This months "irish shooters digest"

Big Davey

In this months Irish shooters digest (vol 18 no6 March 2015) there is an article on air gun shooting. The writer tells stories of shooting pigeons with an air rifle with accompanying photos and even tells a story of being asked by a priest to shoot pigeons at his church and getting Garda permission to do so !
While section 33 of the Wildlife Act 1976 states :

(1) It shall be an offence for a person to hunt or injure in the course of
hunting—[2000.] Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000. [No. 38.]

(a) with a repeating or automatic shotgun (other than a repeating or automatic
shotgun which is adapted or modified so as to render it
incapable of carrying more than three shotgun cartridges), with an
airgun, air-rifle, gas-rifle, pistol or revolver,
or with any firearm fitted with a silencer device, any wild bird,

I'm very confused.............

meathstevie

Big Davey wrote: »

In this months Irish shooters digest (vol 18 no6 March 2015) there is an article on air gun shooting. The writer tells stories of shooting pigeons with an air rifle with accompanying photos and even tells a story of being asked by a priest to shoot pigeons at his church and getting Garda permission to do so !
While section 33 of the Wildlife Act 1976 states :

(1) It shall be an offence for a person to hunt or injure in the course of
hunting—[2000.] Wildlife (Amendment) Act, 2000. [No. 38.]

(a) with a repeating or automatic shotgun (other than a repeating or automatic
shotgun which is adapted or modified so as to render it
incapable of carrying more than three shotgun cartridges), with an
airgun, air-rifle, gas-rifle, pistol or revolver,
or with any firearm fitted with a silencer device, any wild bird,

I'm very confused.............

Hunting is the big word in that bit of legislation. What you are describing is pest control by means of an air rifle and not the pursuing of game.

Vegeta

Derogation allows for shooting of pigeons with rifles under specific conditions.

Big Davey

meathstevie wrote: »

Hunting is the big word in that bit of legislation. What you are describing is pest control by means of an air rifle and not the pursuing of game.

The wildlife act States (any wild bird) ?
Is there anywhere in the wildlife act where it states it ok to shoot pigeons etc with an air rifle for pest control ?
Surly any form of hunting could be passed off as pest control ?
Thanks

Birdnuts

Big Davey wrote: »

The wildlife act States (any wild bird) ?
Is there anywhere in the wildlife act where it states it ok to shoot pigeons etc with an air rifle for pest control ?
Surly any form of hunting could be passed off as pest control ?
Thanks

I wouldn't get too tied up in the legal jargin within the wildlife acts, which are long winded and rather opaque in places. The final word on such matters are the derogations which list the species and methods of dispatch that are legal under both Irish and EU law. The current derogation is below

http://www.npws.ie/sites/default/files/files/Declaration%20for%20May%202014-April%202015%20State%20Wide.pdf

BrownTrout

Birdnuts wrote:

wouldn't get too tied up in the legal jargin within the wildlife acts, which are long winded and rather opaque in places. The final word on such matters are the derogations which list the species and methods of dispatch that are legal under both Irish and EU law. The current derogation is below

Birdnuts wrote:

I wouldn't get too tied up in the legal jargin within the wildlife acts, which are long winded and rather opaque in places. The final word on such matters are the derogations which list the species and methods of dispatch that are legal under both Irish and EU law. The current derogation is below

I'm guessing that rifle includes air rifle?

Birdnuts

BrownTrout wrote: »

I'm guessing that rifle includes air rifle?

That would be my understanding from speaking to NPWS staff over the years

skipking

when i applied for my air rifle permit i put down as the reason i wanted one was to shoot pests around farm yard and
a food store ie. magpies feral pigeon, and rats. which cannot be shot safely with shotgun or rifle, and it was granted

extremetaz

Same as the above - there's no issue shooting pests or vermin with an air rifle in any instance, and the derogations outline the specifics wrt to any birds. There's been no issue with using rifle/air rifle on pidgeon or most corvids (greys were off for a while, but they're back now) for as long as I can remember.

Big Davey

skipking wrote: »

when i applied for my air rifle permit i put down as the reason i wanted one was to shoot pests around farm yard and
a food store ie. magpies feral pigeon, and rats. which cannot be shot safely with shotgun or rifle, and it was granted

If you don't mind me asking would you get away with one of the €200-€300 guns or do you need to get up to the €1000 range ?
Thanks

skipking

any air rifle will do out to 30 yards further with good shot placement.

meathstevie

Big Davey wrote: »

If you don't mind me asking would you get away with one of the €200-€300 guns or do you need to get up to the €1000 range ?
Thanks

No you don't need the high end air bottle stuff. They're nice and very hard hitting and all but a good .22 break barrel does the job as I've found out through experience. Since I got the .22 Diana break barrel I've probably shot over 30 feral pigeons with it in a friends' grain sheds. It's actually the only reason why I got an air rifle.

extremetaz

A €200-300 secondhand air rifle will likely serve you well - a new one at that price I'd be doubtful of, but yes you can get springers at that price that will do the job well, but only if you feed them good ammo. So RWS, Daystate, JSB, Crossman Premier, etc... you should expect to be paying between €12-15 for a tin of 500 if you're getting the good ammo, and the majority of the stuff you get off the shelf here is rubbish, so you may have to go looking for it. JSB Exact Heavy or Exact Jumbo, for .177 or .22 respectively, has never let me down.

skipking

i agree you must have good ammo. jsb also make pellets for air arms 16 and 18gr in .22 i use both and find them very good
so if you cant find jsb use air arms same pellet.