air rifle hunting in the uk

[deansherratt]

Hi All,
I've recently joined the forum. My main outdoor interests are canoeing and diving, although I've dabbled in gathering my own wild food and have done a little bit of spear fishing, underwater foraging and sea angling. Living near Nuneaton in the West Midlands, this is only something that I can do on occasional trips to the coast! Closer to home, I've caught a few trout for the table fly fishing at commercial still waters (I know it's not exactly "wild" food but it's close, I suppose). I'm thinking of having a go at air rifle shooting as I live in a semi-rural area where there must be plenty of rabbits, wood pigeons and squirrels that could be legitimate quarry. I've approached a local shooting syndicate that organise rabbit/woodpigeon hunts but it's shotguns only and it's just too expensive. Does anyone know of any air rifle hunting land access in the Nuneaton/Atherstone area? Any air rifle hunting syndicates? How difficult is it to get shooting permission from local farmers? I don't want to invest in too much kit only to have absolutely no chance of gaining shooting permission. Once again, I'm only interested in air rifle shooting and hunting as shotguns and shotgun cartridges are way outside my budget and I also don't want to bother with a firearms licence.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Dean

 

[bambodoggy]

Hey Dean,

Welcome to the forum. There's probably a whole heap of advice and info if you search the fair game section here but it's also well worth you looking here:

http://basc.org.uk/airgunning/

As they will be able to help point you in the right direction and by joining you automatically get their insurance which is pretty good imo. It's also going to be far easier to get a landowner's permission if you are a BASC member with full insurance....they like the insurance bit particularly, shows them you aren't as much of a risk as johnny public and his gat gun

Hope that helps,

Bam.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Hi Dean, welcome and enjoy.

 

[knifefan]

Getting permissions is getting more and more difficult nowadays. You need to build up a relationship with the landowner prior to asking outright.
Furthermore you need to consider how good a shot you are. You need to know how accurate you are with any weapon before you even consider going after live quarry.

 

[deansherratt]

Hi All. Thanks for the advice. Is air rifle hunting the way to go or is a shot gun better? My impression is that shotgun shooting can be prohibitively expensive (cost of gun, cost of ammo, licensing costs etc) is this true or can shotgun shooting be affordable?

 

[British Red]

A shotgun, license and ammunition (plus cabinet), is certainly cheaper than a decent PCP air rifle.

Cabinet is £50 to £100 second hand
Licence is £50 for 5 years
Second hand basic shotgun £100 to £200
Ammunition is roughly £5 for a box of 25 shells

Say £400 to get up and running realistically.

I know many air rifle shooters who have spent far more than that on their set up - with no better hit rate.

Air rifles do less meat damage and I can take a rabbit at the same distance on either platform (50 yards). However, for me, at 50 yards I need a PCP air rifle with good scope. £1,000 for a medium quality set up. I can do the same with £150 side by side shotgun.

 

[deansherratt]

Thanks for the advice Wayfarer. Why is it that shooting seems to have this image in the UK of being an exclusive activity? I always had the impression that all shooting, except for air rifle shooting, was the preserve of the very rich. Mind you, fly fishing has the same image and I know from personal experience (I do a bit of fly fishing for rainbow trout) that it can actually be very cheap.

 

[British Red]

No idea to be honest. Driven shooting (pheasant and partridge) can be pricy, but even then there are cheap family and syndicate shoots. Good pigeon shooters are in much demand around here (pea crop country). Farmers will happily pay for your cartridges and bags of a couple of hundred are known. Thats a good few months of food for nowt.

 

[ateallthepies]

In my experience gaining permission for air rifle shooting is zero. I sent out loads of letters and went asking permission and got nothing. I'm afraid it's not what you know it's who you know.

I was well into air gunning several years ago but have all but given up on the sport. Even the nearest club shot only once every other Sunday.

 

[deansherratt]

It's disappointing isn't it, as there seems to be so much wild food that is free and, if hunted responsibly, could be sustainable and have a positive impact on the environment and other species. There seems to be more opportunities for shotgun shooters rather than air rifle (all of the affordable syndicates I have seen locally ar for shotgun rather than air rifle), does anyone know why this is?

 

[British Red]

It all depends who you know as said. If that seems harsh, would you want someone you didn't know wandering around you home and workplace with a loaded gun? I surely wouldn't.

I think the other thing you need to ask yourself is "what have I done for the landowner"? If you have done nothing for them, why should they do something for a stranger?

Join NOBS and do some beating, or get to know your local farmers (we have knocked out wasp nests, caught loose stock, fixed fences, all sorts). Then ask when they know you. The only response I have had is "oh sure mate, no problem". My wife bakes them cakes, I make them pickles and home made wine. They give us veg from the fields. Its all about a relationship. But, you have to make the first move to get that relationship.