I recently came across a video of deer hunting with dogs from the US. Please only follow the link if you are not faint hearted. A wild deer is flushed at speed from some woodland by dogs to the delight of two waiting huntsmen. "I GOT HIM JAKE I GOT HIM" shouts one as he pumps three shots into it. The short video ends with its palpitating body on the floor.
This video differs in one key respect to my practice of wild deer management using dogs. I don't shoot the deer I flush. To me that causes massively less suffering to them. By taking dogs into my woodland it's inevitable deer will be flushed out but I see no reason to shoot them.
Unfortunately what I do is now illegal under the Hunting Act on the grounds of cruelty. Nevertheless my supposedly cruel activity can still be conducted with a few modifications supposedly to make it humane.
The courts have confirmed in a case bought against the Quantock Staghounds that deer can still be flushed out but they must all be shot as soon as possible. Judges have ruled that this entails the use of ten rifles to shoot the entire herd. Imagine the above video with ten deer slaughtered rather than one.
In a 2009 Parliamentary briefing the League Against Cruel Sports with full knowledge of this ruling that 'what the Hunting Act provides for is humane pest control'.
In a recent statement Alan Kirby from Protect Our Wild Animals laid bare the hypocritical reasons for the support of anti hunters for this form of wildlife slaughter. Saying that it 'can be seen as necessary' he went on 'because it's there, we need it and are stuck with it for the forseeable.' (sic)
Gunning down running deer in this manner is barbaric and cruel. To say it is necessary because it is the law is a deeply and unprincipled stance. The law is most clearly an ass.
I manage deer on my land by flushing them and then NOT shooting them. My methods are based on non lethal dispersal and I maintain a blooming ecosystem without killing wildlife. It is an utter nonsense that I should be made a criminal for this. There are often other kinder solutions to wildlife issues than reaching for a gun and blasting it to hell.
It's about time the anti Hunting Fraternity recognised what an incompetent mess the Hunting Act is and campaigned for its reform or replacement.