Crop and Livestock damage in Wicklow/Dublin area!

ivanthehunter

Are you suffering crop damage from pests ?
Are your live stock being attacked by fox or mink ?
Is your Tree plantation being destroyed by squirrels ?
Does your farm/factory suffer from high infestation of rats ?
How many hens did you loose to the fox ?
Do you realize that mink are destroying game birds (that you might want to shoot yourself) numbers and even attacking lambs ?
Do you know that Grey squirrels are destroying our deciduous forestry ?
Did you know that Grey squirrels and magpies are not indigenous to Ireland and every year they kill large numbers of song bird chicks ?

Do you realise that there is a group of people in society that are willing to help farmers and other land owners that suffer from these problems. These people have all been scrutinized by the Garda and have been deemed safe and trust worthy, in fact trust worthy enough to own firearms.....

Who are they?
ANS:They're the shooting, hunting & trapping community.

Shooters, hunters and trappers in Ireland are only too willing to help with these types of pest problems. All too often land owners reject approaches by this group, to allow them access to shoot and trap vermin, which in most cases will actually befit the farmer.


These shooters and trappers/hunters go to an awful lot of trouble and hassle to obtain their firearms and licences, never mind the cost of ammunition, traps, nets, firearms and the cost/time of traveling to such places and hours spent training on a shooting range with paper targets.

99.9% of all shooters have insurance, which BTW they volunteer to purchase or it is requested by their Gun club or their Sporting club. Countryside alliance is one of the better known and when you pay your €60 you are covered for all legal county side activities... Shooting, trapping, ferreting, hunting with hounds, fishing, walking, horse riding and much more......

So next time a chap comes a knocking remember that he could be of befit to you and your farm. He could be called upon to help at special occasions or you could ask him to report any strange sightings, dead animals or broken fences.
Just see if he has insurance! then you (the land owner) can rest easy!!

Why did i stick up this post ? Well because i too am a shooter/trapper. I have permission to shoot & trap on a lot of land but most of it is very far away from the three rock mountain in Dublin. I have permission in tipp, mayo, meath, west meath, kildare, leitrim, etc etc but i only have a few acres of permission where i live :eek: 80 acre TBH. Its seems a bit crazy to me to drive hundreds of mile and past loads land! Not very environmentally friendly! is it ?

It all seems to boil down to a general fear of anything that resembles a shot gun or a rifle and to be honest, these concerns are amplified around Dublin.
Local farmers say no because they fear a stray bullet might hit a cow or even a human.

I don't know the actual figures but i would think that accidental deaths by firearms are extremely low, perhaps 1 person per year or even every 5 years.

So why all the fear...... IMO its too many movies and too many gang land shooting that give firearms a bad rep perhaps. Remember that there are over 220,000 legally held firearms in Ireland and as such they never cause any trouble.

ANYWAY:-
PM me if you need any vermin shot and you live in the dub/wick area because i know a few good honest chaps in the Dublin mountains who'd jump at the chance to help out their countryside brethren.

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