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Read in the paper today, that 13 people have been shot dead in the first month of the game shooting season in Italy. They didn't mention the number of deer, boar and small birds.

I expect there are similar statistics for France.

I'm sure they wear the hi-vis caps just to help their chums find and shoot them. Especially after a good lunch.

Last year 35 people were killed and 75 injured; not bad going for just three-days a week over a period of four months. Among the dead was a mushroom picker and 13 of the injured were either walkers or cyclists. It's also the period when house burglaries rise dramatically.

He shot the limit that the game laws would allow;
Two game wardens, seven hunters and a pure-bred Jersey cow!"

Once went on the yearly Wild Boar shoot,! 1 bloke dead,2 injured.

I spent 12 yrs as a central London dispatch rider.......far safer!

Use a tree - that's much safer. I got a partridge like that only yesterday. Out on a walk, the dog flushed a covey and one bird flew into a tree hard enough the blow the wax out of its ears and I finished it off. I have a nasty feeling that taking it home was technically illegal, so I have plucked & drawn the evidence with a view to a more permanent disposal in due course.

People who kill for fun deserve to be victims of their own stupidity. Kill for food or in rare circumstances, for self defence, but never for fun. Sick bastard toffs deserve everything they get!

demi wrote:People who kill for fun deserve to be victims of their own stupidity. Kill for food or in rare circumstances, for self defence, but never for fun. Sick bastard toffs deserve everything they get!

Game hunting is done for food. It may be a social occasion for some, and on estates the game may be reared for it - but that's unlikely if it's boar or deer.

It's trophy hunting that's done purely for sport. And a large number of the casualties seem to not be the hunters and therefore hardly deserving of "everything they get".

demi wrote:People who kill for fun deserve to be victims of their own stupidity. Kill for food or in rare circumstances, for self defence, but never for fun. Sick bastard toffs deserve everything they get!

Sounds a bit puritanical Demi. Don't you enjoy the rearing of your pig in anticipation of the sausages? I can say without fear of contradiction that the membership of hunts around here is definitely not toffs. In France (and I suspect Italy), hunting for the pot is regarded as the right of the common man. And no-one deserves to be killed.

Also dear and boar left unmanaged can become widespread damaging crops, farmland eg fencing etc. which can have a negative impact on peoples livlihoods. They can also have an impact on local flora and fauna.

In short there are times when they need to be culled. If their meat can be used that's a bonus but if can't well that's how it is.

Phil

I am not taking either side, but it does seem to me that every year they take their guns and run around the forests around here (yes killing each other from time to time), and I get the destinct impression that think it is all so macho. Laughable really, just blasting a pig or two and getting drunk afterwards, soooo macho, it was a pitty they were not so handy whn the Turkish came!

It's definitely not for toffs in southern Italy, although the gun licences are really expensive. Hunters here only shoot thrush and blackbirds and the reason most of them give is because they scratch under olive trees, making it more difficult to sweep olives. People who shoot for sport or to sell are really frowned upon. Like Merlin though, I suspect the main reason they do it it is to show how macho they are and escape the wife.

Well, there's no shortage of toff-related sport shooting up here... Can't say that I'm a fan, but it is an important part of the rural economy. They mostly seem to avoid shooting each other though.

Here in my Region, there is a shortage of hunters, and we are over run with Wild Boar and Deer; Last night for instance, at 7-30 pm I pasted 8 deer in my neighbours fields, and the wild Boars destroy the maize crops.
In my freezer I have leg of Deer, and last week I was offered a Hind Quarter of Boar. So although I dislike the idea, of killing any animal, what is the alternative.
Eddy

Hunting for food is perfectly aceptable. Its hunting for sport i strongly dissagree with. If you are going to kill an animal the least you can do it take it home and have it for dinner. Life should not be wasted.