Neighbour shooting pigeons. Best course of action ?

My neighbour has always fancied himself as some kind of Hicksville Hells Angel, with his chromed trike, tats & the hygienic qualities of a caveman.

Of late he’s taken to shooting what appears to be quite a high powered air rifle in the back garden.
He has his target set up against a fence, not mine I hasten to add. Luckily the house behind rarely displays signs of life.
We can hear him taking pot shots on a daily basis, occasionally his equally knuckle dragging son appears & they re-enact some kind of Deliverence cum Southern Comfort scene, involving manly comments & more burping, farting etc.

But for two days running now I’ve had pigeons drop into my garden. This mornings lived for a few mins, in a clearly distressed state. The kids were playing in the conservatory, were quite upset.
I’m convinced he’s shot them, it’s a heck of a coincidence if they have just died.
I can’t see any visible marks on them, just blood that they’ve coughed up.

So I’m unhappy on two accounts really, firstly the using what’s obviously a high powered air rifle, secondly this shooting of birds. I know the law makes no distinction, it’s a firearm.
The law on shooting birds seems (as usual), to have this grey area around pest control. I (think), he needs a licence to cull them anyway. We are talking a residential street here, not a country estate.

I’m happy to tackle him on it, we are in all other respects good neighbours. I’ve seen how neighbourly disputes can escalate, & I’ve no intention of letting it go that far.
But, the Wife wants me to summon the Police to cart him off.

What do the STW mob reckon ?
Let the Police speak to him…
Have a quiet word, presenting him with his quarry in a shovel ?
Throw his quarry over the fence when he’s enjoying a cups ?

Arm the pigeons. 😉

Poor pigeons. 😥

If he’s shooting an air rifle in his own garden and no pellets ever leave his property then I think that’s legal – and I think shooting pidgeons is also allowed as they are regarded as a pest. On the other hand it does sound irresponsible so could be worth getting the police to have a word.

He’ll get bored of it. Probably.

I’ll foreword this by saying I’m a grumpy git and believe firearms have no place in society.

Therefore if it were I, I would call the police next time he was playing saying someone was setting off a firearm at xx address and shooting pigeons. Let the police decide if what he is doing is legal / proper or not.

Plus think of the entertainment of watching a swat team engulf the Redneck’s house.

If the pellet leaves his boundary, he’s breaking the law. You are allowed to shoot them, as long as they are a pest, as they are on the general licence.

*If you are concerned, contact the police as said above.

You mention kids. I’m not going to joke, sorry I’d call your local station and explain everything. You/we have a duty of care to children. I’m not in the ‘stray fragment/shot hit my child’ camp.

I was shot in the knee when I was younger. It’s not nice.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pigeon-beetroot-salad

swat team

Armed only with some serious leaflets, I assume?

Is he the home owner or rented ? If rented or council report to them and involve the police for your piece of mind . If you’ve the stomach for it look at the dead pigeons chest area under the feathers for pellet holes .

call the police, they will ring him and tell what he is and isn’t allowed to do. I had a similar phone call when someone report me for shooting rats in the back garden (though I don’t think the person reporting me knew that’s what I was doing).

Have a word first, tell him that it was kind of him to provide food for your table but, actually, you don’t like cooked pigeon. Tell him your kids are now having nightmares due to dead or dying birdies landing in your garden. You need to be smart when dealing with this type of person, going to the fuzz is, er, overkill at this stage and likely to antagonise. Remember, they are your neighbours and it’s in both your interests to sort this out amicably.

Throw down some sort of gauntlet.

If the pellet leaves his boundary then it’s armed trespass.

It’s not illegal per se providing he’s shooting them following the guidelines laid out in the General License, but I imagine he’s not protecting his crops from serious damage etc.

Ring the police and say youve seen a chap with a gun in the garden, our local police take this very seriously, they arrive mob handed and procceed to force entry, ands scare the shit out out of the householders.

a gun is a gun, and some muppet with a gun shot my cat through the back leg, with a pellet, entry and exit wound, trip to vet, vets bill and cat in agony.

OP its legal to shoot pigeons. Its questionable whether he can shoot them safely over his / your property. I would ask him to stop saying you are concerned its a safety issue it is probably worth a call to the local council too on safety grounds. Of course all of this may resuot in a “reaction” from him.

As an aside my neighbour a few doors down was fed up with pigeons crapping on him when in the garden from the trees above so he bought an air gun and kept shooting them till they got the message. He no longer has an issue as they do seem to understand its no longer a safe place.

@aa great film btw

tell him that it was kind of him to provide food for your table but, actually, you don’t like cooked pigeon. Tell him your kids are now having nightmares due to dead or dying birdies landing in your garden.

Don’t do this, he’ll think you’re a sanctimonious cock womble.

Okay, first off, calling the police with the aim of getting an armed team on his doorstep is a serious dick move, mostly as it wastes time and diverts resources from where they could be better used.

Next, as long as his pellets aren’t leaving his land and said pigeons aren’t being caused undue suffering then there’s not much you can do. If they are suffering then I suggest a word with him is in order. If that doesn’t stop him then escalate it.

Responsible shooters don’t need any more prats spoiling things…

what appears to be quite a high powered air rifle

how can you tell if it’s over 12ft/lb? unless you have a chronograph there is no real way of telling.

just throw the dead bird into their garden (while they are in it) and asktell them dont shoot them if they are likely to fall on your side of the fence.

Thanks all.
Will have a quiet word with him later, when his Wife is in earshot, she’ll give him a hard time. 🙂

Not keen on getting the Poljce involved (yet).
Ive seen neighbour disputes go bad, my brother ended up in court on a trumped up assault charge & ended up moving, young daughter having nightmares etc.
Some folk might enjoy it but he’s not actually a bad neighbour, just a (seemingly) bored in his retirement.
They’ll happily take in parcels, their in bed at 10pm etc, other than his uber loud belching (& pigeon shooting…), they are good neighbours.

I’ll have a word with him when not so cross.

Next, as long as his pellets aren’t leaving his land and said pigeons aren’t being caused undue suffering

If dying birds are appearing in OP’s garden, one or other must be true

If the guy’s dropping them out of the air with an air rifle, I’d call the olympic association, not police

I’m quite aware of that, I was just illustrating why is allowable within law. But hey, any excuse to take a pop at someone on here can’t be missed eh?

Op sounds fair enough, if he’s as reasonable as you say I’m sure a quiet word voicing your concerns should be enough. Quite often it’s a simple case of ignorance.

marinate the pigeon breasts in cider and garlic overnight
pop on the bbq and whammo

I wonder if those who are saying they’d call the police saying there’s a man with a firearm wandering around realise how strong the police reaction will be?

Armed police & quite likely a heli too.

10/10 for wasting police time & resources.

10/10 for over reaction.

1/10 for actually like a mature & rational adult.

As has been said: “a dick move”.

In total agreement with that conclusion!

Don’t do this, he’ll think you’re a sanctimonious cock womble.

Not if it’s said in a jovial, tongue in cheek manner.

He’s a shit shot. Because to kill a pigeon humanely with an air rifle of 12ft/lbs a head shot is the way to do it. It kills them instantly. When you shoot at the body it will go into the crop more than likely and that’s a painful slow death for the bird. That’s when they fly off after being shot and hence land in your garden. If they are on the roof of neighbours houses and he’s shooting them then that’s clearly against the law. At the end of the day he’s a dork and needs to be made aware he’s possibly breaking the law.

unless he has a license its illegal to shoot birds. Personally I’d phone the police if it was one of mine. what would the legalities of having a target set up in your garden as well.

OK, poorly placed apostrophes are one thing, and we’ve had that discussion.

But what’s this unit debauchery? Don’t you know there are engineers around?!

ft/lbs – what’s that? Is it plural – foot per pounds? Or is it feet per pound second? Probably not feet per local bike shop. Sort it out.

We had an incident with a kid pointing an air rifle out of 3rd floor window and shouting threats to shoot our dog. he was sticking the barrel out from behind curtains and hiding himself and thought it was just my GF and the dog out int he garden until I stood up from behind the wall at which point the gun quickly disappeared. I stood there staring up at the window for a few minutes and then sure enough the gun re-appeared pointing straight at me, at which point I calmly but loudly asked my GF to hand me the phone so I could call the Police.

I explained to them that I didn’t think the kid would actually shoot at us so no need for blues and twos but could they send someone to have a word and scare the crap out him. They were actually very measured in their response and did ask a passing officer to do a drive by just to check it wasnt turning out to be a mini Lebanon (I gave them the nod from the steps to say we were okay as she was instructed not to stop) and then the firearms officers turned up in their unmarked BMW. They were only too happy to nip his behaviour in the bud before it escalated to anything more serious and they found the boy and his mate home alone playing with replica guns but they had hidden the air rifle. Neighbour later confirmed they had seen and heard the kid firing down at targets in the garden from his bedroom window and she had been concerned about her cats as we had a lot of cat shootings around that time in other parts of the city not too far away.

Had a handwritten apology delivered the following week after he was dragged round by his Dad.

unless he has a license its illegal to shoot birds. Personally I’d phone the police if it was one of mine. what would the legalities of having a target set up in your garden as well.

That’s not true at all. For instance shooting pigeons you would need the landowners permission that’s all. Obviously garden birds and many many others it is illegal to shoot them.

andyl that reminded me of a lad taking potshots out of his window at me as I walked past on the edge of a local park. I spotted the barrel, curtain move and ran over banging on the door. The parents called the Police (on me) as they said I was lying, nothing to do with them. Ironically when the Police arrived it wasn’t me who was questioned. EEE I forgot all about that episode. Funnily enough when the lad admitted what he’s done I was stared at, called names by the parents!

Friends of mine had a similar issue. Their next door neighbout was up to the same, and shot a pigeon when it was in a tree in their garden. When it fell out of the tree they went to retieve it only to find that the incompetent tit had failed to kill it – but had shattered it’s wing. Since it had no hope of survival, friend necked it – but a little too hard and accidentally pulled it’s head off.

Anyway, they popped round to the next door neighbour’s house, thrust the two bits of pigeon in to his slightly horrified hands and said “here you go – we thought you would like your illegally shot pigeon back”

That seemed to end the problem.

If he really has shot them – and they have managed to fly into your garden, then there would certainly be a bit of blood from where the pellet had gone through.

Maybe a cat or sparrawhoawk had injured the pigeon you found in your garden?

How you have described him and his son in such derogatory terms, makes it look as if you are the type of person to kinda jump to the wrong conclusion just because you have seen him shooting targets in his own garden.

Just to clear a couple of things up:

Trespassing

Intentionally going on to private land, or water, where you do not have permission is trespassing, and if you are carrying an air rifle it becomes armed trespass. Whether the gun is loaded or not, or whether you are carrying pellets, is irrelevant – armed trespass is a serious criminal offence carrying heavy penalties.

Only shoot where you have the permission of the landowner or tenant.

Firing pellets beyond your boundary

It is an offence to fire an air rifle pellet beyond the land where you have permission to shoot, unless the person holding the shooting rights of the neighbouring land has given you permission. Where someone under 14 is shooting, both the young person and the supervising adult can be prosecuted.

It is also against the law to discharge any firearm (including air rifles) within 50 feet of the centre of a highway (which consists of or comprises a carriageway) IF in consequence a user of the highway is injured, interrupted or endangered. These offences could be committed, for example, when someone is shooting in their garden close to a public highway and the pellets ricochet onto the highway injuring someone.

Live quarry shooting

Many people shoot live quarry, either on their own land or where they have permission. The species which you can shoot are limited by the law and by the effective power of an air rifle.

All wild birds are protected, and although there are seasons when you can legally shoot game, and certain wildfowl, they are not suitable quarry for air rifles. However, as long as you are complying with firearms law, you can shoot certain pest bird species. These are covered by general licences which, in simple terms, mean you can shoot the birds listed, provided you have the landowner’s permission and provided you are doing it for one of the reasons allowed by the licence.

These reasons include:
to prevent serious damage (e.g. to crops and livestock) or to prevent disease
to protect and conserve flora and fauna
to preserve public health or safety

The general licenses vary by Country and are annually reviewed, so BASC recommends that anyone wishing to take these species should regularly read BASC’s advice on general licences, which is available online at basc.org.uk/shooting/general-licences/

You can shoot mammal pests at any time provided you have the landowner’s permission. Air rifles are suitable for: brown rats, grey squirrels, stoats, mink and rabbits.

General licence: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wild-birds-licence-to-take-or-kill-for-health-or-safety-purposes

Prepare the marinade. Not tried yunki’s recipe but sound nice.

unless he has a license its illegal to shoot birds.

Simply not true at all. Pigeons, crows …

As for a head shot that’s pretty difficult if they are in the trees above you which is imo how the OP’s neighbour is shooting them

Pigeon breast on a slice of lightly sautéed beetroot for me

These could be feral pigeons. I wouldn’t be eating that.

Yep I’d have a word saying the kids were upset at finding a wounded pigeon in the garden, so could he and his boy please keep the shooting to their own property.

Well, no more pigeons…yet. 🙂

Had a word with him, he obviously denied all knowledge.
Apparently he last shot one 6 months ago…
He was overly friendly today, asking if I needed a hand lifting a fence panel, chatting over the fence etc.
Not something he’d normally do.
I’m pretty certain it was him, it’s exactly the sort of thing he’d do, but I reckon his Wife’s had a go at him as she was there when I questioned him.
So, neighbourly relations are good, pigeon population is down.

Good job. A victory for commmon sense.

Of course, if you find your car tyres slashed tomorrow morning – you’ll know who it was……

😉