Wildfowlers in two of the sport’s most important heartlands may be unable to shoot because long-standing ‘consents’, which allow sustainable wildfowling on European protected sites, have not been renewed by…
Matt Cross
Features writer
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GWCT calls for vital funds to continue essential work
A letter to members of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) from chief executive Teresa Dent CBE, has illustrated the extent of financial support urgently needed by the Trust.…
Shoots press ahead despite uncertainty over COVID-19
The likely effect of COVID-19 on shooting in the UK is becoming clearer as the initial panic starts to subside and more shoots decide how they will approach the coming…
COVID-19 makes shooting season ‘a huge gamble’
Shoots around the country have been wrestling with decisions about how many birds to put down, how many days to offer and whether to shoot at all. One gamekeeper told…
What really happens to stolen gundogs?
The social media post has become all too familiar: a picture of a dog, an appeal, a phone number, the details of the crime. The comments, too, are depressingly recognisable…
Cancelling the shooting show cost Liverpool city £5 million
Cancelling the British Shooting Show Liverpool cost the city £5 million, according to an email obtained by Shooting Times. The show was cancelled in October after the intervention of city…
Night of the long dogs
Taking lurchers lamping At the end of the beam, Blue turned hard, just inches behind the rabbit. It turned too and again Blue went with it, heeled over like a…
Is it time to move away from lead shot to steel?
We were deep in a ditch on the Orkneys. There was a tumbling grey northern sky above us and an icy wind. The peninsula’s greylag goose population was not playing…
Lead shot shown to be major cause of bird deaths
Spent lead shot significantly weakens the immune systems of wild birds and is a major cause of death, according to a newly released scientific paper. The paper entitled Immunotoxic effects…
The EU is moving towards an outright ban on lead shot
The European Union has taken a major step towards a full ban on lead shot. Wetlands The EU has been in the process of implementing a ban on the use…
What’s best for shooters? Ear plugs or ear muffs?
Hearing loss is a serious issue for anyone who shoots. It can be temporary or permanent, it can build up slowly over years or be caused by a single incident.…
Exclusive: Shooting Times investigation PROVES puffin hunting claims are a lie
British hunters are NOT travelling to Iceland to kill puffins as claimed by campaigners. After speaking to sources in Iceland we can reveal that all of the photographs used to…
General licence update
A new set of general licences has been issued by DEFRA, following the outcry over their revocation by Natural England after pressure from campaign group Wild Justice. The new licences…
We asked a Natural England representative to answer your questions on the practicalities of the new general licences. Here’s what she said ….
1) Despite repeated attempts at scaring, a farm suffered serious damage to a pea crop throughout the growing season. Can the farmer arrange for the [wood] pigeons to be shot…
The truth about pigeon damage
Perhaps this is a good time to pause and ask a question: do we really need to shoot woodpigeons? If the general licence fiasco has reminded us of anything, it…
The new individual licences from Natural England – what’s been the experience of shooters so far?
Staff at Natural England have been working through more than 1000 applications from farmers gamekeepers and pest shooters since the previous system of general licences was scrapped a week ago.…
General licences latest update – what happens now?
The revocation of the general licences from midnight on the 25th of April means that in most situations it will be a criminal offence to kill any wild bird in…
The latest reactions to withdrawal of the general licences
Farmers, gamekeepers and recreational shooters have reacted with a mixture of anger and confusion to the decision by Natural England to withdraw the general licences for England with just two…
Threat to general licences
The general licences that allow for the shooting of pest bird species, including crows, feral pigeons, Canada geese and lesser black-backed gulls, are to be challenged in the courts by…
Getting around a clay ground in a wheelchair
Disabled sport’s profile has risen hugely in recent years, partly driven by the success of British athletes in the Paralympics. I was therefore interested to see how far the disability…