WE WALK ON THE HEAD

This subject has already been mentioned a few times, but it is worth recalling from time to time the stupidity of certain regulations, hoping to make decision-makers think. It's only fools who don't change their mind, so let's hope ... ........

Beeper and woodcock

The beep beep is exclusively authorized for hunting woodcock with the pointing dog  . It is true that each hunting society and each hunting federation can prohibit its use by a vote of their members ........

At the same time, it is strictly forbidden to use it to hunt "  shooting pots  »Pheasants and other backyard partridges, released exclusively to be collected as soon as possible  !!!

The woodcock is one of the rare and magnificent wild game birds, to be harvested in moderation, in order to perpetuate its hunt for the next generation of pointing dogs.

So why authorize sophisticated electronic means that facilitate their location with the aim of allowing them to be shot and captured more easily?  ! We walk on the head  !

Yes I know, some supporters of this device justify themselves by claiming that their faithful companion in a trance during the stopping phase, could be the victim of a heart attack, if the time for this posture is not shortened.

Spurious remarks if any, because none of these Nimrods making such remarks, could give me a single case of such an accident.  !!! Before the authorization of the beeper, we had not observed on our side, a massacre of pointers dead of a heart attack at the stop of a woodcock  ! ... "  Pipeau  »As one of my friends would say  !!

Why not have the honesty to recognize quite simply that with the generation of British hunting pointers, blocking a bird sometimes very far from their handler, it is more comfortable for the hunter to be able to spot the position of his dog at a standstill to join him quickly and especially to shoot a few more woodcock. It is unfortunate that the "  recordite  Is sometimes the engine.

I myself hunt the woodcock with passion, accompanied by pointers of great quest for 26 years, weighted with a simple campane, without beeper .... the 24 previous years, I have driven continental dogs on woodcock like most of us.

This is to say if I can testify, without boasting, that in practicing this difficult hunt, the hunter's attention must never be relaxed so as not to lose contact with his dog.  !

It is precisely this uncertain research that makes it so charming, parbleu, especially without beep beep, which gives this magnificent bird a chance to get away with it.

Focusing on quality over quantity should be the motivation of the modern woodcock hunter.

Response from some sincere users, who do not deny the lethal effectiveness of the beeper  :

as long as a national PMA of 30 birds per season and per hunter is established, when the latter is reached, woodcock hunting is stopped.  !

What I gladly answer  :

-so you agree that it is not at all certain that the PMA is reached without beep beep, in this case without the help of a beeper some woodcock could be preserved. We no longer hunt for food, that I know  !

Others claim they don't kill more woodcock with or without a beeper  !!!

So why embarrass your dog with an instrument that is useless  ??? Hmm  !

Unless those come to the dog at a standstill, either they shoot very badly or either they clap their hands or stamp their feet to make the woodcock take off and magnanimous, thank the red bird, well let's see  !!! pipe  !

In addition, an LDC is not a quota to be reached at all costs, but a levy not to be exceeded, which is not at all the same thing.  "  here again we walk on the head.

The PMA was established to limit abuses when woodcock was few and woodcock more abundant than today.

But nowadays the stable or decreasing woodcock herd according to the observation of certain specialists has not increased, at least in the same proportions as the number of hunters practicing this hunt ... then 30 woodcock per year per hunter for ten times more hunters, is it reasonable  ? I'll let you think about it.

However, reassuring information about the tracking collar for pointers hunting woodcock: we learned from a reliable and official source that the GPS compass was prohibited to find a dog in the process of hunting.

Consequently, the GPS compass is strictly prohibited during woodcock hunting, and that's fine.  !

This ban is in line with the ethics advocated by the CNB which is today "  hunt as much as possible while killing as little as possible  "

I would obviously point out that it is not the users of the beeper who are directly involved in my remarks, since they are in good standing with the regulations, but it is the use that is made of it that is often questionable.

It is, you will have understood, this authorization to use a beeper only for the hunting of the woodcock which is an incomprehensible aberration which must have germinated undoubtedly in a particularly tortured spirit and especially ignoring the specific hunting of this migratory bird. , which is not reproducible like shooting pots.

It is, in my opinion, shared by many woodcock, an absurdity, an unprecedented error in judgment that could quickly cost Scolopax rusticola and therefore our favorite hunt.

The time has come to practice rational hunting .... in order to take less and thus remain credible in the face of our detractors.

Robert Bonnefoi

Article published in "  hunting in the Alpes de Haute Provence  »Of the federation of hunters of 04.