Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the term hunting generally refers to hunting with hounds, e.g. normally fox hunting, stag (deer) hunting, beagling, or minkhunting, whereas shooting is the shooting of game birds. What is called deer hunting elsewhere is deer stalking. According to the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) over a million people a year participate in shooting, including stalking, shooting, hunting, clay shooting and target shooting.[1] Firearm ownership is regulated by licensing.[2]

Duck Shooting, Horace Vernet, 1824

## History

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Hunting has been practised by humans in  Britain since prehistoric times; it was a crucial activity of hunter-gatherer societies before the domestication of animals and the dawn of agriculture. During the last ice age, humans and neanderthals hunted mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses by driving them over cliffs; evidence has been found at La Cotte de St Brelade on the island of Jersey. In Britain, hunting with hounds was popular in Celtic Britain before the Romans arrived, using the Agassaei breed.[3] The Romans brought their Castorian and Fulpine hound breeds[4] to England, along with importing the brown hare (the mountain hare is native) and fallow deer as quarry. Wild boar was also hunted.[5]

The Gentlemans Recreation by Richard Blome, 1686

Blunderbuss firearms were improved during the 18th and 19th centuries and percussion cap shotguns became more popular. To protect the  pheasants for the shooters,  gamekeepers culled competitive species such as foxes, magpies and birds of prey almost to extirpation in popular areas, and landowners improved their coverts and other habitats for game. Game Laws were relaxed by Parliament in 1831, which meant anyone could obtain a permit to shoot rabbits, hares, and gamebirds, although shooting and taking away any birds or animals on someone else's land without their permission continued to count as the crime of poaching, and continues to do so today.[6]

Hunting was formerly a royal sport, and to an extent shooting still is, with many kings and queens being involved in hunting and shooting, including King Edward VII, King George V (who could shoot over a thousand pheasants on a single day),[7] King George VI and Prince Philip, although Queen Elizabeth II did not shoot. Shooting on the large estates of Scotland has always been a fashionable country sport. This trend is generally attributed to the Victorians, who were inspired by the romantic nature of the Scottish Highlands.

## Shooting

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The shooting of game birds, in particular pheasant, is often on land managed by a gamekeeper using British country clothing. When hunting with shotguns, there is a risk of accidentally injuring birds that survive.[8] The bird struck by the central cluster of the shot typically dies and falls to the ground. However, animals on the periphery of the shot may still be hit by some pellets, which they survive but result in lifelong suffering.[9][10] Shooting from too far away also increases the risk of causing harm to animals due to the increased spread of shot pellets.[11][12]

Game birds are shot in different ways. In driven game shooting, where beaters are employed to walk through woods and over moors or fields, dependent on the quarry and time of year and drive game towards a line of 8–10 standing guns standing about 50 or 60 metres apart. Large numbers of pheasants, partridge and duck, but not grouse, are reared and released to provide sufficient numbers of game. Grouse cannot be reared intensively but the heather moorland where they live is intensively managed to maximise numbers.

Rough shooting, where several guns walk through a woodland, moor or field and shoot the birds their dogs put up, is increasingly popular. It is less formal and may be funded by several people grouping together to form a syndicate, paying a certain amount each year towards pheasants and habitat maintenance.

Rook shooting was once popular in rural Britain for both pest control and gaining food, wherein juvenile rooks living in rookeries, known as "branchers", were shot before they were able to fly. These events were both very social and a source of food (the rook becomes inedible once mature) as the rook and rabbit pie was considered a great delicacy.[13]

## Game animals

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In the UK "game" is defined in law by the Game Act 1831. Other (non-game) birds that are hunted for food in the UK are specified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. UK law defines game as including:

Game seasons  Species  | England, Scotland and Wales | Northern Ireland

|
|

Pheasant | 1 October – 1 February | 1 October – 31 January
Partridge, grey and red-legged | 1 September – 1 February | 1 September – 31 January
Black grouse | 20 August – 10 December | N/A
Red grouse | 12 August – 10 December | 12 August – 30 November
Ptarmigan | 12 August – 10 December | N/A
Brown hare | No closed season | 12 August – 31 January

Bolt action rifles are used for deer stalking. This may take on moors, or in woodland. Deer hunted in the UK are red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, sika deer, muntjac, water deer, and hybrids of these deers.[14]

Only certain 'quarry' species of wildfowl may legally be shot in the UK, and are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. These are mallard, Eurasian wigeon, teal, pochard, shoveler, pintail, gadwall, goldeneye, tufted duck, Canada goose, greylag goose and pink-footed goose. Other common quarry targets for the wildfowler include the common snipe. Eurasian coot and moorhen are also shot, but not as much as in the past; they have a closed season that follows the wildfowl season and are classed as game.[15]

Although there is no close season for hare outside Northern Ireland, the Hare Preservation Act of 1892 makes it illegal to sell, or offer to sell, hare between 1 March and 31 July. The aforementioned species are those primarily pursued for game shooting. To this list can be added birds as the feral pigeon, jay, magpie, carrion crow, jackdaw and rook, wood pigeon, woodcock, snipe, and the Golden plover. Mammals as the European rabbit are also hunted.

Black grouse are no longer shot regularly, due to a continuing decline in numbers and those that are shot are most likely to be females mistaken for red grouse. Capercaillie are also no longer shot in the UK, as they are now protected due to a long-term decline in population.

## Wildfowling

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Waterfowl hunting is typically happens in the form of a single gun sitting in pursuit of ducks by a body of water, or on the coastal foreshore, often at dawn or dusk, and waits for birds to flight. This is sometimes undertaken in total darkness. Due to the ban on the use of lead shot for hunting waterfowl or over wetlands, many wildfowlers are switching to modern guns with stronger engineering to allow the use of non-toxic ammunition such as steel or tungsten based cartridges.[16][17]

In the UK wildfowling is largely self-regulated. Their representative body, WAGBI (Wildfowlers Association of Great Britain and Ireland), was founded in 1908 by Stanley Duncan in Hull. This Association changed its name in 1981 to become the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and now represents all forms of live quarry shooting at European, national and local levels. There are also many wildfowling clubs around the coast of Great Britain, often covering certain estuary areas where wildfowl are found in large numbers.[15]

## Unlawful hunting

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As of 2020[update] game shooting and deer stalking are carried on as field sports in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Hunting with hounds in the traditional manner became unlawful in Scotland in 2002 and in England and Wales in 2005, but continues in certain accepted forms. Traditional foxhunting continues in Northern Ireland. Following a trail (similar to drag hunting) rather than a live quarry has subsequently grown in importance in Great Britain, as has hunting foxes with a bird of prey. In 2005 it became unlawful in England and Wales to shoot game birds while they are not in flight, an action which has long been considered  unsporting. Bowhunting is illegal in the United Kingdom for all animals. You can be fined or jailed for hunting illegally or causing suffering to an animal.[18]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "BASC". BASC. Archived from the original on 2013-03-28. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
2. ^ "Firearms licensing". Gov.UK. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
3. ^ Aslam, Dilpazier (February 18, 2005). "Ten things you didn't know". The Guardian. London.
4. ^ According to Xenophon in Cynegeticus, "Castorian hounds are so called because it was  Castor, a keen hunter, who kept the breed pure.[...] Vulpine hounds are named after the fact that they are a cross between dogs and foxes [...]." Xenophon (30 March 2006). "On Hunting". Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises. Translated by Waterfield, Robin. UK: Penguin. ISBN 9780141959627. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
5. ^ Lewis, Barry (2009). Hunting in Britain from the Ice Age to the present. Stroud: History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-4802-2. OCLC 315084782.
6. ^ Akehurst, Richard (1969). Game guns and rifles: percussion to hammerless ejector in Britain. London: Bell. ISBN 978-0-7135-1528-2.
7. ^ "h2g2 - Common Pheasant and Relatives". BBC. 17 August 2007. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
8. ^ Russell, Geoff (1994). "Shotgun Wounding Characteristics". Maple Tech: Maple in Mathematics and the Sciences. December: 17–23.
9. ^ Norman, Fi (1976). "The Incidence of Lead Shotgun Pellets in Waterfowl (Anatidae and Rallidae) Examined in South-Eastern Australia Between 1957 and 1973". Wildlife Research. 3 (1): 61. doi:10.1071/WR9760061. ISSN 1035-3712. Retrieved 2024-07-30. Shooting from too far away also increases the risk of causing harm to animals due to the increased spread of shot pellets.
10. ^ Norman, Fi; Powell, Dgm (1981). "Rates of Recovery of Bands, Harvest Patterns and Estimates for Black Duck, Chestnut Teal, Grey Teal and Mountain Duck Shot during Victorian Open Seasons, 1953-1977". Wildlife Research. 8 (3): 659. doi:10.1071/WR9810659. ISSN 1035-3712. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
11. ^ Noer, Henning; Madsen, Jesper; Hartmann, Poul (2007). "Reducing wounding of game by shotgun hunting: effects of a Danish action plan on pink‐footed geese". Journal of Applied Ecology. 44 (3): 653–662\. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2007.01293.x. ISSN 0021-8901. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
12. ^ Månsson, Johan; Liljebäck, Niklas; Buij, Ralph; Moonen, Sander; Elmberg, Johan (2024). "Regional differences in crippling rate in greylag geese Anser anser". Wildlife Biology: e01356. doi:10.1002/wlb3.01356. ISSN 1903-220X.
13. ^ Colin Greenwood, The classic British rook & rabbit rifle, The Crowood Press Ltd, Marlborough, 2006, ISBN 978-1-86126-880-8.
14. ^ Alcock, I. C. N. (1996). Stalking deer in Great Britain (Repr ed.). Shrewsbury: Swan Hill. ISBN 978-1-85310-250-9.
15. ^ a b Olstead, Jeffrey (2008). Wildfowling: An introduction to shooting on the marsh and foreshore. Quiller Publishing. ISBN 978-1846890253.
16. ^ "Regulation - 2021/57 - EN - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
17. ^ "Plans announced to phase out lead ammunition in bid to protect wildlife". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-09-14.
18. ^ "Hunting and shooting wildlife". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2024-10-27.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom.

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Game animals and shooting in the United Kingdom

Game birds|

* Common pheasant
* Grey partridge
* Red-legged partridge
* Red grouse
* Rock ptarmigan
* Black grouse1
* Eurasian woodcock
* Common snipe

Quarry species|

* Mallard
* Teal
* Wood pigeon
* Golden plover
* Canada goose
* Greylag goose
* Pink-footed goose
* Eurasian wigeon
* Tufted duck
* Northern shoveler
* Northern pintail
* Gadwall
* Common pochard
* Common goldeneye
* Common moorhen
* Eurasian coot

Deer|

* Red deer
* Roe deer
* European fallow deer
* Sika deer
* Reeves's muntjac
* Water deer

Other quarry|

* European hare
* Red fox
* European rabbit

Opponents|

* League Against Cruel Sports
* Animal Aid

Law|

* Game Act 1831
* Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002
* Hunting Act 2004

See also|

* British Association for Shooting and Conservation
* Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom
* Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
* Countryside Alliance
* Driven grouse shooting
* Glorious Twelfth
* Gamekeepers in the United Kingdom
* Deer stalking
* Deer forest

1 Rarely shot because of declining numbers.

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Hunting in Europe

Sovereign states|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
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* Croatia
* Cyprus
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* France
* Georgia
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* Russia
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* Serbia
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* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom

States with limited
recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Kosovo
* Northern Cyprus
* South Ossetia
* Transnistria

Dependencies and
other entities|

* Åland
* Faroe Islands
* Gibraltar
* Guernsey
* Isle of Man
* Jersey
* Svalbard

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Hunting topics

History|

* Ancient Egypt
* Hunter-gatherer
* Medieval hunting
* Imperial hunt of the Qing dynasty
* North American hunting technologies

Forms|

* Bat-fowling
* Beagling
* Bowhunting
* Big-game hunting
* Coursing
* Game stalkering
* Gigging
* Green hunting
* Falconry
* Eagles
* Field sports
* Fowling
* Handgun hunting
* Internet hunting
* Layout hunting
* Montería
* Muttonbirding
* Persistence hunting
* Pest control
* Plume hunting
* Spotlighting
* Trophy hunting
* Trapping
* Trail hunting
* Treeing
* Upland hunting
* Varmint hunting
* Venatio
* Waterfowl hunting

Equipment|

* Camouflage
* Game call
* Duck call
* Ghillie suit
* Hunting bag
* Hunting weapon
* Air gun
* Assegai
* Bow and arrow
* Bear spear
* Boar spear
* Boomerang
* Blowgun
* Crossbow
* Pistol
* Punt gun
* Rifle
* Spear-thrower
* Shotgun
* Sword
* Throwing stick
* Silencer
* Shooting brake
* Shooting sticks

Game|

* Alligator
* Bear
* Big five
* Bison
* Boar
* Raccoon
* Deer
* Stalking
* Fox
* Hare
* Human
* Headhunting
* Jackal
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* Rabbit
* Rook
* Tiger
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* Turtle
* Lion
* Quail
* Wolf
* With dogs
* Seal
* Squirrel
* Poaching
* Whale
* Aboriginal
* Dolphin drive hunting
* Subsistence hunting of the bowhead whale

Infrastructure|

* Buffalo jump
* Buffalo pound
* Chase (land)
* Deer park (England)
* Deer forest
* Desert kite
* Game larder
* Game reserve
* Game farm
* Guest ranch
* Hunting blind
* Bird hide
* Salter
* Sporting lodge
* Jagdschloss
* Wolf trap

By location|

* Australia
* Dugong
* Kangaroo
* Azerbaijan
* Tiger
* Cambodia
* Chad
* Elephant
* Greenland
* Reindeer
* India
* Tiger poaching
* Rhino poaching in Assam
* Kenya
* Elephant
* New Zealand
* Helicopter-based hunting in Fiordland
* Pakistan
* Trophy hunting
* Russia
* Romania
* Spain
* Switzerland
* Federal hunting reserves
* Tonga
* Pigeon
* United States
* Alaska
* United Kingdom
* Driven grouse shooting

Regulation and conservation|

* Bag
* Bag limits
* Conservation officer
* Deer management
* Game Act 1831
* Game law
* Game preservation
* Hunting license
* Hunting Act 2004
* Hunting season
* Poaching
* Sustainable hunting

Culture|

* Bambi effect
* Blooding
* Canned hunt
* Car hawking
* Duck ague
* Falconry training and technique
* Fair chase
* Field dressing
* Gamekeepers in the United Kingdom
* Gillie
* Hunting dog
* Gun dog
* Hunting magic
* List of hunting deities
* List of big-game hunters
* Opposition to hunting
* Parahawking
* Professional hunter
* Killing of Cecil the lion
* Raptor persecution
* Safety orange
* Safari
* Take
* Tracking
* Wild Hunt
* White hunter

Organizations|

* Boone and Crockett Club
* Countryside Alliance
* Ducks Unlimited
* Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU
* Finnish Hunters' Association
* Hunt Saboteurs Association
* Humane Society of the United States
* League Against Cruel Sports
* North American Falconers Association
* People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
* Safari Club International

Other|

* Bowfishing
* Bounty hunter
* Blood sport
* Drag hunting
* Field trial
* Fur trade
* Ghost hunting
* Hunting hypothesis
* Hunting strategy
* Honey hunting
* Insect collecting
* Mushroom hunting
* Orchid hunting
* Overview of gun laws by nation
* Pearl hunting
* Spearfishing
* Wildlife farming

Authority control databases: National |

* United States
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