Posted By andymak As far as I am aware there are no such rules and regs on organised shoots on private land. As long as the shoot organiser has taken reasonable steps to preserve life and limb of those working for the shoot and of those likely to be in the vacinity there is I think very little that can be done. Obviously there are rules around firearms and licensing which must be obeyed, but I can think of nothing that will be of help to you. It would be worth approaching the land owners / shoot organisers to discuss your concerns with them, most I would be sure will be understanding and sympathetic. I'm not a pheasant plucker, I'm the pheasant pluckers mate, I'm sitting plucking pheasants 'cause the pheasant pluckers late!

Posted By sagalout Perhaps i should have included the follwoing in my first post. An organised shoot is an "undertaking" and as such is subject to all usual laws and regs. It will almost certainly employ someone to organise and prepare including in the case of a pheasant shoot, the rearing of birds. HASAWA will apply just as it does for any undertaking. (Ooh did I mean that pun about shoots and undertaking?)

Posted By sagalout One of the fundamental codes of behaviour when using a shotgun is: "Before you fire your shotgun, consider where the shot will go, allowing for possible ricochets. Do not fire at quarry unless you are sure it is within range and ensure you know what is behind it."

Posted By Merv Newman Pheasant Casserole 4 pheasants quartered 25 gm flour 25 gm butter or maragarine 1 onion chopped 50 gm golden raisins 50 gm chili sauce 25 gm water 25 gm brown sugar 2 TBS. Worchesershire sauce 1 fat garlic clove, crushed or choped Glass (100 gm) red wine (rest of bottle may be drunk later. Or as soon as you like) 500 gm can pitted dark sweet cherries, drained Dust pheasants with flour. Melt butter in a heavy frying pan. Brown birds thoroughly. Place pheasants in a deep casserole. In the same frying pan, combine onion, raisins, chili sauce, water, brown sugar, Worchestershire sauce and garlic; boil briefly, scraping browned meat from bottom and sides of pan; pour over peasants. Bake covered, in a moderately slow oven (180 degrees) for 1 1/2 hours. remove cover; add sherry and cherries. Continue baking 20 minutes longer. To serve transfer to a deep serving dish. This works well with wild rice and a fresh green vegetable. Bon Appetite!!and Happy Christmas Something fairly heavy for the cooking and drinkinng. Maybe a Burgundy such as Nuits St George or even a Volnay from a bit further south ? Have a nice weekend Merv

Posted By Merv Newman Sorry, that should have been "pour it over the PHEASANTS" Merv

Posted By Geoff Parkinson Driven shooting and H&S have become a 'high focus' topic lately. As all driven shoots require beaters - who are paid in money or kind - the activity creates an employee and employer situation. Therefore, the Management Regs etc all apply. If you contact the Landowner and ask for the details of the Shoot Captain, he/she should be able to furnish you with all the necessary risk assessments etc for you to view and comment on. It is possible that the assessments haven't been done, in which case I suggest you make a fuss and insist (as they are now a statutory duty) are completed. If correctly done all your concerns should be addressed. Incidentally, the Firearms Act 1968 lays down specific minimum distances that you may shoot from a public highway, thoroughfare, footpath etc, but also carries a significant caveat that these distances are only acceptable if the discharge of ther firearm does not cause a nuisance to others. This might prove useful to you to deal with the children being scared issue that you mentioned. Most shoots are desperate to raise thier profile and assist in building good PR links wherever possible, so you should be OK. This information is based on first-hand experience, and I hasten to add, the shoot that I participate in is fully H&S compliant and we recently went through the assessment process etc:-)

Posted By Geoff Parkinson Jim none of my post is intended to infer an abrupt approach. However, if you get an abrupt brush-off from the Shoot Captain, mentioning the Firearms Act etc will make him realise you require 'proper' answers.

Posted By Renny Thomson Merv, I like the contents of your recipie, now all I need are the pheasants. Just one comment.... I though you were more of a lbs and oz. era than this metric stuff :-)

Posted By Merv Newman Actually I can talk to you in Newtons, or Mega-pascals, if you like. (whats the rating of your overhead crane ?) And I hate it when newspapers use "m" instead of "M" for mega. Remember, its K,M,G,T,P : Kiss My Giant Turtle, Pet. (10 to the plus fifteen)(ginormous) If you want it the other way (some do) m, mu, p, f, a : mike's mum picked a feminine 'at (10 to the minus 15)(rather dinky) Though I do remember calculating water hardness in Grains per Gallon (imperial, not US) And let's all have a drink for Raemur on his 80th birthday ! (though we may be a degree late) And, going back to the orginal theme of this thread, "good shots do it on full choke" Ah well, "back to threading those damn beads" Merv (19h30 and on his way to becoming thoroughly metricated)

Posted By Geoff Parkinson Brett, tread carefully with the 'careful word' approach. One thing it doesn't do is produce a log of what's gone on. If an accident happens, and you can't prove you have done anything about it (but you state you knew the shot fell over the boundary) it may may you 'percentage liable'. I'm not saying serve written notice on people, but try to back up things in writing - in a friedly manner of course :-)

Posted By Merv Newman Paul, lets go through it : 10-3 is milli 10-6 is micro 10-9 is pico 10-12 is femto 10-15 is atto My brain doesn't go beyond that. Going up : 10+3 is Kilo 10+6 is Mega 10+9 is Giga 10+12 is Terra 10+15 is Petra Which is where my brain actually goes boingggg Sorry Merv (brain hurting)

Posted By Paul Leadbetter Merv My version goes: 10-3 milli 10-6 micro 10-9 nano 10-12 pico 10-15 femto 10-18 atto 10-21 zepto 10-24 yocto although I don't worry too much about anything less than nano. Paul

Posted By Merv Newman GJB you could be right. Zebulon was the youngest and therefore the smallest. Or was that Zebedee. Boing I think this thread has run it's course. it is now descending into coarse humour and sexual innuendo. The monitors should lock it. And, of course, delete this response within the following 10 seconds. Merv (Mini-bar is now empty)