Shooting bird (usually) not necessary - so don't do it

Problem is that these birds (and deer too) aren't domesticated and mostly wouldn't adapt to being kept in a barn. Catching fish is not necessary either from the PoV of keeping yourself or your possessions safe, but I'd be prepared to bet everything I own that you've had a fish supper at some point in your life. ;-)

Fair enough Shambles, I wasn't aware of that. And I'd agree that you shouldn't kill what you're not going to eat (unless it's a serious pest/predator). But I see no problem with taking pleasure in hunting effectively - basically pleasure in a job well done.

Paul, you're right about these problems, and I think the Countryside Alliance *do* worry about this. It's only "unremarked" by Westminster, where it's not enough of a vote-loser for the buggers to do anything (like provide proper transport links for rural communities).

As you say though, it's hard to fix. Given the current state of the agricultural economy, an awful lot of farmers have realised that leisure activities are a profitable sideline (often subsidising the main business of farming which may be break-even at best). If you axe these profitable activities, the farmers may well go under. For all the farmers that lost their livelihoods during foot-and-mouth, in a bunch of cases itwasn't foot-and-mouth itself that killed them, it was lack of tourists. And lack of tourists also killed off a whole lot of other rural businesses.

Graham.