I am not anti hunt, coursing or country folks way of life. But i cannot understand why anyone would want to hand rear, feed and create the tamest wild bird in the land just so the can scare it up and shoot it. They call killing the tamest bird in the country sport. mmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm missing something here.
You see these pheasants walking along roads not a care in the world. No fear of man in most of them. I cannot think of anything sicker than breeding &taming birds to kill. where is the sport in that?
if you want to hunt foxes, shoot rabbits or chase hares & rabbits with dogs get on with it, at least these animals have a sporting chance. But killing tame birds is not sport.
cheers
corni
A smile will open more doors than any key.
Sorry Sooty but in our part of the world there are very few small private syndicates who are quite happy paying their own way.Most of what we have are larger estates who seem to run corporate days to help finance the shoot and very successful it seems to be both for the estate and the surrounding businesses that are involved in supplying goods or services
Pete
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I quite like eating game :)
S
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corni said: the tamest bird in the country sport. mmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm missing something here. You see these pheasants walking along roads not a care in the world. No fear of man in most of them.
the tamest bird in the country sport. mmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm missing something here.
You see these pheasants walking along roads not a care in the world. No fear of man in most of them.
Now I'm not going to get into the politics of this debate for fear of upsetting someone.
I would like to pick up on the above quote "tamest bird".....Well I have to say in my experience every time I point a camera at one it legs it (or wings it!)......LOL
It's not only pheasants that are getting shot out of the sky what about all the birds killed for the glorious 12th {August}plus the duck shooting that goes on.Our local farm shop is starting to see Teal and also partridge for anyone that wants a different taste in meat although I am not sure if the partridge are reared specially for the table or shot out of the sky like the poor pheasants are.Round our way there are a lot of white pheasants which I am told are breed and released so that the farmers can see where their range extends.
Our next door neighbour before we moved used to go out beating and he said that you should see the size of the 4x4's the shooters drove not to mention the size of their guns and wallets.He does a lot of pest control for the local farmers and told us of his lamping trips to shoot both rabbits and foxes.We never did see eye to eye over the killing of all these beautiful animals and birds...
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i was brought up in an era when there wasn't a lot of money about and poaching helped put meat on the table. so i can understand killing for food. but i struggle to get my head round killing for fun. (phsyco's or what?).
the farmers removed the natural habitat of the birds & the bees etc, then get credit for putting some of it back. mmmmmmm strange.
they could just shoot those clay things or stand outside parliament with their guns and we'd all cheer them on. there's some fair game in parliament. well fed squawking geese.
corni.
Hi corni
My friends fiance is a farmer who rears pheasants and has shoots on his land, which are very popular and boost his variable income as a beef farmer. Personally, I wouldn't shoot anything, but it it wasn't for farmers rearing them, there wouldn't be any pheasants.They are certainly not tame birds.
He sometimes eats his pheasant eggs, and he sometimes eats his pheasants. It's up to him. It's something else that is farmed for food. You could say that the bullocks that go to the abattoir don't have much of a chance either.
Best wishes Chris
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my take on it is
kill and eat - acceptable
kill for fun - not acceptable
I buy my beef straight from the farmer - and my milk too - different farm. my christmas goose was reared just up the road from me and the man that reared it told me how he cooks them. i keep chickens for eggs and they are pets too so wont go in the pot
i do not support killing just for fun
Izzy
In South Africa they have lion farms breeding hundreds of lions which are then released half starved into small reserves with meat left at specific locations so that tourist hunting parties know exactly where to go to locate and shoot them . There is worldwide out cry about this 'industry' yet it continues un checked, it is exactly the same principle as rearing pheasants to be shot... I find it impossible not to think that if the human race actually manages to survive into the distant future, they will look back through history to what we have done to the planet and it's flora and fauna with utter disgust and total disbelief.
I have so much to say on this topic - if I start I won't be able to shut myself up so I'll just say one thing:
Killing creatures for fun is wrong, WRONG.
'Dip a dee dah, dip a dee ay, we're not seeing any birds to-day...'
I am going to get a reputation for have views slightly different to the rest of RSPB members on these forums but nothing could be further from the truth.
I tend to agree with Sooty. I do not shoot, hunt or fish and have no wish to but you have to take this in context. Shooting pheasants is not something that is done in isolation. Lots of things are shot as vermin (rats, foxes) or for control (deer). So is shooting wrong in its own right. Pheasants, grouse and partridge are all shot as wild birds, some released and some shot for sport and some for food.
Fishing consists of taking fish out of its natural environment on a hook yet a lot of people do it and enjoy it.
Pheasants are sold in the same shop as beef, veal, lamb, chicken and rabbit. Not many of those are wild and some of those don't necessarily have a good life in our terms. If you watch 'Lambing Live' don't forget those farmers aren't doing it for the aaah factor, the end result for that tame animal is your Sunday dinner.
If you are a vegan or vegetarian I can totally understand. All I am saying is don't take this subject in isolation. The critics of organisations such as the RSPB, RSPCA say 'They got rid if hunting they will be after shooting next and then what'.
I had now better sit back and wait for the reaction.
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