what would be your view??

[Dexter's Shed]

signs have been erected in the woods, long before us plot holders arrived, so a few more wont hurt anyone's feelings, the previous owner, that run a pheasant shoot on the whole wood, placed warning "wild boar" signs up along the public footpath, along with 24hr shooting for pest control signs, to keep dog walkers on the path, a plot holder at the back of the woods has just had around 150mtrs of the footpath fenced, to stop the public, or should I say "DOGGERS" as that's what they were, straying into his woods and leaving their rubber friends behind, it looks very neat and tidy now, and hopefully each plot holder will follow suit, including me as I have the very end of it running down the side of my boundary.

had the resident shooter just wanted to walk our woods by himself, then I probably as Im sure the other owners would too, have given him permission, as he has permission to shoot the fields in front, we could of exchanged shooting permissions, but its the fact that he wanted to run pheasant shoots within our woods, placing pheasant pens down, and multiple feeders, and then selling shooting days, which can cost £££££'s to attend, he would then have beaters and dogs walking across our plots, people we don't know, yes he would be making a tidy profit, and us, he promised us a bottle of whiskey once a year!!!!!!!

[oldclaypaws]

A couple of woods near us have shoots, and I know its big business. One farmer with 50 acres makes about £40,000 p.a from his part time shoot.

I had a quick browse to ascertain what people pay and found Powis Castle, saying

"We currently have the following days available for full teams of 6-10 Guns. The days can be varied from 150 to 300 + birds per day and at a cost of £31+vat per bird." - that means 300 birds will cost you over £11,160 for one day.

A bottle of whisky? Maybe a case of 50 yr old McCallan.

I was asked if the beaters could come through my wood to displace any survivors. I declined. We are an official pheasant refugee camp. Normally disturb a couple walking through, so an air rifle is tempting but haven't taken the plunge yet, not sure I've got that killer instinct.

[Dexter's Shed]

an air rifle, obviously you have never read, Danny champion of the world, raisins and paper cones

[oldclaypaws]

When I first read that Dexter, it made absolutely no sense and I thought you'd lost it. Deciding to give you the benefit of the doubt I googled 'Danny, Champion of the world', and to my surprise found you are making perfect sense referring to the Roald Dahl book. Sounds like quite a 'ripping yarn', decidedly non-PC, in the good old days when children were allowed to be irresponsible as part of growing up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny,_the_Champion_of_the_World

[Dexter's Shed]

my wife gave me the book to read a couple of years ago, and then a few months later I saw and bought the dvd, even at my age, its a lovely film to watch

[Stephen1]

I only hope nobody finds a snozberry in their wood... Roald Dahl - you can't get much further to the right of non-PC! Ever seen a copy of Roald Dahl's "My Uncle Oswald"?

When I first read that Dexter, it made absolutely no sense and I thought you'd lost it. Deciding to give you the benefit of the doubt I googled 'Danny, Champion of the world', and to my surprise found you are making perfect sense referring to the Roald Dahl book. Sounds like quite a 'ripping yarn', decidedly non-PC, in the good old days when children were allowed to be irresponsible as part of growing up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny,_the_Champion_of_the_World

[Stephen1]

There's no way I'd tolerate this! First thing I would do is a letter to the local police station stating that nobody but yourself has permission to shoot on your land - with a clear map. This arrogant chancer then needs to be handed a notice to the same effect. Hopefully he won't risk a charge of armed trespass if he needs his gun for his income - but unfortunately it's not that simple. The reason I suggest a letter to the police is that armed trespass is very difficult to prove, and the CPS doesn't like to try and run with it. Basically the accused just has to say but you gave him permission - and then the onus is on you to prove you didn't because people are innocent until proven guilty. He doesn't have to prove his innocence - but you have to prove his guilt i.e. you have to prove you didn't give him permission (even in conversation) - which is of course impossible! The only way you can get anywhere is if the police already have a letter to the effect that nobody has permission Before - preferably long before - an incident takes place.

BTW I think people are massively overestimating the 'profit' that can be made on a small shoot - the costs are involved are much greater than people might expect. Figures quoted look much closer to turnover than profit. What would 50acres of woodland be worth if you could make £40,000 a year as a part time venture on it? But as I said I wouldn't put up with this idiot for a day longer than you need to.

I would speak to him about it ASAP - the longer he thinks he can carry on as before the more disappointed, and potentially spiteful, he will be when you make your position clear. Be careful though photographs of him on your land with his gun prove nothing - he can always say you said he could - even getting a solicitor to notarise and send a letter to his home address registered mail is no proof - he can always say you changed your mind and spoke to him saying he could at a later date. The police don't like to get involved in this sort of stuff because in this statistics driven world we live in they get little out of it in terms of clear ups/successful prosecutions because as I say the CPS usually decide not to proceed as armed trespass is so hard to prove - it's always ultimately your word against his - people know this and play this game. Good Luck!