Hunting Info.

tcooley

My name is Tomás Cooley and I am currently doing a
masters research project in NUI Galway in the
geography department . My topic
is about the persecution of Irish mammals since
roughly 1922 and I would be very grateful if you could
help me in my search for data that your organisation
may have access to. I have come across an organisation
called the Connemara Vermin Destruction Association
and I intend to do a case study on this organisation
to look into how the hunting of mammals and birdlife
went on and also why it happened. I will be looking
into the reasons for the persecution of these mammals
such as for sport, export of furs, being a
general nuisance and finally, for disease eradication.
I would be extremely grateful if you could put me in
contact with people that would be able to help me in
this regard. Also, it would be appreciated if you
could make available to me some archives, if there is
any, that may help me on my way in this project.
Thanking you in advance,

Tomás Cooley.

Rovi

I'd be of the opinion that your use (x2) of this word-

tcooley wrote:

........persecution..........

will lead to your request being viewed with some suspicion by the regulars here.

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ambro25

Easier... just go ask farmers.

tcooley

ok, poor word use. this isn't a witch hunt, quite the opposite. i hunt regularly myself. i just want to write a thesis on the reasons animals were hunted over the last eighty or so yrs. i also want to look closely at the methods of control i.e. traps, guns etc. its a fascinating subject.
ps my email is tomascooley@gmail.com
cheers.

.270 remington

hi
what kind of mammals do you hunt and what do hunt with

eg. dogs/rifle /shotgun/crossbow

.270 remington

civdef

One reason you shouldn't forget, particularly when dealing with rabbits, is for food. In less affluent times (& pre-yxomatosis), rabbits were a cheap and reliable source of meat that featured prminently in the diets of many rural families.

tcooley

i would hunt mainly pheasents during the season. that would really be all. a shotgun is my weapon of choice.

tcooley

yes civdef. i'll also be looking into that as a motivation for hunting, basically i want to write something that will give a flavour of old rural life in ireland. i'll keep the anti hunting brigade out as much as i can!

Irishglockfan

Hmm,your time frame puts it in the rising,war of independance,and civil war periods.
Apart from the obvious fact that folks were hungry and that the great estates would have been less gaurded than before.
In some places it was considerd a strike against the British to poach the local landlords pheasents!Go figure.
Did we have great poaching gangs like in the UK or Germany ,along with historical folklore of the battles fought between them and gamekeepers?
Remember too that there were more methods allowed to hunt game and vermin than are allowed today.EG leg hold or gin traps,Hawk gins,etc.
Mostly however it would be for vermin control or food as to why us Irish poor folk hunted.
Furs for sale ,doubtful as the US and Canada and would have been able to supply any furs.Were such northern furs in fashion or affordable in that time ?
All in all a pretty difficult topic you got there methinks!

Rovi

Irishglockfan wrote:

Furs for sale ,doubtful as the US and Canada and would have been able to supply any furs.Were such northern furs in fashion or affordable in that time ?

I'm pretty sure there was a good market for rabbit (and kitty cat, and who knows what else!) skins during the 'Emergency' (WW2 for the rest of the world).
In spite of Ireland's 'neutrality', most of them ended up in RAF flight suits.

And in the not so distant past (the '70s or so), many's the man made a good living collecting the £20 bounty on fox skins.

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