

 

 

 

course there would be! Rabbits are vermin pal! A hare isnt. It was the kings sport mate to run a dog on hare.. Feck me, at one time the rule was, you couldnt hunt hares on a sunday, now you can kill fecking 100's! It is the most powerful of all our wild animals to live on top of our land. It is magical, and majestic in its own right.. And it has nothing to do with the numbers being lower, its the fact that they survive through every kind of predation, and live in harsh cold winter enviroments, struggle, run at speeds of breath taking power. Then bang bang bang say it again another 200+ times..

 

Its a crime in my eyes. I actually love it(preban) when a good strong hare outfoxs the dog and gets away to run another day, you think "wow, what an animal". People have passion mate. So i would say basically, no it has nothing to do with numbers low...

,dont run hares myself even i kick them up in front of me but i admire their grace and speed .I dont feel the need to kill another mans sport so i leave them for the serious hare lads .Id watch them all day id even watch other lads hunt them but they just aint my thing

[Lab 10,979]

Not sure I would admit to shooting or catching up game out of season

This is the real world dan........... When do you propose i ask the keepers to catch up some hens for laying, maybe the start of January maybe.....

 

It isn't me that proposes you catch up in season british law does.

 

as I said I am not sure that I would admit to it I didn't say it doesn't happen, fact is though it is illegal to catch up after the season so maybe the reason you ask keepers to catch up then and break the law is so that greedy shoot owners get their moneys worth from the birds I am sure the anti's will just love to hear all about that

wonder how you get on with getting your rifle varied to shoot game birds out of season???

I know what your saying Dan......little bit tongue in cheek from me......

I wouldn't have said its to line the pockets of greedy land owners either, generally its an added extra of poults for the keeper so his numbers look a little better at the end of the season....

[kevin from bristol 95]

killing them in those numbers will just get the antis up in arms and they'll stop it and come up with another way of thining the numbers ,sooner or later they'll stop all hunting in this country and only pro pest controllers will be able to carry this work out keep it up lads your doing a great job of loseing your sport