Flighting with intent
Am I allowed to shoot pigeons that are flighting over land where they’re not feeding?
Peter says:
Because we shoot pigeons all year round we are covered by the rules of the General Licence, which says we can protect crops, provided all the other “non-lethal” means have been tried. This could mean clapping your hands to scare pigeons off a crop, and then shooting them if they return, or using scarecrows and gas guns to try and push the pigeons away.
Whether you can shoot a pigeon on the flightline to a crop where it intends to do damage has never been tested, nor has killing them on stubbles. Although, I would presume that the pigeons would come within the realms of an open season, anyway.