To find out the positive impact shooting can have on the environment, go to any UK wildfowling website and look at what they do with regards to conservation in their areas
They are hardly likely to write lists of where wildfowlers have shot illegal quarry though are they Rob? It's a bit like suggesting someone go onto the Daily Mail website as proof of how well the Tories are governing Britain...
Anyway - I enjoyed your post about shooting, didn't agree with all of it, but you argue the case well. Personally I don't have any problem with people shooting or fishing if they eat what they have shot/caught. Or if it is pest control. Hunting with hounds is barbaric though.
Very conical of you that tbh. The few times someone has shared anything that has been shot out of season etc. on any forum or group that I'm a member of, they're pulled up very quickly and the same goes for silly questions being posed, which is usually met with something along the lines of "If you don't know the answer to that, you shouldn't be out shooting.". I personally know wildfowlers who volunteer out on the marshes most weekends out of season, either showing people (non-shooters) around, or erecting and checking on nesting boxes that they make themselves. If you don't believe me, that's a shame because it's the truth mate.
Good point about the Mail and Tories as I think most of the anti ignorance is driven by political and / or class persuasions, even though most of the country folk I know through shooting are staunch old Labour.
I totally believe you Rob, I was just saying that a dedicated wildfowler site isn't going to give a balanced view. Nor would I expect it to.
I spose the point is, wildfowling isn't just about going out onto the foreshores at 3am to wait for the duck and goose flights, it includes conservation and thorough knowledge of habitats and the animals / plants that live in them and it always has done. Wildfowling clubs and associations (most of which go back over years and years) give an honest, factual view, that not many people or organisations disagree with, to the point that if numbers are down, it's the club's that report it to the relevant authorities. Whether uneducated people chose to believe wildfowling club's / association's websites, or have the cinical view that they'll lie and withhold info to protect their seedy pastime is up to them quite frankly, (not that it's a very well thought out argument, just saying "I don't believe you, you're just making it up")
There seems to be this opinion that people involved in shooting do what they want and shoot what they want, but you couldn't be further from the truth imo and Ive been involved for 25 odd years. Anyone showing lack of any knowledge or bad practice gets found out pretty quickly
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There seems to be this opinion that people involved in shooting do what they want and shoot what they want, but you couldn't be further from the truth imo and Ive been involved for 25 odd years. Anyone showing lack of any knowledge or bad practice gets found out pretty quickly
Definitely Against.