Hi David,
As birders we know how difficult quick identification of flying birds can be -
the test is not conducted in the field and anyone can learn pictures on a page
sufficiently to get, what I understand is, the required 70% pass mark.
Split second decisions in often poor light made all the more difficult by a
rapidly flying quarry, and then multiplied by the desperation to actually shoot
"something" with feathers - mean that in reality the test is in most cases
window-dressing at best.
Allan Richardson
Morisset NSW
On 29/03/2013, at 8:33 AM, Dave Torr wrote:
> Very interesting - my understanding is that duck shooters in Vic have to
> pass a duck id test but I guess it is like taking a driving test - just
> because you pass doesn't mean you follow the rules afterwards!
>
> On 28 March 2013 18:38, Graeme Gallienne <> wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>>
>>
>>
>> I spent last weekend at the SSAA Property at Captain's Mountain (for those
>> of you who need to know the area, this is about 20km west of Milmerran a
>> town on the Darling Downs of Queensland). I was in the company of my
>> husband, a shooter and also a member of BirdLife Australia, as well as
>> about
>> 40 other members of a Gold Coast Shooting Club. By the way, this property
>> is run as a nature refuge and all wildlife is protected. The only shooting
>> of guns that takes place is on various ranges at inanimate targets, under
>> the strict control of various Range Officers. The only shooting of
>> wildlife
>> was done by me with my camera.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have formed very definite opinions about shooting ducks - IT SHOULD NOT
>> BE
>> ALLOWED! Not one of the shooters I was with last weekend would be able to
>> identify which species was able to be shot and which species wasn't - not
>> even my husband. They would not even know that there are such birds as
>> Coots, Moorhens and Grebes - to the uneducated, they are all ducks.
>> Unfortunately, most of these people are very nice and very respectable and
>> would not intentionally break the law, they are just ignorant. I showed
>> them a slide show of the photos I had taken over the weekend and some were
>> very interested but NONE knew what any of the birds except for a Willie
>> Wagtail, were. Others were not very interested in the photos mostly the
>> younger males who'd shoot at anything if permitted.
>>
>>
>>
>> As, to my great disgust, shooting ducks in Victoria appears to be here to
>> stay for a few years - birders could lobby the government for a far better
>> level of training to enable correct duck i.d. by shooters before they get
>> out into the great outdoors if it is possible for these people to become
>> experts at identifying a flying bird whilst the adrenalin is pumping in
>> their veins BUT my other even greater wish is that if shooters go out to
>> shoot ducks or ferals in National Parks, they must take a registered Wild
>> Life Spotter (say 1 spotter to 4 shooters) with them, whose job it is to
>> identify the targets and also officially report back to whichever
>> government
>> department controls the shooting, what is shot, how many and how many got
>> away but were injured. There would be a cost involved to the shooters but
>> they pay quite high range fees etc. to go to shoot at gun ranges and don't
>> seem to mind.
>>
>>
>>
>> The other major point that should be made law is NO ALCOHOL should be
>> allowed to be consumed whilst any person is in possession of a firearm,
>> whether in use or locked away in a strongbox in a vehicle at a campsite.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Sandra Gallienne
>>
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