Be the voice of shooting: why Defra needs your evidence

On 4 September Defra published a call for evidence on the positive and negative impacts of gamebird rearing, release and shooting in England. The review covers pheasant, red-legged partridge, mallard and red grouse, and the opportunity to take part ends on 1 November.

As BASC asserted when the call for evidence was announced, we should view this as a fight for the future of shooting. If we do nothing, if we keep our heads down, we hand an easy victory to those who will seek to use this review to damage shooting.

BASC and the other shooting organisations will do the job you pay them for in submitting joined-up, comprehensive, detailed responses to the hundreds of questions posed by Defra for its online questionnaire, which covers topics including egg production, gamebird rearing and release, protected sites, biosecurity and wildlife crime.

But there is one part we cannot do for you: writing and submitting your own experiences of the benefits of game shooting.

Together we beat the antis in Wales. For now, plans to regulate gamebird releasing are shelved after a massive response to a consultation on the proposals because of BASC’s Act Now campaign. BASC continues to lead the fight. We recently won again in the High Court against Natural England over its approach to gamebird release licensing.

Now we need you to join the latest battle by participating in this call for evidence. Sustainable shooting is a force for good, but we need to have more case studies to reinforce the science.

Every gamekeeper, every shoot, every beater and picker-up, every Shot, land manager and rural business must put their evidence on the record. This is not the time to leave it to others.

You can add weight to the responses that BASC and others will be putting forward by submitting your experiences by email or letter to Defra. You won’t have to spend endless hours wading through its horribly complex online questionnaire full of loaded questions.

Why your own experience is the evidence Defra lacks

For while this review may consider the hundreds of research papers written by academics on the positive and negative impacts of game shooting, what the call for evidence could miss are the thousands of stories yet to be shared by those protecting the British countryside, boosting nature, supporting the rural economy and bringing together people from all walks of life.

Your lived experiences of the benefits of game shooting will be many. Those facts, shared by you, must be at the forefront of any decision-making.

Before you submit your experiences to Defra, a key point to remember is that this review is not about opinions for or against shooting but about direct evidence – and as individuals we have that evidence in spades based on our own experiences. Template scripts will not suffice for this one. For your submission to count you will need to write in your own words and draw on your experience.

What to include if you run, host or work on a shoot

If you manage a game shoot in England, outline the habitat and predator control that takes place and some of the species that you see benefiting. If you support stewardship schemes for farm margins, forestry and/or supplementary bird feeding, please detail that. You could add examples of rural crime prevention and how the shoot helps bring people together in rural areas.

Please also outline key items and services the shoot purchases that support local businesses. If any habitat or wildlife surveys take place on the shoot, by either volunteers or conservation charities, provide the results.

If you are a farm owner who hosts a game shoot, outline the contribution that shooting makes to the farm business. This is particularly important as there is a lack of understanding within Defra about how closely connected shooting and farming are.

If your business is supported by game shooting, please outline some of the benefits provided. This will include everything from fuel, accommodation, meals, drinks and clothing to gundog-related products and services, and to all the needs of shoot providers including vehicles, tools and general agricultural supplies.

If you participate in game shooting in England, whether as a Gun, beater, picker-up or in another role, outline the benefits to your personal wellbeing such as physical activity and social connections. You could add examples of the diversity of habitats and wildlife you have seen on the shoots you visit in England, and all the items and services you purchase. All this will chime with the feedback also being given by shoot managers, farm owners and businesses.

How to respond without using Defra’s questionnaire

There are a number of options to respond other than using Defra’s online questionnaire. BASC has created an online tool to allow you to submit your response directly by email to Defra, to your MP and to BASC. Visit basc.org.uk and follow the links.

If you email Defra, please forward a copy to me at conor.ogorman@basc.org.uk because that will help us get an indication of how many responses our campaign is generating, to tailor our communications and guidance, and to inform our response to Defra.

I may come back to some people to suggest that we use parts of their submission among our case studies to inspire more people to come forward. Our biggest enemy is our reticence to tell our stories.

Your experience of the benefits of game shooting is valid evidence – be in no doubt of that – and your response to the call for evidence can be a few paragraphs or several pages. It is your story, so make it as long or short as you wish.

Why BASC sees licensing as a route to a ban

The pretext for this review is to license game shooting. In March the Government announced a plan for “evidence gathering” to “explore wider measures such as licensing and any associated conditions for recreational gamebird shooting and release, going beyond current approaches which only apply on or near European protected sites”, as part of its Land Use framework.

Here we are, almost six months later, with a call for evidence to cover every aspect of game shooting in England.

I appreciate that some folk feel that licensing shoots or gamebird releasing might be a good move in the long run. Make no mistake, licensing is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, hunting for a ban.

Before the state can license something, that thing must first be made unlawful by default, permitted only when the state allows it. We have already seen this in England, where licensing around protected sites has created a de facto ban across large areas of land. Once in place, restrictions can be tightened and permissions reduced, gradually eroding game shooting until it disappears altogether.

You have the opportunity to take part in this review up until 1 November, and you may hear arguments from others in the shooting community on myriad reasons why not to get involved in this call for evidence.

Apathy and negativity in our community have long been our Achilles heel, and it’s now down to you to be a voice for shooting – not only to submit your evidence, but to encourage those around you to do the same.

This is an opportunity to put the argument to bed once and for all. Game shooting is not a problem that needs solving; it’s a solution that needs supporting.

Thank you for getting involved.

Dr Conor O’Gorman is BASC’s head of policy and campaigns. He has over 25 years of experience in conservation and land management and a keen interest in wild grey partridges.