Asking a landowner for permission to hunt and snare rabbits on their land.
- Thread starter DavidDavidson
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
- Status
That worked for me, farmers were happy to let me on with long net, ferret and purse nets. Once I'd done a decent job clearing some fields they let me on with the shotgun and air rifle. If I'd rocked up asking for shooting straight away they'd have not been so keen.ask the farmer his views on ferreting ?? Might open up the doors for you
"they say "No", which does not effect your current situation at all"
if they HAVEN'T said "NO" then you still have a chance...
if they HAVEN'T said "NO" then you still have a chance...
"farmers were happy to let me on with long net, ferret and purse nets. Once I'd done a decent job clearing some fields they let me on with the shotgun and air rifle. If I'd rocked up asking for shooting straight away they'd have not been so keen."
THAT'S the gemme = very well done sah!
THAT'S the gemme = very well done sah!
Sorry to dredge this up again but it's coming into rabbit season and I'm just curious if it's legal to snare on public land?
Essentially the area I have picked out has a public fence separating a private field (with it's own publically paid for gate I would assume as it isn't a heavy cow gate but a thumb press-spring locking spring shut man-sized gate. Once you go through that there are obvious signs of rabbit activity (dung mounds) and rabbit runs under the fence which is protected on the field side by brambles and nettles, has barbed wire on the top and bottom (to keep dogs from getting caught half way under I'd assume) but if I were to set up snares they would be securely fastened to the fence, of the free running variety and put at rabbit neck height just behind barbed wire and under the fence on the public side where you would need to climb up holding onto trees and branches to reach and even then the rabbits enjoy a nice bit of cover under holly bushes and other prickly things that would easily deter your average dog walker. If you wish I can cycle up later and snap a couple of pictures. I've thoroughly scouted (ie sat around until 12 pm in almost complete silence with a friend to check for foxes and badgers, three times and there was nothing; just the occasional brave rabbit to slip under the fence and go to the toilet, they were watched both by an old first gen cascade tube night scope (I got the cascade tube and fashioned it into a scope when I was about 15) and a newer 'digital' 1.25 gen scope with a big infrared light that came slapped on that I was given as a gift. So there was no light to scare anything away, just the high pitched inverter squeal of a gen 1 triple scope and the dull red light barely visible (to humans at least) of an IR lamp.
I know the digital scope has a yellow video out plug so I'll see if there's a V-out recorder I can slap on it to show the farmer how quiet it is at night and that I would usually snare from 6am to 1pm.
The snares I would use wouldn't involve any stakes and would use the securely fastened wire fence to hold prey and would definitely be out of dogwalker's reach.
I'm just wondering as it would be fairly hard; if not impossible for me to get a FAC to own an air-rifle (welcome to Northern Ireland, where people kick a £800 camera and lens combo out of the blue on St Patrick's Day (I had to go to the station and leave an assault complaint because the police in visual range with photographic evidence told me it wasn't their problem, I've since left an assault complaint and the pictures as evidence at the central police station where I was advised by the constable in charge to leave a complaint as the problem could have been solved there and then), or people shoot four year olds, killing them and causing airguns to be banned because "I was just aiming at the firefighters your honour". The problem I have is that I've been convicted of a class C substance offence (I'm very libertarian and feel that what doesn't harm others isn't in the public interest to prosecute) it was essentially a case of 'wise up' but I was still sentenced to community service, where I got to vacuum churches along with people who had attempted murder on their record (though in fairness, he was a decent enough person to talk to, just not the type of person I'd spend time with) but since substance users can't be trusted because they're naturally going to go for the gun and play shoot the shadow people after a thirty six hour crack binge the chances of me getting an airgun are slim to nil and to apply I need to get an expensive gun cabinet, install it and have officers randomly visit me; none of which I'm very partial to, which is why I've gotten to be a crack shot with the slingshot (though these rabbits are fast when they see someone), I managed to headshot a woodpigeon at the end of my garden with a steel .38 which had good eating on it but I digress, slingshots and snares are probably all I'll get to use for the next three or four years of my life. So is public snaring (using a free running snare and keeping them away from dogs, foxes and badgers) legal, I'd take it to be as public land is essentially our land and they shouldn't be allowed to stop the public living off their land.
Essentially the area I have picked out has a public fence separating a private field (with it's own publically paid for gate I would assume as it isn't a heavy cow gate but a thumb press-spring locking spring shut man-sized gate. Once you go through that there are obvious signs of rabbit activity (dung mounds) and rabbit runs under the fence which is protected on the field side by brambles and nettles, has barbed wire on the top and bottom (to keep dogs from getting caught half way under I'd assume) but if I were to set up snares they would be securely fastened to the fence, of the free running variety and put at rabbit neck height just behind barbed wire and under the fence on the public side where you would need to climb up holding onto trees and branches to reach and even then the rabbits enjoy a nice bit of cover under holly bushes and other prickly things that would easily deter your average dog walker. If you wish I can cycle up later and snap a couple of pictures. I've thoroughly scouted (ie sat around until 12 pm in almost complete silence with a friend to check for foxes and badgers, three times and there was nothing; just the occasional brave rabbit to slip under the fence and go to the toilet, they were watched both by an old first gen cascade tube night scope (I got the cascade tube and fashioned it into a scope when I was about 15) and a newer 'digital' 1.25 gen scope with a big infrared light that came slapped on that I was given as a gift. So there was no light to scare anything away, just the high pitched inverter squeal of a gen 1 triple scope and the dull red light barely visible (to humans at least) of an IR lamp.
I know the digital scope has a yellow video out plug so I'll see if there's a V-out recorder I can slap on it to show the farmer how quiet it is at night and that I would usually snare from 6am to 1pm.
The snares I would use wouldn't involve any stakes and would use the securely fastened wire fence to hold prey and would definitely be out of dogwalker's reach.
I'm just wondering as it would be fairly hard; if not impossible for me to get a FAC to own an air-rifle (welcome to Northern Ireland, where people kick a £800 camera and lens combo out of the blue on St Patrick's Day (I had to go to the station and leave an assault complaint because the police in visual range with photographic evidence told me it wasn't their problem, I've since left an assault complaint and the pictures as evidence at the central police station where I was advised by the constable in charge to leave a complaint as the problem could have been solved there and then), or people shoot four year olds, killing them and causing airguns to be banned because "I was just aiming at the firefighters your honour". The problem I have is that I've been convicted of a class C substance offence (I'm very libertarian and feel that what doesn't harm others isn't in the public interest to prosecute) it was essentially a case of 'wise up' but I was still sentenced to community service, where I got to vacuum churches along with people who had attempted murder on their record (though in fairness, he was a decent enough person to talk to, just not the type of person I'd spend time with) but since substance users can't be trusted because they're naturally going to go for the gun and play shoot the shadow people after a thirty six hour crack binge the chances of me getting an airgun are slim to nil and to apply I need to get an expensive gun cabinet, install it and have officers randomly visit me; none of which I'm very partial to, which is why I've gotten to be a crack shot with the slingshot (though these rabbits are fast when they see someone), I managed to headshot a woodpigeon at the end of my garden with a steel .38 which had good eating on it but I digress, slingshots and snares are probably all I'll get to use for the next three or four years of my life. So is public snaring (using a free running snare and keeping them away from dogs, foxes and badgers) legal, I'd take it to be as public land is essentially our land and they shouldn't be allowed to stop the public living off their land.
You're a nutter. And the dog walkers will be very happy when their Jack Russell gets caught in one of your snares. If it's where rabbits go, dogs go. I'd never hunt with a bow, crossbow, slingshot, or snares. If a landowner has a vermin problem he wants it sorted, not some long haired, trimmed fringe bloke with a catty.
And could you describe how you differentiate between a highly accurate air pellet and a .38 ball that both have the ability to cause injury? Why doesn't your catty require a backstop?
I'd say that becoming a catty sharpshooter has been more dangerous than zeroing a scope and knowing every shot will go where it's put. Even if a bird poos on your head
And could you describe how you differentiate between a highly accurate air pellet and a .38 ball that both have the ability to cause injury? Why doesn't your catty require a backstop?
I'd say that becoming a catty sharpshooter has been more dangerous than zeroing a scope and knowing every shot will go where it's put. Even if a bird poos on your head
Last edited:
OP, I am sorry but you got most of your hunting ideas wrong.
In short, to hunt small game with a catapult is borderline animal torture and abuse.
The likelihood for a clean, instant kill is virtualy zero.
Snaring works, but is a slow death.
Learn to shoot, them get a shotgun. Then learn to use that particular gun.
In short, to hunt small game with a catapult is borderline animal torture and abuse.
The likelihood for a clean, instant kill is virtualy zero.
Snaring works, but is a slow death.
Learn to shoot, them get a shotgun. Then learn to use that particular gun.
Offer to dig in a drop trap and put 100m of rabbit netting up and farmers would jump at the chance.
Sent from my SM-A500FU using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-A500FU using Tapatalk
I can shoot with snapshot accuracy with a crossbow. The chances of me getting a shotgun are slim to nil.
- Past substance offence (which authorities view as I will be under the influence when I'm using a firearm); I go so far with my crossbow to ask three questions; "can you see the dots in the sight", "have you used a firearm before, do you know what the term trigger discipline means?" (if no I'll ask them to hold an uncocked crossbow and if I see a finger on the trigger it's an instant "no you cannot use that on my land", "not without training which I shall provide up close until trigger discipline becomes second nature" and after that they treat the bow as it is; a a potentially lethal weapon if it overtops a my thick double plywood backstops potentially passing through a bush and then Mrs Mabel as she does her washing up.
But as I've said, due to my offence (if it was me being silly while drunk they'd probably overlook it) they assume I'll be running through a field high as a kite trying to gun down the shadow ninjas.
If I owned a cabinet I probably wouldn't even keep the key in house, I'd keep it with my very prudent grandmother who lives over the road and if she saw me to be fully compos mentis and not even slightly tired but literally 'sharp eyed and bushy tailed' but still they'd view that as me being loose about my keys.
I'm pretty sure you need guarantors too, my mother has the typical UK gun fear; since what happened in the seventies my grandmother has shunned guns as people just came into her house to use as a vantage point at times.
I could try my neighbours who have known me since I was an infant but that's a gamble.
As is having to pre-install cabinets without even getting told whether or not you'd qualify for a FAC it's expensive and totally unnecessary, in my opinion anyway, if you don't have a gun why have a gun cabinet just to show subservience to a state that I feel I'm falling out with more and more (essentially the tories trying to tax and control everything).
This post turned out rather long, if you wish to skip to the bottom there's a tl;dr section that covers the most of it.
Too right they can. I have a polymer one that's suspiciously identical to the Hathcock target sniper, only difference is that it's cut from HDPE of something similar rather than resin on a metal frame.
I went ahead and bought one of the Hathcock target snipers (should be here in a few weeks) and will probably rig one with double gold theraband and the other triple gold theraband. The double could be my target practice (probably the HDPE one if I like the target sniper, I paid £40 for it and the shipping anyway so it better be good) and the triple banded one as my hunting slingshot, ttf style as I never liked the idea of OTF. Maybe the "gangster grip" is just my thing. I'll probably get .45 or .50 steel balls for hunting the rabbits as they grow bigger (public side) and it's not like there's any park rangers to spot me, even with my current cattie I've had dogwalkers ask me what I'm doing and I just say "Hunting rabbits" they usually reply "Isn't that slingshot/catapult an offensive weapon and not allowed in public?" "Nope, oddly parliament thinks they're kids toys, I was playing around and shot a small ball (.22) straight through both sides of a double panel door. Parliament can be silly when they bring down bans and it's usually a kneejerk thing to one event" I'll go on to explain about airguns being banned without a FAC here which usually gets a "Really?!" Then go on to say about handguns not being banned here provided you have a FAC in contrast to the rest of the UK which again surprises them. After that they usually go to walk on and I'll leave a parting message just saying I won't be shooting the catapult anywhere near them, their dog or anywhere it could potentially cause harm after which it's usually "cheers" or a friendly wave. Provided you aren't dressed in full camo running about the bush with the slingshot half-drawn; which I've never done; though I've contemplated fixing (I made it when I was 15 so it needs to be made bigger for starters) secondly the only netting I could get then was thin plastic garden netting which would have a tendency to rip so I'll probably get an old BDU or just camo top and bottoms (whichever's cheapest) and make a suit by paracording the thin plastic netting to something like volleyball netting then stitching it down with dental floss or dacron from old crossbow strings. Let it sit in mud/muddy rainwater to remove 'man scent' from it for a day then beat it out so it's clean and get a light, cool undersuit and if it gets too warm in the suit lying down I'll just cut small slits in it for heat to vent out then I just can lie with binoculars, or possibly a thermal scope/camera if I can find a good one for less than £300 to spot close up (less than 10m) in bushes then when I spot a rabbit I'll either see if I can draw lying down (unlikely or slowly move to a single knee 'wedding proposal' position pull back my sling if the quarry is in range and the backstop is good and let fly.
If not I can set 4-5 snares all in visual range ghillie up and sit and play the PlayStation vita for four or so hours lying in wait visually minding my snares every half hour and use some sort of jerry rigged motion detector to let me know if there's something there (set the circuit to an old remote car transmitter then remove the motor/ servo from the body and hook up to a a set of LEDs that are in a circuit to make them flash, pop the lights on the top of the vita and I'm good to go, lazyman style. I still have the dyes for my ghillie suit (green and light brown grassland colours) so I'd buy some jute twine and Hessian and finish it where I've grown, add some paracord slipknot loops or thick rubber bands and I can garnish with reeds and other grass and blend right in. I'd definitely love to jerry rig motion detectors and even snare detectors; I like electronics I made a cascade tube into a night scope at 14 basically asking my physics teacher about lenses, focal lengths and stuff then when I got a DSLR mount on it and finshed it she asked me to bring it in, blacked out the whole class and let everyone have a play with it. I was banned from using electronics in the house for near six months when I was eight as I realised short circuiting a battery generates heat, making lovely holes in the carpet (and my hands).
As for a FAC it's not likely though I plan on getting a thirty pound recurve bow (even though I'm a lefty I draw right handed with a bow), you know one of those modular ones where the limbs bolt onto the riser and joining one of the local archery clubs and if I can get good at that I would have people in my club who potentially has access to a firearm (well it's Belfast, if you want a gun there's always a person who knows a person selling Glock 18s for around 200-300, sometimes as low as 150 if it's 'hot'; or there's the internet where you can get an AR15 delivered to your door for just shy of a grand, courtesy of the Royal Mail (or another courier service)) and if I could go to the range with them and let them see me practice I would have someone to potentially act as guarantor. But still it would be difficult. Rather silly how they preach "You can change your life and everything will be fine once you're on the straight and narrow" even when I got in trouble with the police I was blind drunk and I never tried to fight back or struggle and if I was in a situation where I had no option to fight back after being attacked I would usually move to cripple the attacker (probably either a leg sweep or knee dislocation) then I would run and contact the police immediately even if it meant turning myself in for a night in a cell until it was sorted out and I was seen as the defending party rather than the attacker. There was a situation on the 17th of march where some drunken idiot threw a boot into a rather expensive DSLR of mine. Rather than hand the camera and my bag to a friend of mine and 'sort things out on the spot' I went to the police, even when they basically said "Not my problem, go speak to someone else" (The constable who took my statement on Tuesday advised I put in a complaint about the two officers, though I told him I wouldn't just to keep the police happy) even after that when the perpetrator was still in the immediate area I decided not to hand over my breakable items and make a citizen's arrest and walked all the way to the central station to get things done completely by the book. Even so, it won't count toward a FAC being handed out for an air-gun or shotgun (and personally if I got a shotty it would have to be pump action, though that's illegal just like so many other things, I just prefer a single barrel and sight to two barrels; I'm not even sure if you can fit chokes to a double barrel such as a rifled choke for deer slugs, or whether I'd need something like a .38 rifle to shoot deer, though again honestly I'd prefer a high-power bow/crossbow which currently is right out) I know I've written a bit of an essay here so I'll leave you with a tl;dr.
TL;DR:
- Slingshots can be monsters, you just have to have amazing aim. I wish I could be as good as someone like Bill Hays. I remember seeing and reading about someone taking down a grizzly with just a slingshot and arrow, no fancy pouch, just a nock on the side.
- Chances of me getting a FAC for an airgun/shotgun/surface to air missile
are slim to nil, I might join an archery club and see if anyone there shoots more than bows and could take me out on a range sometime, that could range my chances from slim to nil to slim to less slim. However even though I co-rent with my mother she might not want a firearm in the house, even if I told her (she sometimes thinks I'm a lot younger than I am and treats me that way; maybe it's overprotectiveness) but even if I got the lockbox installed in her (lockable) room and kept the keys on hand she would probably be another spanner in the works. My house is rented also, so I'm not sure how that would affect things.
Too right they can. I have a polymer one that's suspiciously identical to the Hathcock target sniper, only difference is that it's cut from HDPE of something similar rather than resin on a metal frame.
I went ahead and bought one of the Hathcock target snipers (should be here in a few weeks) and will probably rig one with double gold theraband and the other triple gold theraband. The double could be my target practice (probably the HDPE one if I like the target sniper, I paid £40 for it and the shipping anyway so it better be good) and the triple banded one as my hunting slingshot, ttf style as I never liked the idea of OTF. Maybe the "gangster grip" is just my thing. I'll probably get .45 or .50 steel balls for hunting the rabbits as they grow bigger (public side) and it's not like there's any park rangers to spot me, even with my current cattie I've had dogwalkers ask me what I'm doing and I just say "Hunting rabbits" they usually reply "Isn't that slingshot/catapult an offensive weapon and not allowed in public?" "Nope, oddly parliament thinks they're kids toys, I was playing around and shot a small ball (.22) straight through both sides of a double panel door. Parliament can be silly when they bring down bans and it's usually a kneejerk thing to one event" I'll go on to explain about airguns being banned without a FAC here which usually gets a "Really?!" Then go on to say about handguns not being banned here provided you have a FAC in contrast to the rest of the UK which again surprises them. After that they usually go to walk on and I'll leave a parting message just saying I won't be shooting the catapult anywhere near them, their dog or anywhere it could potentially cause harm after which it's usually "cheers" or a friendly wave. Provided you aren't dressed in full camo running about the bush with the slingshot half-drawn; which I've never done; though I've contemplated fixing (I made it when I was 15 so it needs to be made bigger for starters) secondly the only netting I could get then was thin plastic garden netting which would have a tendency to rip so I'll probably get an old BDU or just camo top and bottoms (whichever's cheapest) and make a suit by paracording the thin plastic netting to something like volleyball netting then stitching it down with dental floss or dacron from old crossbow strings. Let it sit in mud/muddy rainwater to remove 'man scent' from it for a day then beat it out so it's clean and get a light, cool undersuit and if it gets too warm in the suit lying down I'll just cut small slits in it for heat to vent out then I just can lie with binoculars, or possibly a thermal scope/camera if I can find a good one for less than £300 to spot close up (less than 10m) in bushes then when I spot a rabbit I'll either see if I can draw lying down (unlikely or slowly move to a single knee 'wedding proposal' position pull back my sling if the quarry is in range and the backstop is good and let fly.
If not I can set 4-5 snares all in visual range ghillie up and sit and play the PlayStation vita for four or so hours lying in wait visually minding my snares every half hour and use some sort of jerry rigged motion detector to let me know if there's something there (set the circuit to an old remote car transmitter then remove the motor/ servo from the body and hook up to a a set of LEDs that are in a circuit to make them flash, pop the lights on the top of the vita and I'm good to go, lazyman style. I still have the dyes for my ghillie suit (green and light brown grassland colours) so I'd buy some jute twine and Hessian and finish it where I've grown, add some paracord slipknot loops or thick rubber bands and I can garnish with reeds and other grass and blend right in. I'd definitely love to jerry rig motion detectors and even snare detectors; I like electronics I made a cascade tube into a night scope at 14 basically asking my physics teacher about lenses, focal lengths and stuff then when I got a DSLR mount on it and finshed it she asked me to bring it in, blacked out the whole class and let everyone have a play with it. I was banned from using electronics in the house for near six months when I was eight as I realised short circuiting a battery generates heat, making lovely holes in the carpet (and my hands).
As for a FAC it's not likely though I plan on getting a thirty pound recurve bow (even though I'm a lefty I draw right handed with a bow), you know one of those modular ones where the limbs bolt onto the riser and joining one of the local archery clubs and if I can get good at that I would have people in my club who potentially has access to a firearm (well it's Belfast, if you want a gun there's always a person who knows a person selling Glock 18s for around 200-300, sometimes as low as 150 if it's 'hot'; or there's the internet where you can get an AR15 delivered to your door for just shy of a grand, courtesy of the Royal Mail (or another courier service)) and if I could go to the range with them and let them see me practice I would have someone to potentially act as guarantor. But still it would be difficult. Rather silly how they preach "You can change your life and everything will be fine once you're on the straight and narrow" even when I got in trouble with the police I was blind drunk and I never tried to fight back or struggle and if I was in a situation where I had no option to fight back after being attacked I would usually move to cripple the attacker (probably either a leg sweep or knee dislocation) then I would run and contact the police immediately even if it meant turning myself in for a night in a cell until it was sorted out and I was seen as the defending party rather than the attacker. There was a situation on the 17th of march where some drunken idiot threw a boot into a rather expensive DSLR of mine. Rather than hand the camera and my bag to a friend of mine and 'sort things out on the spot' I went to the police, even when they basically said "Not my problem, go speak to someone else" (The constable who took my statement on Tuesday advised I put in a complaint about the two officers, though I told him I wouldn't just to keep the police happy) even after that when the perpetrator was still in the immediate area I decided not to hand over my breakable items and make a citizen's arrest and walked all the way to the central station to get things done completely by the book. Even so, it won't count toward a FAC being handed out for an air-gun or shotgun (and personally if I got a shotty it would have to be pump action, though that's illegal just like so many other things, I just prefer a single barrel and sight to two barrels; I'm not even sure if you can fit chokes to a double barrel such as a rifled choke for deer slugs, or whether I'd need something like a .38 rifle to shoot deer, though again honestly I'd prefer a high-power bow/crossbow which currently is right out) I know I've written a bit of an essay here so I'll leave you with a tl;dr.
TL;DR:
- Slingshots can be monsters, you just have to have amazing aim. I wish I could be as good as someone like Bill Hays. I remember seeing and reading about someone taking down a grizzly with just a slingshot and arrow, no fancy pouch, just a nock on the side.
- Chances of me getting a FAC for an airgun/shotgun/surface to air missile
are slim to nil, I might join an archery club and see if anyone there shoots more than bows and could take me out on a range sometime, that could range my chances from slim to nil to slim to less slim. However even though I co-rent with my mother she might not want a firearm in the house, even if I told her (she sometimes thinks I'm a lot younger than I am and treats me that way; maybe it's overprotectiveness) but even if I got the lockbox installed in her (lockable) room and kept the keys on hand she would probably be another spanner in the works. My house is rented also, so I'm not sure how that would affect things.
Last edited:
Well, where I live a person with a criminal record would never be even considered for a membership in our gun club.
And of course, such a person applying for a gun permit for a handgun, rifle or a shotgin would be laughed out of the police station.
Yes, there are people out there that can hit a gnat's bottom on 500 meters with anything, but as you are not him/her, just think of what a rabbit feels when the projectile from your slingshot has taken out one of its eyes. Or broken a leg.
And of course, such a person applying for a gun permit for a handgun, rifle or a shotgin would be laughed out of the police station.
Yes, there are people out there that can hit a gnat's bottom on 500 meters with anything, but as you are not him/her, just think of what a rabbit feels when the projectile from your slingshot has taken out one of its eyes. Or broken a leg.
Last edited:
- Status
