How to go about reporting poaching?

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FlaxenPony05

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Out on our hack today we heard numerous gunshots, which were pretty loud so we guessed they were quite close to us, but we couldn't tell where! There was lots of upset with the birds, and we saw a dead pigeon on the floor (nice :(). There are loads of small wooded areas on our hacking route which is why we couldn't tell where these people were, and we were a bit cautious to go back into the woods in case they were in there (didn't particularly want to get accidentally shot!). We could hear the gunshots back on the yard too.

I have seen poachers around these parts before, they had lurcher dogs with them and were messing about in the little wooded areas. So I was wondering, do I report the suspected poaching to the police, or is there some special poaching hotline?! One thing that makes me hesitate to report it, is that I'm worried that they might cut off the woods so the poachers can't get in, but that means that we wouldn't be able to get in either...any ideas?

It's not particularly nice being out on a hack and being worried that you're going to potentially come across them, which is why I want to do something about it.
 
I would have also been upset by this and would ring the police on the non emergency number, a lot of forces have a wildlife officer as well. What county are you in?
 
What makes you think they are poachers?

who owns the land?

there is nothing that lives in a wood that you would use a lurcher to catch-a lurcher is for working in open spaces-they cannot use their speed to good effect in a wooded area they tend to go too fast and crash.

most land owners allow guns to shoot pigeons as they are classed as vermin.

so speak to the land owner to find out if people have permission to be there. police will have no interest in poaching anyway.
 
Sorry, cross posted with Twiggy. My friend has a lurcher that he takes shooting with him as it will retrieve so could just be pigeon shooting and have dogs with them. I would try and speak to the land owner.
 
I would check with the land owner .
Lots of LOers let pidgeon shooters on to control pidgeons .
It's perfectly legal .
Pidgeons are a pest and they often welcome help getting the numbers down.
 
There used to be a law against shooting live game of any kind on a Sunday (you could shoot clays though), I'm not sure whether it still applies. But really, that is possibly the only infringement, I doubt poachers would draw attention to themselves by shooting.
 
JillA said:
There used to be a law against shooting live game of any kind on a Sunday (you could shoot clays though), I'm not sure whether it still applies. But really, that is possibly the only infringement, I doubt poachers would draw attention to themselves by shooting.
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Don't think that ever applied to vermin.
 
Agree with Twiggy, lurchers are useless in woods. Also some of people have permission to use lurchers on open ground, so not everyone is a poacher. Pigeons are vermin and can be shot anytime with the landowners permission of course.

Also why were they discharging their guns recklessly? Just cos you can hear it, doesn't make it reckless. I have had to ride through a shoot as it was either side of a by way, they were right next to me. Doesn't make them reckless. Just doing their hobby the same as me.
 
Check with the landowner first.
It is an offence to discharge a firearm across a public footpath or bridleway. Shooters must have special regard for the safety of riders and their horses.
Please see the Code of Good Shooting Practice.
 
Why would you run straight to the feds and not take this up with the land owner first? Police rock up expecting to "blat some baddies", when all it needed was a knock on the door or call to the land owner to decide the next course of action; probably only to find out that whoever it was shooting was entitled to be there in the first place for a legitimate reason.

"Hi I heard some shots on your land on (date, time, location) and wasn't sure if they're supposed to be there, if they are could you let them know/remind them we hack around here and just to be aware" you can edit that and converse as required.
 
twiggy2 said:
What makes you think they are poachers?

who owns the land?

there is nothing that lives in a wood that you would use a lurcher to catch-a lurcher is for working in open spaces-they cannot use their speed to good effect in a wooded area they tend to go too fast and crash.

most land owners allow guns to shoot pigeons as they are classed as vermin.

so speak to the land owner to find out if people have permission to be there. police will have no interest in poaching anyway.
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I have very limited knowledge regarding shooting so made the assumption that it was poachers, certain that it wasn't an organised shoot with gundogs though, which made me lean towards (illegal?) shooting. I didn't know that you could shoot pigeons and that some landowners let people on to do just that, so yes, could have been that.

We are in the Kent/London border. This isn't really an area where people go out in organised shooting parties. I'm hoping I'm not leapt on here, but there is a travelling community right next to where we hack who I've seen shooting in the woods with lurchers (I know that lurchers aren't ideal for retrieving, never said that they were being used in the shoot, was just pointing out that those were the dogs that were there)- and I know that they were shooting because I actually asked where the rest of the group were as I didn't want to run into them.

Regarding asking the landowner (which is a good idea)- don't have a clue who it is, so not sure how to go about doing that.
 
RAF Rider said:
Why would you run straight to the feds and not take this up with the land owner first? Police rock up expecting to "blat some baddies", when all it needed was a knock on the door or call to the land owner to decide the next course of action; probably only to find out that whoever it was shooting was entitled to be there in the first place for a legitimate reason.

"Hi I heard some shots on your land on (date, time, location) and wasn't sure if they're supposed to be there, if they are could you let them know/remind them we hack around here and just to be aware" you can edit that and converse as required.
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I've never been in this situation before so don't know how to deal with it, which is why I was asking. Thank you for your post. As I said above, I don't know who the landowner is- there aren't any obvious farm buildings nearby.
 
FlaxenPony05 said:
I have very limited knowledge regarding shooting so made the assumption that it was poachers, certain that it wasn't an organised shoot with gundogs though, which made me lean towards (illegal?) shooting. I didn't know that you could shoot pigeons and that some landowners let people on to do just that, so yes, could have been that.

We are in the Kent/London border. This isn't really an area where people go out in organised shooting parties. I'm hoping I'm not leapt on here, but there is a travelling community right next to where we hack who I've seen shooting in the woods with lurchers (I know that lurchers aren't ideal for retrieving, never said that they were being used in the shoot, was just pointing out that those were the dogs that were there)- and I know that they were shooting because I actually asked where the rest of the group were as I didn't want to run into them.

Regarding asking the landowner (which is a good idea)- don't have a clue who it is, so not sure how to go about doing that.
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To find out the landowner, ask in the nearest pub and/or farmhouse.
 
Shooting season is open. My YO allows a couple of blokes to casually shoot bunnies and pigeons, as long as you have the landowner's permission, there's no reason you can't go shooting as long as it's with due care and attention. Do find out if there are people officially shooting before contacting the police.
 
If your not in an area where shooting for game is going on it makes even more unlikely it's poaching because there won't be a great deal to poach .
 
Lots and lots of shooting of pigeons and bunnies around here (Sussex) at the moment.

Have had a few incidences with ponies spooking and shooters not being aware of bridleways on the farmer's land, but always been cleared up with a few polite words. Understand, however, if you don't know the area and landowners, etc. it can be a bit intimidating to go have a chat with strangers with guns. Nevertheless worth finding out what's going on politely first.

As said higher up, unlikely to be poaching if there's nothing to poach in the area. Also unlikely to be poaching anywhere so obvious. Some poaching of deer in a park near me and they are pretty discrete about it!
 
We've had shooting going on round this way too, as it was coming from the woods I assumed it was people potting pigeons. Bit of a pain though as we had to avoid the bridleway through the woods as we weren't sure where they were and didn't want a bullet up the bum.:p
 
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