shooting hares

One shot on kill

i know this was a topic on here before but cant find the tread

whats the story with shooting hares do you need a special licence or what

i wS out the other nite and i seen some amount of hares obviously unaware of the info and seasons i never took a shot at any of them

to be fair i normaly wouldnt see any but the past to times ive been out ive been seeing a few of them

Cass

This has come up at least once every few months. If you do a search and use the keywords Hares, Shooting Hares, Season for Hares. I guaruntee you will get at least a dozen threads and hundreds of posts.

To summarise your firearms license covers you to shoot them. The season is 26th September to 28th February. There is much debate as to what can be used to shot them. Most say a shotgun only others say that a rifle can be used as there is no mention, specifically, about using only a shotgun in the legislation. However they are not as prevalent as rabbits so i would rarely, if ever, shoot a Hare and definitely not with a rifle. Theres no sport in it.

Steyr243Hunter

The coursing boys might have released them back, but this time of year i think there mating and you see heaps of them,

garv123

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/search.php?searchid=18096089#

there you go.
from having a quick glimpse threw them it seems to be shotgun only during the seson ez mentioned

also i think they can be shot with a rifle if you have a section 42 if they are damaging crops

MacraPat

Perhaps a game seasons sticky??

garv123

MacraPat wrote: »

Perhaps a game seasons sticky??

dont really see the need of another season because most people know the seasons of what they shoot.
there is the "selection of hunting law"
maybe stick it in there and change the title to
"selection of hunting law/game seasons."

stickies clog up forums

Dusty87

garv123 wrote: »

dont really see the need of another season because most people know the seasons of what they shoot.

well, they should but it stil suprises me.

MacraPat

Or even the game they're going after.

Hares have a fairly low reproductive rate compared to rabbits or pheasants.
Most of the leverets born in the spring won't make it to see winter due to dogs,foxes, cats,mink,stoats,martens, crows, buzzards etc. Not to mention if we've a particularly wet year! I'd hit the vermin population hard a year or two before raising the gun to a hare.

Dusty87

There's plenty around me macra pat but tbh, i just wouldn bother. Doing no harm near me nor do i have a desire to eat them. Not knockin boys who do though.

yessam

MacraPat wrote: »

Or even the game they're going after.

Hares have a fairly low reproductive rate compared to rabbits or pheasants.
Most of the leverets born in the spring won't make it to see winter due to dogs,foxes, cats,mink,stoats,martens, crows, buzzards etc. Not to mention if we've a particularly wet year! I'd hit the vermin population hard a year or two before raising the gun to a hare.

+1

MacraPat

Agh yeah "Shtrokes for folks" and all that. There's a good few here too. Some years more than pheasants. Others less. Last one I took was chewing the beech hedge around the house.

Cass

I've played around with the hunting laws sticky and changed the title and added a list of game and seasons.

Now some of them vary from year to year and some could be slightly wrong as believe it or not, i don't know them all. Hae a look and if i'm wrong tell me and if i've forgotten something, vermin not important, let me know and i'll update.

One shot on kill

tthanks lads that fairly cleared it up for

dont think i will shoot them at all because of there low reproductive rate and plus there is more than enough rabbits to go around

Spunk84

do hare even taste that good? a mate of mine years ago said hare meat in restaurants was really costly, never tried it

One shot on kill

i haven a clue never tasted it to be honest i never heard of any one eatin them

garv123

One shot on kill wrote: »

i haven a clue never tasted it to be honest i never heard of any one eatin them

i hear another reason no one shoots them is because there meat is too dark

MacraPat

My granda of 86 minds aeting them as a younger man in Ardee.
Hang or a week from his feet with the guts in.
If you can stomach the gutting process you're man enough to enjoy it.
This where I faultered, it was a bit rank in the roasting dish so mam threw it to the dog. Kinda shameful.
Gramps reckoned it was the best meat he ever ate. Boiled then stewed up in a pot, I could be wrong there. He said it was a fantastically rich dark meat, deep vine colour.

rmnrgn

I ate some in Italy last year in a creamy pasta sauce. They only added small pieces like they would ham in a carbonara sauce and its quite strong. Very gamey and you wouldn't eat a lot of it in a sitting.

meathstevie

Hare makes an incredibly tasty meal. Good numbers around my area as well. Same as other game, to be shot in daylight hours when in season.