Just to stay a little confusion until I find the relevent link for those with an interest.
Hunting any bird or mammal was prohibited by the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981
Part 1, Section 5 and 11
This was a fair time ago now so it's likely the pros and cons are well buried however, in reply to a previous comment, the Countryside Alliance didn't help because it / we only formed 1997 with the amalgamation of several bodies including the BFSS.
Mike
But I notice none of these bodies gave a hoot while we were trying to fight our corner.
The bow was always the weapon of the poor and surprise surprise nothing has changed.