Megan le Fey Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 I am really looking forward to 28 Feb. after which date we should again be able to safely walk the dogs off-lead across the fields at weekends.[:)] Today there have been hunters there since early morning and they are still there[:@], making the best of the last few days of the season I suppose. May I ask a question of those of you who are into hunting? These guys are all out there in their camouflage pants and parkas, their dark green jerseys and high boots and their cute little camouflage Chairman Mao hats, all the better to blend into the background of the woods to stalk their prey, then they cover the lot with bright orange dayglow jackets! [8-)]Am I missing the logic in this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 There should be a very profound logic there. They are hunters so have to have the hunters uniform. And in the past, they were so well camouflaged that they used to shoot one another on a fairly regular basis. So they were made to wear their dayglo stuff to stop this, but they still want the world to know that they are 'hunter's and not just maniacs walking around with guns taking pot shots at anything that moves. Do their poor dogs have to have some sort of day glo stuff too, as in the past they used to get shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugsy Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 [quote user="Teamedup"].............................so well camouflaged that they used to shoot one another on a fairly regular basis. [/quote]They still do, from memory 27 died last season............................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Bud or someone else will no doubt add to this, but keeping it simple, only certain types of hunting advise the orange extras, this is mostly sanglier hunting where the animal is driven towards the people who will do the shooting. As this type of hunting usually means being in woodland or maize fields it is a visual aide to the others involved. There is clearly no need to be camouflaged for this type of hunting.So, if you (as a hunter) are out by yourself or maybe with another person in open land, shooting birds or rabbits it's better to remain less visible and there isn't the same requirement for the orange gear.There are orange day glow collars for dogs, ours has one.[IMG]http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q73/unautremonde/Personal/Missy-hunting.jpg[/IMG] Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Can't quite tell if it is a "he" or a "she," but either way, oh SO cute. Love that look on her/his face. Just want to give her a big hug ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Well, she's a 28kg nightmare and "that look" is because she's catching mice and voles, she brought a fairly large piece of cow home yesterday.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Oh good heavens, cow ??? Are you saying that lovely little girl attacks cows?? No, not possible.She's just so cute ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted February 18, 2007 Share Posted February 18, 2007 Nah, she doesn't kill cows, she only kills creatures up to about the size of hares and pheasants, BUT she also travels far and wide scavenging and the things that she brings home have given me a good insight into what happens on some of the farms round here.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 My mind is going in too many directions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monika Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 So it is 28th of February when they stop hunting? I was just going to ask the question.I just wonder if there is really any wild life left out there after the franctic hunting which goes on around our parts in Normandy. Can nature replenish itself (I don't know if that is the right terminology?) in such a short time. Surely we need a hunting amnesty for several years. Here in Dorset we see so much more deer, badgers (and also much more road kill), rabbits, pigeons etc. than in Normandy, or is it that the wild life is more urbanised in England?It would be interesting to get a hunter's input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Well, I'm not a hunter but I think that I can be reasonably objective on the subject as I'm not anti hunting as such. The difficulty as I see it is that a large percentage of the population, particularly where Brits are concerned tend to fall into pros and antis, both frequently defending their position by taking extremes and failing to be rational, sorry folks, that's my view.Most hunting in France is sustainable at the present levels, sanglier in particular need to have population control, more so in some regions than in others and it does provide some free range organic food for the people involved, deer to some extent fall into the same category. Pheasant and some other species of game bird are breed and released specifically with hunting in mind (some 10 million a year in France), again this is not really an issue, pheasant are not even a native species. Ragondin really need to have their numbers curtailed, big time.Where I would take issue is with some of the migratory birds that pass through France and are "on the list", which doesn't take account of the situation in other Countries where these birds breed and population numbers have seen declines. Another area of contention for me is some of the means and practises that are legally used, these range from extremes such as mist netting and tendelle traps which are indiscriminate to the use of shotguns to shoot sanglier, single ball, close range and difficult to get a "killing shot". I would contest the view that foxes and badgers need to be hunted, but that's a big issue.There is also the matter of illegal shooting of protected species and the attitudes of some hunters towards other members of society, but there's "good and bad" everywhere (if you like that terminology), I know responsible hunters and I know hunters who don't give a toss.Historically the situation was much worse, otters, beavers, almost anything in fact was persecuted, but laws and regulations have been put in place, added to and changed which has brought about an improvement in the overall situation. Is it perfect? No, never, but that's life and there will always be people who bend the rules whatever the situation.It's a very complicated subject, there are many types of hunting and realistically it would need breaking down into separate sections, but I would say that there are far greater threats to the wildlife of France than those posed by the hunting fraternity.Discuss? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Did anything ever come of the idea of importing the english style hunt to France? The last I heard some people wanted to start a red coat horse and hounds type hunt somewhere near Pau. I think the Maire at Pau was against it. It was discussed here a year or two ago. Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 I had never lived in the country side until I moved to this village. What I noticed almost at once was the lack of birds. In comparison to my parents home in an industrial town in England, there were so few and all these years later and we still hardly have any.Is that down to the hunters? I don't know. What I do know is that the hunters make some areas around here a no go area when they are out. I know that they shouldn't shoot near roads, but there are some lanes I avoid too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megan le Fey Posted February 20, 2007 Author Share Posted February 20, 2007 [quote user="Teamedup"]I had never lived in the country side until I moved to this village. What I noticed almost at once was the lack of birds. In comparison to my parents home in an industrial town in England, there were so few and all these years later and we still hardly have any.Is that down to the hunters? I don't know. What I do know is that the hunters make some areas around here a no go area when they are out. I know that they shouldn't shoot near roads, but there are some lanes I avoid too. [/quote]We moved to this house about a year & a half ago and one of the first things we noticed was the complete lack of birds in the garden. It is just about as rural as you can get with only half a dozen or so houses and those quite well spread out so you would think that it would be the perfect place for birds to be but they were just missing. I think that perhaps there wasn't much here to attract them. All the few houses, including ours, are rented and so nobody bothers to make gardens. The fields are poor things, uncultivated and only occasionally mown for hay but nothing ever put back into them so last year they didn't even bother to cut the hay. It is all owned by one old lady who is now in a nursing home so there is little that she can do to revitalize the land so it is just going to brambles etc.and we don't even get rabbits here. However, there are little woods all around and there in the woods we have sanglier and deer which attract lots of hunters and we also are very careful, especially for the dogs when the hunters are out. And as for birds, well, we filled the trees with feeders and with fatballs and now I am wondering if I can afford to continue to feed the little blighters. The garden is heaving with them and they are getting really cheeky and only just move aside when I come out to refill their feeders. We have all kinds of t*ts, finches, cartloads of sparrows, a couple of very pushy robins, some blackbirds and just occasionally, some thrushes plus a few small brown jobs which I don't recognise. No, whilst I hate the idea of the hunters killing 'my' deer I don't really think they deter the birds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 20, 2007 Share Posted February 20, 2007 Like you Megan, our garden is teaming with birds. So nice to have a miniature army of sparrows which I was so beginning to miss in the UK. I'm not as good as you about feeding them but I think they're attracted to my muck heap and the stuff the ponies leave around! Certainly there is plenty of shooting going on around here on Sundays and it doesn't seem to put them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Animal Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 I don't know if he was wearing the correct hunting attire, but someone killed a poor young man on 18th February who was driving along in his car with his mother during a chasse aux sangliers. [:(]La balle perdue atteint l'automobilisteHier à Péaule, un conducteur de 24 ans a été atteint à la tête par une balle perdue provenant d'une battue aux sangliers organisée dans le secteur.Hier, vers 16 h 30, un jeune homme de 24 ans a été atteint d'une balle perdue alors qu'il conduisait. L'accident est survenu alors qu'il circulait en compagnie de sa mère, sur la départementale 20, à hauteur de Péaule, dans le pays de Questembert. Le projectile a atteint le jeune homme en pleine tête. Cette balle perdue provenait d'une battue aux sangliers organisée dans le secteur. Très gravement blessé, le conducteur a perdu le contrôle de son véhicule qui a fini sa course contre un talus. Le jeune homme était encore conscient quand les secours sont arrivés. Il a ensuite été transporté par l'hélicoptère de la protection civile en direction du centre hospitalier de Nantes. Très choquée, sa maman, qui l'accompagnait, a dû être, quant à elle, conduite au centre hospitalier de Redon.Pour l'heure, les enquêteurs de la police scientifique se penchent sur les différentes hypothèses de trajectoires de la balle. Apparemment, celle-ci aurait ricoché sur quelque chose (un arbre ou peut-être une pierre... on ne sait pas) avant d'atteindre le jeune homme. Hier soir, les gendarmes n'avaient pas pu identifier l'arme d'où provenait la balle. Cinq chasseurs ont été entendus dans le cadre de ce dramatique accident. Ils ne savaient pas eux-mêmes de quel fusil le projectile était parti. Les enquêteurs privilégient la thèse « accidentelle ».Sophie MARECHAL.Ouest-France Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Mr Outiror sells camouflage torches, car seat covers and so on which are advertised in their hunting section. What is the point of camouflaging a torch or a car seat, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkhunter Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 Cassis, its really handy when you want to hide your camouflage wallet from the wife [:)] My nephew was bought a new realtree camouflage suit for his 17th birthday from his mother and when he asked his mum where it was she said on the floor, he's still searching for it yet ?? It's beyond me why its all camo stuff, i hunt in the UK when i go back and do have all the camo gear too when decoying in hedges etc but to have camo torches, underpants and ladies nickers and bras ?????????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugsy Posted February 21, 2007 Share Posted February 21, 2007 The daftest camo trend to appear recently is motorcycle clothing, try and work that one out............[8-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 I do a lot of target archery and believe me, if you miss it's a devil to find the arrows sometimes. I would never hunt with a bow and arrow (illegal in most of Europe thank goodness) but in the USA, where much bow hunting is done, you can buy camo arrows. Now given the increased chances of missing, the woods must be full of these arrows (at around 15 euros a pop) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monika Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Thank you Chris, I agree with you there, it is a very complicated subject. In our area the hunt seems to be such a tradition and any protest would fall on deaf ears and alienate.A few weeks ago we saw about 15 hunters down our lane all drinking some sort of brew, next to a big pool of blood. I am used to the hunt coming from Switzerland but it was never that intense and it was strictly regulated in order to cull. What worries me is the lack of wildlife we see in Normandy unless it is all hidden in the vast forests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Camo arrows? So the animal doesn't see them coming - a sort of stealth arrow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 Yep, sure is, for example this http://www.eastonarchery.com/productsPage.asp?show=superSlamOf course, if you hit the animal at just the right angle, there won't even be an entry wound [+o(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suze01 Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 [quote user="Pierre ZFP"]I do a lot of target archery and believe me, if you miss it's a devil to find the arrows sometimes. [/quote]Tell me about it. Bought all the kit for son last summer, on the rare accasion he misses the target they're almost impossible to find even though they have yellow and red flights. I found one when I was poop-scooping after the dog - right on target [+o(] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Posted February 22, 2007 Share Posted February 22, 2007 [quote user="Bugbear"]The daftest camo trend to appear recently is motorcycle clothing, try and work that one out............[8-)][/quote]I think it was advised and promoted by A&E units. You crash, land in a field and they save a fortune because no one can find you [:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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