I know I m going to get my head bitten off but here goes anyway

How about bull fighting?
Or throwing goats off tall buildings?

My phone says it doesn't like angling, either.
Although it did mention the grey area surrounding the question of whether fish can feel pain.

It's the "sporting" element that I find distasteful.
What about angling?

MissAdventure

Oh my rotten phone!!
It keeps making up it's own sentences.

I think it's going to start posting it's own opinions, soon.

That's my excuse too

Chewbacca

Am I correct in assuming that all those who are appalled and outraged by game shooting never eat venison, partridges and hare?

I have eaten all three Chewbacca. I don't eat them now, in fact I eat very little meat. I have a friend whose husband shoots deer, he's employed by local farmers to keep the numbers down because they are such a problem. He shoots them quickly and cleanly which means they die swiftly and the numbers are kept at a level the land can support. It isn't a social occassion or an opportunity to show off, it's doing an essential country job. I have no problem with that.

MissAdventure

Oh my rotten phone!!
It keeps making up it's own sentences.

I think it's going to start posting it's own opinions, soon.

The website posted here do shots which incorporate all those elements, but don't involve live prey, though.

If you remove the competitive element from sport the definition describes an activity involving physical exertion and skill.

Add in the pleasure of training and working your dog and you have a much healthier pastime than brawling outside a football stadium.

I'm sure eating game is no different than eating any other animal, to my mind.

It's the "sporting" element that I find distasteful.

I don't condemn anybody's eating habits. Each to their own, we all have to eat but I defend eating game for all the reasons already stated upthread.

Those who criticise the 'fun' element have clearly never been to a livestock auction where a great deal of pleasure is to be had in the bidding for and selling of animals destined for the slaughterhouse.

Would it be correct to assume that those condemning the slaughterhouses are vegan?
I've never eaten any of pheasant, hare or venison, by the way.

Am I correct in assuming that all those who are appalled and outraged by game shooting never eat venison, partridges and hare?

But killing animals which are loaded into a lorry and taken to
a slaughter house is acceptable, you can smell the fear and hear the cries.

killing for fun ? Anyone who thinks thats normal needs to give their head a wobble .Killing for food is different ,but not gleefully shooting "game" ...the word says it all .Its barbaric and its wrong .I do live in the country and my OH had a shotgun when we met ,its long gone .

It's not difficult to get a gun licence, no one tests your ability, just your criminal history.
None of answers indicate that there is any ability test. If I want to drive a car I am tested, but I can shoot a gun as long as I buy a licence.
merlotgran I think it is better for an injured bird to be carried back to a handler by a soft mouthed retriever than left to die where it has fallen, trisher
I think it would be better to restrict shooting to experts who kill cleanly and not let all and sundry have a go.

Anniebach

I can understand vegans being against this, but anyone who eats meat !

Much is anti royalist and or wealth , class war again .

Whenever I see the 'g' being left off hunting, shooting and fishing, I agree with your last sentence.

I can understand vegans being against this, but anyone who eats meat !

Much is anti royalist and or wealth , class war again .

PamelaJ has covered the first part of your post so I don't have anything more to add.

And Chewbacca

So the dog will just carry an injured bird in its mouth? That doesn't make me feel better.

I think it is better for an injured bird to be carried back to a handler by a soft mouthed retriever than left to die where it has fallen, trisher

PamelaJ has covered the first part of your post so I don't have anything more to add.

It's not difficult to get a gun licence

I'm sorry trisher but this is absolute nonsense; obtaining a gun license has become a lot harder in recent years, and a good thing too.
The application for a shotgun, or any firearms licence, has to be made via your local police force or completion of an online government application form. You need 2 referees, ideally from your GP and one other person who has known you personally for more than 10 years. The police check to see if the applicant has any criminal convictions and if they have, the police can just deny the issuing of the license, not just in your area, but nationwide, so that ban will follow you wherever you move to. Once you have your firearms licence, you then have to apply for another license to be able to buy ammunition for it. Your gun must be kept in a registered gun cabinet; it must be bolted to a wall so that it can't be stolen along with it's contents. Your ammunition must be stored in a separate safe cabinet. You get a visit from the police or firearms officer, at least once a year, and they check that your gun safe and ammo store is to standard. If it's not, they revoke your licence until you rectify it and arrange another inspection. In the unfortunate event that your gun is stolen, you stand a high chance of losing your license. Because if your gun had been kept safe, it wouldn't have been stolen!

Remember, a shotgun and ammunition are a gamekeepers work tools. They respect the laws and licenses that allow them to keep a gun and take no risks.

I haven’t been to many shoots but the ones that I have been to have been meticulous in checking licenses. You can shoot without one but then someone with a license has to let you use their gun and be responsible for you. That means your behaviour as well as your ability to shoot. At every shoot the gamekeeper is watching the guns. If someone was just messing about and hadn’t got a clue what they were doing they would be stood down.
A representative from the police visit each gun license holder in their home on a regular basis. They check that the guns and cartridges are being kept in a safe secure place. I don’t even know where myDH keeps the keys.

I haven’t been to a shoot that hasn’t, IMO, upheld the highest standards of care but I haven’t been to many. I expect that there are some that don’t.

At the last shoot there were 8guns. The average kill was 8 birds. Each gun was allowed a brace. The rest went to a game dealer.

merlotgran

*trisher*, My experience of shooting parties is that they are strictly protected from inexperienced townees who can't just turn up because they have shedloads of cash. They have to have a gun licence for a start and be approved by the owner of the shoot.

Any dog killing a bird would never be allowed on a shoot again. Retrievers are soft mouthed and are trained to take injured birds back to their owners or dog handler. They are instructed in the direction to take when they retrieve. They are not allowed to just 'run in.'

Beaters are not allowed to break the line. Their own safety depends on them obeying the rules.

Injured birds are swiftly dispatched.

I wish I could believe that things are as safe as you say merlogran unfortunately I think this is such big business now that it is unlikely that any real checks are done on the shooter. I could in fact book a shoot for £75.
There are over 1000 pheasant shoots available on this website www.gunsonpegs.com/shooting
Many duck and other shoots. Grouse shooting is rarer -only 100.
It's not difficult to get a gun licence, no one tests your ability, just your criminal history.
So the dog will just carry an injured bird in its mouth? That doesn't make me feel better.

I really cannot see the difference between this form of killing for food or the slaughter of cows, chickens, pigs, etc. They are all bred to become food... I always find it rather hypocritical when I read people’s outrage at seeing photos of a hunter gloating over their kill when those same people don’t think twice about buying a chicken in a supermarket*

Well you are quite wrong the shooting of birds or any hunters trophy is NOT for food but for FUN so that’s the difference
isa66

Lemongrove, you are correct. Pheasant are safe until 1/10.