Fieldsports News

When someone in Nevada, USA, reports a bear – perhaps an animal going through their trash – the department of wildlife now uses dogs to scare it away. Karelian bear dogs originate from Finland, where they were bred for this purpose. They don’t try to kill bears but bark at them and nip them until […]

A six year-old tigress that killed 13 people in western India has been shot. A forestry department patrol team staked out a track after receiving reports of the tigress’s presence. They fired a tranquilliser dart at the animal. It charged the patrol’s vehicle and was killed by a single shot from a distance of between […]

Hares are being found dead of disease across the UK. The lead scientist on the outbreak, Dr Diana Bell of the University of East Anglia, says she is receiving multiple reports of hare deaths, “from Scotland, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Bath, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex to name but a few locations often reporting several deaths at each site. […]

Hunters heading to Scotland with firearms are being prevented from boarding flights – and airlines are blaming the UK’s stringent gun laws. A sudden and unannounced ban on flying passengers who are carrying hunting rifles has hit passengers on airlines including Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines. According to Lufthansa’s German website, the airline is no longer […]

Shooting’s popularity in the UK is growing. Following a significant downturn in certificate numbers after the Dunblane massacre in 1996, both gun owner numbers and gun numbers have been growing.  There are 1.35 million licensed shotguns in the UK as at 31 March 2017; an increase of 1% compared with the previous year. With 560,000 […]

The Government has seen off a small group of MPs – Karin Smyth, Louise Haigh, Vicky Foxtrot – who tried to sneak in a ban on children using airguns. The Government already wants to ban .50cal rifles and Mars action rifles because it believes that the almost zero criminal activity from legal gun owners is […]

The Welsh Environment Minister has written to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) stating that the Labour Government in Wales “does not support commercial pheasant shooting or the breeding of gamebirds”, because of “ethical issues”. If the Welsh Government pushes through a law on this, it will mean the end of famous shoots such as Brigands and […]

It looks like Namibia is banning trophy photos on social media. Wildlife populations in Namibia are booming thanks to hunting. However, the country is scared of the negatve publicity that trophy photos generate in the wider media. This letter is from the Namibia Environment and Tourism Department, and demands big game hunters do not post […]

Did animal rights activists stage the death of Fred? On 15th February 2018, BBC presenter Chris Packham released a film on YouTube suggesting that a golden eagle he calls Fred, hatched last year, was killed by a gamekeeper. Its satellite tag, maybe still attached to the eagle carcase, was apparently dumped in the North Sea. […]

The Home Office may be about to attempt to force gun owners to pay their GPs for filling out an ‘initial medical records check’ and adding a marker to medical records. This is likely to be accompanied by a change in guidance to the police making it a requirement that an applicant’s GP responds before […]

Oil is good for woodcock. Birds returning to Europe and Asia from the UK encountered strong easterly winds last week. This picture posted on the North Sea Bird Club Facebook page shows them breaking their journey on the Tartan oil platform which lies midway between Aberdeen and the coast of Norway.

The home nations picked up a remarkable collection of medals in rifle shooting events at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 – but Commonwealth domination goes to India, followed by host nation Australia. In the Queen’s Prize Pairs, England’s Parag Patel and David Luckman take gold, Chris Watson and Gareth Morris of Wales silver and […]

Kenya has taken the first steps towards bringing back hunting. Following a conference in the European Parliament held by Africa’s hunting nations – which have the bulk of Africa’s wildlife – Africa’s non-hunting nations are considering big game hunting as a method for reintroducing species that have been wiped out since their bans. Work on […]

British bird charity the RSPB is to back off from wildlife crime cases after the police told RSPB that its actions could jeopardise prosecutions. Newly-released documents seen by The Times newspaper reveal the  Police predict the RSPB would “kick and scream” if excluded from investigations into crimes such as the suspected poisoning, trapping and shooting […]