“Game” Shooting
Note: “Game shooting” is a euphemism for animal shooting operations. It’s not a game; it’s murder.
According to the hunt scum body in charge of regulating bird shooters, there are over 965 gun clubs in Ireland, making this blood sport like the largest in the country. Ducks, Pheasants, Woodcocks and other birds are the targets of choice here, in the case of pheasants they are reared and enslaved for hunting.
There are two main types of shooting operations in Ireland: “rough” shooting and “driven” shooting. We are sure they would tell us of about 1000 other methods used with fancy jargon, but these are the two main styles we have observed. Both forms involve shooting birds generally (sometimes foxes, we will get to this).
Rough shooting essentially means humans and dogs walk across or around a farm or “game reserve” (hunting area) in search of somebody to shoot. Shooters will shoot birds as they appear, it can be an unpredictable practice with a smaller kill count (2-4 murdered birds). Dogs are used to retrieve the dead bodies. This is the preferred method of shooting for many gun clubs which can quickly be done alone or in small numbers.
Driven shooting is substantially different. In a driven shoot, “beaters” and dogs are used to beat a wooded area or cover to flush out any nonhumans animals who may be dwelling there. They flush the birds in the direction of rifle-wielding “hunters” who will then open fire on them. This is less common in Ireland; however, human people have observed it. They will generally use managed lands (i.e. “game sanctuary” or “game reserve”). We have seen many estates advertising “hunting holidays” involving large sums of money and driven shoots.
The people in charge of rearing and enslaving the pheasants and other birds are known as “gamekeepers” (bird exploiters/enslavers). Pheasants are not native to Ireland; they come from South East Asia, so they are not adequately able to adapt against predators once released by their enslaver. This is where the “gamekeeper” comes in. The two main threats to their blood-money are foxes and raptors (birds of prey); raptors are illegal to interfere with in any way, however, they will often try to kill them anyway. Bird enslavers will use traps, poison bait, snares and arrange driven fox shoots in the offseason to “keep predator numbers down”. Many crimes against birds of prey, including mass murders, have been reported over the last ten years; however, no prosecutions have happened.
Similar to “fox hunting”, this form of murder has no place in Irish society, and we must collectively stop this from happening.
Shooting season:
Pheasants": Nov 1st – Jan 31st
Red-Legged Partridges: Nov 1st – Jan 31st
Red Grouses Sep: 1st – Sep 30th