Quote:
Originally Posted by Hunter_zero
So, if the landowner farmed rabbits for a living, would he also have to stick to killing just 30?
In the UK, no wild animal is owned until it has been killed, it's the right to killing the animal that is owned.
Do you guys not have a problem with rabbits damaging crops? Over here it's a massive problem, same with Pigeons (or doves).
I guess the law is the law, and as gun owners we should be well aware that we need to abide by the law. Over here a nights lamping in troubled areas could produce bags in excess of 100 rabbits. A lot of the guys who shoot big bags will sell in to the butchers (meat stores) for $1.50 (£1) per rabbit.
Pigeons are 50p (75 cents ?) each.
Strange thing is with Pheasants, the birds are only worth $3. It cost more to buy the poults and to rear the birds to adult than the birds are worth when shot. This is why pheasant shooting is so expensive in the UK with many people paying $45 to shoot just one bird.
John
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Domestic rabbits have no limit, only the "wild" cottontail. As kernelkrink has stated, depredation permits can be had when there's a serious issue with a particular game population. I remember one occasion in the 1980's where the jackrabbit population was so high that about 200 of us got together. We spread out around a field (640 acres) and slowly closed in toward the center of the field. Using clubs we killed close to 1,000 jackrabbits - which had to be buried using a bulldozer. Total carnage, not a pleasant day, but a necessary act in order to reclaim the land for ranching purposes.
Ring-neck Pheasants, while not indigenous to the U.S., have established themselves in the wild throughout much of the U.S.
While commercialization of South Dakota pheasant hunting has unfortunately led to it being an expensive hunt with many farm-raised pheasants, as a young man I enjoyed open access to hundreds of in-the-wild pheasants each season. Times change, now pheasant hunting is a rich man's sport here. The local communities aren't complaining about the influx of hunter money, though!