Hare's in Ireland

dhayes21

Can someone please clarify for me........ Is it legal to shoot hare's in Ireland? Is there a season or are they classed the same as rabbits? I'm using a .22 CZ Brno........... Anyone I ask can't give me a straight answer & I was hoping to get one as I have come across about 8 in the past week.

Thanks

dos29

dont quote me on this, but i THINK..... there is a season, but they have to be hunted with shotgun.
someone a lot more in the know will surely be along to give a definative answer.

jwshooter

dhayes21 wrote: »

Can someone please clarify for me........ Is it legal to shoot hare's in Ireland? Is there a season or are they classed the same as rabbits? I'm using a .22 CZ Brno........... Anyone I ask can't give me a straight answer & I was hoping to get one as I have come across about 8 in the past week.

Thanks

i have shot more or less every thing that has walked crawled or flown in ireland except hare s the country is not stuffed with them and there a noble animal

clivej

Seem to be more hares than rabbits around these parts.

kerryman12

the place for hares is Kildare they are huge up there - monsters

jwshooter

kerryman12 wrote: »

the place for hares is Kildare they are huge up there - monsters

as are most things

fish slapped

As a lillywhite (monster;)she tells ya everything:eek:) living in biffo land I can say yep lots of em and bigg buggers to . I think the season is from sept to feb , but not sure. and some areas here are overrun. there are places in Ireland where their protected.perhaps one of the Mod.'s would know more.

It wasn't me!

I'm also fairly sure dos29 is correct in saying you can't shoot them with a rifle, shotgun only, and the season is September to February as far as I recall.

Mellor

Its not all of september, its the 26th

Hares

The period beginning on the 26th day of September in each year and ending on the 28th day of February in the year immediately following that year.

Shooting with firearms; coursing at regulated coursing matches; hunting with packs of beagles and harriers

Throughout the State exclusive of the townlands of North East Slob, North West Slob, Big Island, Beggerin Island and The Raven, in the county of Wexford.




I couldn't find reference to the part that stipulates shotgun only, but I found where it says thats hares are the only protected mammel you can shoot with a shotgun. And that the minster may make a list of acceptable gund and calibers (just couldn't find it). I suspect it may be with the document that say only 22-250 and above for deer, anybody know??

fathersymes

There is a lot of superstition surrounding hares, such as restless spirits inhabiting them etc. I've only ever shot one and thankfully stone dead as they can cry terribly when injured. No other animal in Ireland seems to evoke such feelings in people.

johnfaul

id shoot most things but would never shoot a hare

fish slapped

Lad's , To be honest , our ignorance here is alarming and as shooters and hunters we owe it to our the animal we hunt and ourselves to know these things . I know the phrasing used in a lot of these wildlife acts etc. is a little on the obscure side but surly there must be something or some one that can explain it in layman's terms. This I fear only strengthens the case for the continental situation where you spend a year studying and being tested before you can licence a gun :eek:.

Red Renard

johnfaul wrote: »

id shoot most things but would never shoot a hare

YouTube-Wild hares at Altcar. Have a look lads, fine creature.

meathstevie

Personally I do shoot hares ( in very limited quantities, 2 or 3 a season ) and they actually are plentifull in the part of Meath were I live. I think people seriously underestimate the amount of hares out there.

Most industrial estates around Dublin that have a bit of greenery for example are bulging with them and around there it's not the law abiding hunter ( be it with dogs or shotgun ) that tends to get them.

Having said that they do have a preference for grassland and another good place to find them is raised bogs.

Da Frog

Let's keep in mind that a few females ar still pregnant until mid October. They will mate again around beginning of January.

The good Season is from 15 October to end of December. The hunt with Beagles is fantastic



Shooting this noble animal with a rifle sitting on his back is a bit a lack of respect from my point of view. Hares can be great craic to hunt

Be careful don't shoot after 40 meters as they carry easely a few pellets and then bleed to death a few hundred meters further

Da Frog

Da Frog

Ok that's all

bunny shooter

In my area nobody I know shoots hares, even in season with a shotgun, few boyos poach 'em alright at apparently €70 each alive for the greyhound trainers :mad:

Vegeta

fish slapped wrote: »

Lad's , To be honest , our ignorance here is alarming and as shooters and hunters we owe it to our the animal we hunt and ourselves to know these things . I know the phrasing used in a lot of these wildlife acts etc. is a little on the obscure side but surly there must be something or some one that can explain it in layman's terms. This I fear only strengthens the case for the continental situation where you spend a year studying and being tested before you can licence a gun :eek:.

Mellor has it spot on

as is my understanding you can not shoot any protected animal with a rifle (deer, hare etc etc) unless you have permission to do so

So the season is out lined above and its shotgun only, that's as lay as it gets

Personally its not something I hunt but out pheasant shooting before our springer caught one in long rushes. Was shocked the dog managed it.

fish slapped

The reason I am so keen to find out is because I have a farmer going Bananas over the amount of hare's on his land and they love to eat his maze crops. Went down with him to have a look and there were hares running along side the jeep like pets. In one corner of a field we counted 28, they're in the other field as well . Now this new ground for me and nobody else has permission to shoot it, so as you can see I've either a lot of Fun ahead or a lot of heart ache. Any ideas

Mellor

fish slapped wrote: »

Lad's , To be honest , our ignorance here is alarming and as shooters and hunters we owe it to our the animal we hunt and ourselves to know these things . I know the phrasing used in a lot of these wildlife acts etc. is a little on the obscure side but surly there must be something or some one that can explain it in layman's terms. This I fear only strengthens the case for the continental situation where you spend a year studying and being tested before you can licence a gun :eek:.

To be honest, I wouldn't agree with your comments on ignorance.
I agree that we should know all the legalities regarding our quarry, but the reason few here know is because they simply don't shoot them. So to call people who have no interest in shooting Hares ignorant is a bit much imo.

As for you're field, you will have to wait 8 weeks and get the shotgun out

fish slapped

The post quoted above was not meant to cause offence nor was it directed at any individual.

thehair

johnfaul wrote: »

id shoot most things but would never shoot a hare

+1 with the above

BryanL

Hares can be shot with a rifle if you get a section 42 licence.
Da Frog are you saying Irish Hares are not pregnant for only 10 weeks in any one year!!!!!
could you give us a link that shows where irish Hares are pregnant over such a range of time. rabbits wouldn't match those breeding times.
Bryan

fish slapped

Thanks Bryanl, It looks like thats the road I'll have to go as he is suffering serious crop loss. Do you happen to know the proceedure to get a section 42 for hares?

BryanL

land owner needs to apply for it

http://www.npws.ie/en/WildlifePlanningtheLaw/Licences/StoppingDamagetoFloraandFaunabyWildAnimals/

whitser

can shoot them in season alright. i've shot them in the past, but stopped after hitting one that got away, spent hours looking for him but the he was gone too far for the dog,felt **** about it for days. that was about 10 yrs ago, havent pointed a gun at one since. i'll hunt them alright with hounds but they never(not yet any way) catch, just good hunt off him.
north county dublin if bursting with them, every where.

Da Frog

BryanL wrote: »

Hares can be shot with a rifle if you get a section 42 licence.
Da Frog are you saying Irish Hares are not pregnant for only 10 weeks in any one year!!!!!
could you give us a link that shows where irish Hares are pregnant over such a range of time. rabbits wouldn't match those breeding times.
Bryan

BryanL wrote: »

Hares can be shot with a rifle if you get a section 42 licence.
Da Frog are you saying Irish Hares are not pregnant for only 10 weeks in any one year!!!!!
could you give us a link that shows where irish Hares are pregnant over such a range of time. rabbits wouldn't match those breeding times.
Bryan

they reproduce and take care of litters 3 times a year. 90 % of females are pregnant from April-May onwards but some have started in January ( 10-20 % ). Females will give birth until late august and a few ( around 10 % ) are delivering in September.

These details are important when you want to increase your population but if you want to low down your numbers then i'd say you don't care....:(.


Also you may be aware that the Hare is able to superfetation. that means that a female can get inseminated by a male while still pregnant with another litter. the uterus stocks the new foetus and starts developping it when ready ...

Da Frog

Couldn't find sources about ireland. I think there is no study on this but rabbits give bigger litters and the pregnancy time is way shorter.

meathstevie

I'd say we all have an "ignorant" side. I for example have no interest nor access to geese shooting so I've never bothered getting my knowledge of them up to scratch nor do I know the exact seasons. As said above about hares, someone who has no hunting interest in them probably doesn't bother knowing about open and closed seasons and permitted methods which is fair enough in my books if you don't hunt them anyway.

whitser

an other thing to keep in mind when hunting hares...who ever kills it carries it. you have a full grown hare in your bag it gets very fcuking heavy when walking the fields.

Red Renard

I read yesterday that the Ulster Wildlife Trust has warned that the Irish
hare could face extinction unless action is taken to cheek the spread of an invader from Europe!

New research has shown thousands of European hares - known locally as
the brown hare - were now present in mid-Ulster and west Tyrone.
It generally out-competed and interbred with the native hares causing their extinction. "If unchecked in about 25 yeard time we could be talking
about European and Irish hares.

The European hare was introduced to Ireland during the late 19th century
for the pourposes of hare coursing. The Irish hare is classified as a
sub-species of the mountain hare common across northern Europe.

However, QUB research has revealed that the Irish hare is distinct from its
relatives, having been isolated for 30,000 years:o

A proposed reclassification would make it Ireland's only endemic mammal
While the numbers of alien invaders are still small compared to the native
Irish hare, in some ares they make up the majority of the population.

The trust is taking this situation very seriously and has recently established a European hare sub-group on which a panel of experts sit to provoide advice to government to safeguard the future of our unique Irish hare.
( article from yesterdays Irish times.)

Should we have an open season on the brown European hare to save our native Irish hare, do we need some sort of panel to advise the government a bit like the FCP?

jwshooter

Red Renard wrote: »

I read yesterday that the Ulster Wildlife Trust has warned that the Irish
hare could face extinction unless action is taken to cheek the spread of an invader from Europe!

New research has shown thousands of European hares - known locally as
the brown hare - were now present in mid-Ulster and west Tyrone.
It generally out-competed and interbred with the native hares causing their extinction. "If unchecked in about 25 yeard time we could be talking
about European and Irish hares.

The European hare was introduced to Ireland during the late 19th century
for the pourposes of hare coursing. The Irish hare is classified as a
sub-species of the mountain hare common across northern Europe.

However, QUB research has revealed that the Irish hare is distinct from its
relatives, having been isolated for 30,000 years:o

A proposed reclassification would make it Ireland's only endemic mammal
While the numbers of alien invaders are still small compared to the native
Irish hare, in some ares they make up the majority of the population.

The trust is taking this situation very seriously and has recently established a European hare sub-group on which a panel of experts sit to provoide advice to government to safeguard the future of our unique Irish hare.
( article from yesterdays Irish times.)

Should we have an open season on the brown European hare to save our native Irish hare, do we need some sort of panel to advise the government a bit like the FCP?

interestion read .do you think most lads can tell a rabbit from a young hare .i watched a irish mountain hare yes eve from 10 yrds away it was in short heather never have the camera when ya want one

whitser

i saw that article. have to say the pic in the paper looked like a rabbit to me. that was the pic in the metro paper, i didnt see the one in the indo.

whitser

have they not also found in areas that there's high mink numbers theres low irish hare numbers?

BryanL

Da Frog wrote: »

Couldn't find sources about ireland. I think there is no study on this but rabbits give bigger litters and the pregnancy time is way shorter.

i think it's a bit of a Stretch to say Irish Hares are breeding the same as hares in Europe. Even in Ireland they breed at a different rate to the brown hare that is here.

in 25 years of beagling in Ireland, i have yet to see any evidence of hares being born in September. Unless they are being mopped up by foxes?
has anyone on here come across new born leverets in september?
Bryan

whitser

flushed some recently while out shooting rabbits with my springer, and i say they are almost fully grown young ones. i think most are born around may. by time sept comes along,like foxes, they'll be adults.

vcsggl

There seem to be more hares around these parts than there are rabbits but I never shoot them. When I was a lad my grandmother used to be very concerned that I might shoot hares - "would bring very bad luck for seven years" she said. Even now I have a neighbour that often reminds me not to shoot hares because it will bring bad luck. I must say that it never bothered me at all shooting hares in England but I always feel guilty if I raise the gun at a hare here - and I never have gone ahead and shot one!

George

thelurcher

Nice pics Da Frog
I think you're wrong as well about the Irish hare breeding that late - I've done a lot of hunting and you'd surely think that if 10% are delivering that late in the year we'd be finding them?????????

I've never come across new born leverets in september - and I think that if anyone did then the novelty of it would spread fast.


Whitser - get rid of those aul hounds you have - they're no good

thelurcher

bunny shooter wrote: »

few boyos poach 'em alright at apparently €70 each alive for the greyhound trainers :mad:

NOT for the greyhound trainers :eek:
The hares are netted under license for the various coursing clubs around the country. FYI - Gormley signed off on it last year.

whitser

thelurcher wrote: »

Nice pics Da Frog
I think you're wrong as well about the Irish hare breeding that late - I've done a lot of hunting and you'd surely think that if 10% are delivering that late in the year we'd be finding them?????????

I've never come across new born leverets in september - and I think that if anyone did then the novelty of it would spread fast.


Whitser - get rid of those aul hounds you have - they're no good

they're getting better, maybe this year.
i try to keep them off the hares anyway. pain in the arse when your out after renard. i'll let them hunt a hare when there's no a whiff of a fox. they'll hunt a fox before anything, but they'll hunt anything before nothing..:D

thelurcher

They're amazing animals to hunt whitser.
I know a few harrier packs that hunt fox but the odd hare too - never hear of them catching the latter though

Da Frog

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060713/ai_n16529153/pg_2

never found myself some little leverets in September-October but this is however the result of serious studies.

several shooting association and management groupment have postponed opening of hare shooting to the 15th of october in France and Germany.

As the conditions are good in ireland too i would think that the animals would behave the same.

Grizzly 45

I have never seen this many hares in my neck of the woods as in the last two years[Am not too far from Da Frog..Bonjour new neighbour:D] There used to be damn all here,due to I think lads illegally coursing at night.But that wouldn't explain the literal explosion in the pouplation.No one has changed to growing crops from grassland,just more conurbation spread and foxes,if that has anything to do with it.
Not to worry.I am very partial to jugged hare or the spine loin of them.They are a great delicay to eat on the Continent.So I couldn't recommend that you not shoot them as they are exellent game meat.
Just make sure you drain their bladder before you gut them.Their urine will taint the meat.

Red Renard

Can anyone explain why hare is not permitted to be shot by the rifle(scoped)
In olden times, game was the preserve of the gentry.
Is it because of this tradition that the hare has to be shot by shotgun for tradition sake or for some good sound reason?

Grizzly 45

Proably abit of both RR.Hide bound traditionalism of what is sporting and not,and proably a fear that people would try running shots with a rifle[good reason for semi auto] ,rather than wait that the hare is sitting,also considerd"unsporting" to shoot sitting animals or roosting birds.

meathstevie

On top of that if it would be legal to shoot hares with a rifle you couldn't use anything bigger than a .22 hornet anyway and even than you'd have to be sure of a head or shoulder shot or there wouldn't be much left for the oven.

Have to agree with Grizzly on the nature of the meat, drop dead gorgeous stuff. Also there's a little "nugget" of muscle on the shoulder that's delicious.

Mellor

Red Renard wrote: »

Can anyone explain why hare is not permitted to be shot by the rifle(scoped)
In olden times, game was the preserve of the gentry.
Is it because of this tradition that the hare has to be shot by shotgun for tradition sake or for some good sound reason?

You can shoot any protected animal (bird or mammal) with a rifle.
Hares are no exception*
Its does to a sporting chance, not a throw back to days of nobility. As, in those days only nobles could shoot game but no difference was made by type of firearm.




*Deers are an exception, due to shotguns not being powerful enough to insure a clean kill (slugs excluded)

meathstevie

Something about the breeding season just came to mind : Anyone any idea where the concept Easter Bunny comes from....indeed : newborn hares are plentifull around the time of year christianity situates Easter. The bunny doesn't drop eggs but levrets, fertility cultus anyone ?