Hunters welcome!

Seen over the A361 near Tiverton...

No, not really - it's a small town in the US, where "hunter" isn't automatically a dirty word (yet). Thanks to David Taylor, the Countryside Alliance's new Shooting Campaigns Manager, who took it when he was in the States over the New Year.

Read his views on the different attitudes to gun legislation here and there, in next month's issue of Sporting Shooter.

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Fighting back on lead shot

Who said this:

“There is simply no scientific evidence that the use of traditional ammunition is having an adverse impact on wildlife populations that would require restricting or banning the use of traditional ammunition beyond current limitations, such as the scientifically based restriction on waterfowl hunting.”

BASC? The Countryside Alliance? The RSPB?

No, it's the American firearms industry, fighting back at the latest attacks on lead shot and bullets. I particularly like this line:

“Hunters and their ammunition have done more for wildlife than the CBD ever will. And the CBD’s scientifically baseless petition and endless lawsuits against state and federal wildlife managers certainly do not serve the wildlife that the organization claims to protect.”

Will the worm turn in the UK too? Time will tell.

We're not the only ones with lead problems

Hunters are going through the same thing in the USA - in fact they're some way further down the road than us. Check out this very thoughtful blog post from the excellent NorCal Cazadora, a hunter who has vowed to stop using lead. Notice how the state of California made a complete mess of the whole thing by failing to get hunters on-side, while Arizona took a very different route.

The price of animal rights

Terrierman has an interesting post about some research in the US, looking into the cost to the public if hunting and trapping didn't exist.

Basically, it would mean 50,000 more injuries amd $3.8bn repair bills per year due to road traffic accidents, additional healthcare costs of $12.45bn p.a. for rabies alone, and $972m in damage to homes by pest species.

If hunters didn't control wildlife for free, it would cost the government up to $9.3bn to control whitetail deer alone!

Fascinating reading - I wonder if anyone's done the equivalent calculations for the UK.

Why we hunt

Well done to Holly Heyser who has posted this video on her NorCal Cazadora blog - it's an excellent effort to explain the paradox of how it's possible to be a 'hunter' (in the US sense) and to love nature.

Conversations with antis

If you haven't yet discovered Holly Heyser's Norcal Cazadora blog, then get over there and check it out - always an entertaining, thought-provoking read, as well as an inspiration to women hunters (or shooters as we'd call them here).

Her recent post on her conversation with an anti-hunter is a great example. It reminded me that most of the 'antis' I meet aren't really anti-shooting/hunting at all. They are happy to accept that people kill animals to eat them, or to protect crops and prevent the spread of disease. They'll even accept the social, environmental and conservation benefits of shooting and other field sports.

Their objections boil down to two main areas: i) A misguided idea that most shooters are rich toffs walking roughshod over the local peasants and wildlife, and ii) They are really bothered by what they imagine goes through a shooter's head at the moment he/she pulls the trigger.

Non-shooters don't get why we would go to all that bother and expense to shoot something we could buy in the supermarket for a couple of quid. So they fill in the gap for themselves, imagining some twisted orgasmic thrill at the death of another creature.

To me, that says more about them than it does about me. But it's a real PR problem that we, as shooters, face. And I don't know how we begin to tackle it. Any ideas?

Up North Journal podcast

I've been listening to the weekly Up North Journal podcast on my drive into work. It's produced by Mike Adams, a hunter based in Michigan, and his son, er, Mike Adams.

For a UK-based shooter, it's a fascinating insight into how they do things 'over there' in the USA. Much of what they describe is very different to what we're used to. For instance bow-hunting for deer, something that would be very illegal here.

For me, though, what comes through is the similarities - their love of the outdoors, respect for the quarry, and that instinct deep inside that drives us to drag ourselves from a nice warm bed at stupid o'clock in the hope of bagging that elusive duck, deer, etc. Plus they're big on encouraging youngsters into the sport. Women too - and that's a rapidly growing theme in the US.

Give it a try - you can listen in your browser here »