Shooting Answers

RABBITS

Whippets v lurchers

I have a three-year -old whippet and he is great at catching rabbits. Why do you use lurchers instead of whippets as your working dogs?

Ed says: I’ve owned and worked with two whippets over the years and both performed to a high standard, but I felt they didn’t have enough to be ‘at it’ daily. If I were a ferreter or wanting a lamping dog for weekends, they would be a great choice. The lurcher family I work with is heavily diluted with collie blood and doesn’t have the take-off speed of a whippet.

However, the dogs will take knocks and have a better concentration span, both of which recommend them for me. That said, I had a lot of fun and caught a wide range of species with the whippets, who have the heart of a pitbull but the body of a ballerina.

PIGEONS

Future-proofed

I have been told that both stubble and roost shooting can no longer be used as a form of pigeon control. The general licence GL42 is confusing. Can I shoot any pigeons and if so, where and what can I do with them?

The original version of the general licence stated that anyone who wished to kill woodpigeons had to prove the birds were damaging crops, then try non-lethal methods