Time to ban gun sports

Totally agree with you Whitewavemark2.

The grouse end up on dinner plates.

They get eaten. Very expensive as well.

If I was a bird of any description I would prefer to meet my end when flying in open countryside

I'd rather ban horrendous abattoirs myself

Does he shoot for pleasure or are the birds for the table ?

I think pressure should be placed on our royal family who are heavily involved in Grouse shooting. Prince William says how much he loves ‘nature’ but yet he continues to shoot game birds for pleasure. Surely he can see the hypocrisy!

Killing animals & birds for an idiots pleasure is wrong in every way. It is not a sport to kill something that cannot fight back. Only the arrogant & self righteous do so!

How do you suppose the tracker became, "wrapped in lead"?
If a shooter or game keeper shot it what makes you think they'd be stupid enough to remove the tracker, wrap it in lead, (how do you even do that?) and leave it to be found?
The lead in cartridges is in the form of tiny pellets. Your post makes no sense and the story smacks of an anti shooting, "plant". And I say this as a disintetrested party.

I know that cave men had to kill wild animals and birds to survive, but why do modern people kill for pleasure? I hope killing for pleasure whether with guns or hounds will be finally stopped.

Since April I have been watching the Woodland Trust live stream from the Osprey nest at Loch Arkaig. It has been wonderful, the parent birds laid 3 eggs, they hatched, fledged and migrated.
The total fish tally was 579.
Its great to see these wonderful birds doing so well after all the years of persecution, being shot by gamekeepers to preserve the fish in the lochs, so that money could be made selling fishing rights by the landowners.
There are surely plenty of grouse, pheasant etc to go round, judging by the amount of pheasants we get in our garden during the winter.
There is absolutely no need to shoot a beautiful raptor it is diabolical.

phoenix

MayBee70 that's exactly it, it's the balance, the chain that is so important.

How about introducing wolves

They would be the apex killer.

But culling is not a sport in any case. We kill the deer unfortunately to keep a balance.

There is no balance in blood sports, just killing for fun. No different to people we see with one foot on a precious elephant that they have just killed for fun. Bastards!!

MayBee70 that's exactly it, it's the balance, the chain that is so important.

phoenix

Thank you to those who understood my post regarding deer, I was rather worried about posting it.

I understand. It’s like the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone. As a keystone species they were important for both the flora and fauna of the area.

Vegansrock, hares, too. . We have snow hares here but I didn’t see a single one last winter.

Thank you to those who understood my post regarding deer, I was rather worried about posting it.

Not just birds of prey - many potentially predator wildlife are killed.

By the “moor is managed to encourage the grouse” - read : any birds of prey are got rid of one way or another, legally or not.

Even more reason not to shoot them, then.

Grouse are not bred for shoots.
The moor is managed to encourage the grouse but they are not bred for shoots like pheasant.

Shooting is a necessary evil for the likes of culling, as Phoenix says, especially when the alternative is for deer to starve to death in bad winters.

Killing for fun, nope. Where I live pheasant and grouse are raised for shoots. I don’t know if it’s natural or if they’ve been bred that way but the birds are senseless. The grouse sleep in the road at this time of year - the roads bear the evidence in their little squashed bodies. If I come across them I shoo them into the verges but they meander back again but they seem to have no survival instinct. How can you kill a dumb creature like that?

Guns only have one purpose and that it is to kill, until other things people come out with, such as knives and cars. The main purpose of both those items is not to kill, it is to be useful.

sodapop, that's what the gun enthusiasts in the USA say - it's not guns that kill people, it's people that kill people. That is, on the face of it, true, but a person with a gun can kill an awful lot more people in a give time than a person with a knife can.

Deer culling could be done for food, not for sport, and by people who actually know how to kill the deer cleanly and not just for fun. I agree, phoenix, that it does need to be done for the reasons you give.

Agree in pricipal, but have concerns about abolition of deer culling.

Deer have no natural predators, and can seriously hinder the development of woodlands, (and we all need trees) by eating young saplings.

Plus venison is a very healthy meat option.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/25/grouse-moors-under-fire-after-golden-eagle-tag-hidden-in-scottish-river?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I agree gun sports should be banned. Why anyone would want to kill any of these beautiful birds is beyond me

It's people using the guns who kill Jane10 not that I'm an advocate for blood sports.

The hen harrier is the most persecuted bird in the U.K. and as a result we are in danger of losing them altogether.

Yes. Stop gun 'sports'. Guns only use is killing. Why have them?!