You can’t shoot a virus. If I were running a shoot, which I’m not, I’d be pretty uncertain as to what I am allowed to do from Monday onwards when the rules in England change. But the rule of 6 seems to apply to everyone, including those shooting Red Grouse and Partridges, whose seasons are open, and Pheasants, whose shooting season opens at the end of the month.
Social distancing would be perfectly possible for the guns but much less so for beaters, and it will be travel around a shoot that could provide considerable logistical challenges to remain within the law.
Shooting birds for fun likes to call itself a sport but it doesn’t get a special mention on the government (clear as mud) website although fishing and riding horses do – and you can’t do those in groups of more than six. Does the gamekeeper count (a good question…)? In driven grouse shooting are you going to be loading your own gun – or would you have to take a household member to do that for you?
The BASC website suggests that they think shooting will be covered by some sort of an exemption – why? Six guns? No loaders? How will beaters be treated? How will travel around the ‘venue’ be arranged? Let’s call the whole thing off?
Actually though, the countryside around me seems much less infested with Pheasants this year than usual. I was out in arable farmland this afternoon and didn’t see a single Pheasant (or Partridge of either species), neither alive nor squidged on the road.
Probably the “Barnard Castle” exemption clause. The one that says the toffs get to do what they want because us proles can’t stop them.
Sadly, there is no Pheasant shooting on the estate this season ( a far from unanimous decision), though others around us have plans, for at least a limited programme of days.
The better resourced shoots should be able to cope, possibly a few less beaters, an extra vehicle or two, a bit more walking etc; the biggest change will be having to eat lunch in your own car, the beaters cabin and its echoes of laughter sadly out of bounds for this year.
Hurray!
And hopefully it’ll be good riddance to the larger shooting slaughter businesses as well.
I wonder if any BASC members breaking the rule of 6 will be “expelled” from this prestigious association if/when they veer from the guidelines. Perhaps Duncan Thomas could let us know.
They will only be breaking the rules in a very specific and limited way, so it is probably fine.
/sarcasm.
Fox hunters seem to think they will be exempt from the 6 person rule too.
There seems to be a pattern emerging!
Personally I think a lot of Estates that wish to shoot will hand out a few masks for appearances sake and otherwise just crack on as normal, especially on Estates that are very much a closed book and pay their lackeys well for loyalty. Sadly, I have noticed myself in people I live amongst and work with, that there is an ugly narrative gaining a foothold that this is all the problem of certain ethnic groups* in urban areas. (* I am not going to quote the stuff I am hearing, but I am sure you can guess.) This country is brewing up for a lot of nastiness within a few years I think, and this is just one more indicator.
Workplaces are exempt from the 6 rule…… As keepers and beaters are paid (and also some definitions of volunteering classify it as work, ie in terms of H&S and employer responsibility) then they can have more than 6 and distancing doesnt matter as much
Bit of a plague round here. 2 juveniles and 3 adults in the garden, eating my windfall apples and predating the wildlife. I demand compensation! I shall keep and eye on the shoot.
Cannot believe anyone thinks that perennial lawbreakers will not ignore this law.
BASC have various guidance on their website, all of which implies that they think it’s ok for shoots to ignore the ‘rule of 6’ that comes in on 14th September in both England and Scotland. Various excuses are given, ‘it’s a workplace’, ‘social distancing’ etc etc. Not sure why they think they should be different from, say, horse riding or fishing where the government website explicitly states that a maximum of 6 can take part. BASC seem to have their own ‘wishlist’ of factors that exempt them from the rules that affect all other outdoor sporting and recreational activities. This is nonsense. I for one will be calling the police if I see an organised shoot taking place.