On Wed, 11 May 2005 16:12:43 +0100, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:

The message
from JB contains these words:

You do not need a license for an air rifle with an energy of less that
12 ft lbs, which should be adequate to deal with most small vermin.

The rules which might affect you are that you can not use an air rifle
within 15m of a public highway

There is no such law. You can fire a gun from the middle of a public
highway providing you have good reason, and you do not alarm or injure
anyone using it. You may have to have the permission of the controlling
authority too, but I'm not sure about that. (But I can find out
tonight.)

I don't think you're allowed to have a loaded firearm on a public
highway and I think they have to be covered when out in public.
That's why you have to unload a shotgun, not just break it, even to
cross a road.


and any bullet, shot or pellet from a
gun should not fall onto ground which you do not have permission to
shoot over. NB those are from memory so don't rely on that.

The bullet, shot or pellet mustn't cross your boundary unless your
neighbour permits.

In practice the only considerations are normal gun safety guidelines
it is unlikely that anybody will complain if you send an air rifle
pellet from your garden into an otherwise empty field and if you are
shooting away from a road then you probably need not worry about
measuring how close you are. As long as you shoot over open ground or
into a hillside / backstop then you are generally OK.

Practical points are that pigeons can be suprisingly hard to take
down, an air rifle is adequate but on another forum I have read
anecdotal evidence that they can survive even glancing shots from a
shotgun. Other than that then depending on circumstance an air rifle
is in many ways the best solution and has the bonus of providing you
with pigeon and squirrel pie.

The breast feathers of a pigeon can cushion pellets from a shotgun if
they hit face-on. Head-shots are favourite, so 'practice makes pigeon'.

Talking of which does anyone have any suggestions on how best to cook
squirrel - I have the same problem with squirrels causing damage in my
garden!

Skin, gut and joint your squirrel. Put a couple of tablespoons of plain
flour in a big mixing-bowl. Add some sea salt, ground celery seed,
ground black pepper, marjoram or oregano and sage, and mix it in well.

Put carrots, parsnip, swede &c into a casserole and cover with water (or
stock) and bring it to the boil in the oven or in a microwave.

Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan and fry a couple of chopped onions in
it, and garlic if you like it. When the onions are cooked, 'seal' the
squirrel flesh by putting it into the hot pan and stirring it about
until all the surface has turned a greyish white. Tip contents of pan
into bowl and mix into the flour.

Put squirrel and onions into casserole and if there is any loose oil and
flour left, take some of the liquor and mix it into a thin paste, and
add to the casserole. Mix it in well, and replace in oven at around 100°
C, or in the microwave on defrost.

Cook for an hour at least, or until meat comes off the bone.