Thread: Hunting Schedule 5 animals with a slingshot

Hello ladies and gents

What an amazing resource this forum is! My name is Daniel. Am new here and new to hunting and I have a few questions that I have been unable to answer any other way.

I recently bought a slingshot and have been practising with it for the last couple of months. I think I am nearly ready to try and take some game.

My questions are regarding Schedule 5 animals.

Firstly, can I hunt schedule 5 animals with a slingshot on DoC land without a permit? Their website says I need a permit to hunt, but the small game permit only covers specific animals with specific weapons.

Secondly, I understand that I cannot hunt Schedule 5 animals in parks or reserves or anything like that, or on private land without permission. But what about in other publicly accessible areas? If a pigeon is on public land (like next to a road in the countryside), can I shoot it as long as I am not causing a danger to a person or property etc.?

Thirdly, is there some really bloody obvious place that I could easily go hunt schedule 5 animals that I haven't thought of? I am lucky enough to know a few people with big properties, and I have read your excellent advice about approaching landowners. But the wording of schedule 5 makes it seem like hunting them should be easy, so I am hoping I missed something.

That was a longer post than I anticipated...

Cheers

Originally Posted by FeralPhilosopher

Hello ladies and gents

What an amazing resource this forum is! My name is Daniel. Am new here and new to hunting and I have a few questions that I have been unable to answer any other way.

I recently bought a slingshot and have been practising with it for the last couple of months. I think I am nearly ready to try and take some game.

My questions are regarding Schedule 5 animals.

Firstly, can I hunt schedule 5 animals with a slingshot on DoC land without a permit? Their website says I need a permit to hunt, but the small game permit only covers specific animals with specific weapons.

Secondly, I understand that I cannot hunt Schedule 5 animals in parks or reserves or anything like that, or on private land without permission. But what about in other publicly accessible areas? If a pigeon is on public land (like next to a road in the countryside), can I shoot it as long as I am not causing a danger to a person or property etc.?

Thirdly, is there some really bloody obvious place that I could easily go hunt schedule 5 animals that I haven't thought of? I am lucky enough to know a few people with big properties, and I have read your excellent advice about approaching landowners. But the wording of schedule 5 makes it seem like hunting them should be easy, so I am hoping I missed something.

That was a longer post than I anticipated...

Cheers

I suggest that you go easy on cattle and horses. They and their owners may take offence fairly quickly.

Haha! Think the cows will even notice?

I was thinking more the pigeons, geese, magpies and such.

Hunting any animal it needs to killed humanly.
As for hunting Doc land i would say that would be a No but you would need to check. To easy for a person to start killing native birds

Slingshots are fantastic - with the right bands and ~10mm lead projectiles you can get pass through on animals hare and possum sized - easily kill larger with head shots. They've really evolved in the UK because sport hunting for average blokes has been reduced to rats/pigeons/squirrels with slingshots so they've had to really get good with them.

Good on you FeralPhilosopher for actually digging through the rules and looking for the law and facts rather than going with "common" "knowledge". Odds are you've found that what is enforced is not really the same as what is the law.

Originally Posted by bigbear

Hunting any animal it needs to killed humanly.
As for hunting Doc land i would say that would be a No but you would need to check. To easy for a person to start killing native birds

The "could kill a bird" thing has always rubbed me the wrong way. It's already illegal to kill native birds... if someone doesn't care about breaking the law to kill a bird why would they follow the law on what they used to do it. It's like they think carrying a .22 or shotgun will suddenly cause people to go deranged and decide their purpose in life is to vaporize fantails. Don't think I've met anyone who would happily scare off all the game in a valley to blow away a bird for fun, and those that would are generally the kind of people who violate more laws on their way to buy booze on a Tuesday morning than most of us do in a lifetime.

I know I would certainly have shot a lot of hares and rabbits in my wanderings if I'd been allowed to bring a nice little suppressed .22 with me. Just can't be bothered getting a special permit from the local office for every new place I decide to try hunting, so the bunnies are free to gnaw the native plants in peace.

I may get criticised for saying this, but whatever. A slingshot doesn't draw anywhere near the same level of scrutiny as a firearm, plus it can be tucked away in a backpack. If you have permission to be on a piece of land (DOC/public or private), are targeting legal quarry and think you can make a humane kill, go for it. I would keep a low profile and avoid public places with lots of people around though.

trey that pre-fragmented ceramic slingshot ammo. seen goat taken with it

Originally Posted by gonetropo

trey that pre-fragmented ceramic slingshot ammo. seen goat taken with it

Troll methinks

Actually all legislation is subject to interpretation. The court is the final arbitrator of what was intended by parliament. We need this to be so because parliament usually doesn’t know what it wants to achieve or what it intends.

Originally Posted by Sidney

Actually all legislation is subject to interpretation. The court is the final arbitrator of what was intended by parliament. We need this to be so because parliament usually doesn’t know what it wants to achieve or what it intends.

Sort of like the ‘loaded in breech, barrel or magazine’ fiasco?

I don’t think there will be any issues killing pigeons or possums. But there is always someone who has an issue with someone having fun!

I suggest calling DOC and that should clear it up for the DOC land side of things.

Originally Posted by Sako851

..................................I suggest calling DOC and that should clear it up for the DOC land side of things.

I disagree as DOC probably still employs ignorant muppets to answer queries.

An example, an Ozzie harrier was killing my free range chickens and after checking the various acts, i found i was entitled to shoot them ( on my lifestyle property, in the country side away from dwellings etc) but two DOC Muppets said I could not shoot them as they were protected. Load of crap as the acts excluded them from protection.

I challenged thism pointing them to the non protection and then they responded by saying i needed a licence to shoot them. Further I must apply for a licence which would require lotsa information , cost me $300 ( think) and may not even be approved with no refund of the $300.

I spat the dummy, wrote the the then DOC Minister who apologised in writing for their staff's incorrect information and progressed a change to their legisation which made it clear that Ozzie Hariers depredators could be shot.

SO, never accept unquestioningly that which a DOC person claims to be fact if it appears to be bull shit..

That’s kinda why I haven’t tried to call them, and why I asked you guys instead. If I can get hold of someone at DOC it will be a random desk jockey with no clue.

Originally Posted by FeralPhilosopher

That’s kinda why I haven’t tried to call them, and why I asked you guys instead. If I can get hold of someone at DOC it will be a random desk jockey with no clue.

But you'd rather just take random "advice" on a forum

If it smells like a troll, talks like a troll....