Thread: Night shooting on private (rural) land: notifying District Police HQ

Something I’ve learned recently is that if you’re night shooting (pest control type stuff), it might be useful to call the non-emergency number of your district police HQ prior, and simply let them know what’s happening.

They’ll record the address, time window, your contact details, and give you a job number

Police simply ask that you call them back when you’ve finished for the night so they can close the job.

This simply allows them to have an idea of what’s happening locally if some distant neighbour (you’ve probably notified the nearby ones) or suchlike sees/hears the goings on and calls it in

No bother to do, and in my book, a positive way to ensure our hunting activities are not spoilt by unnecessary police attention due to concerned citizens.

Naturally, we remind ourselves of the firearms safety rules!

Note this relates to situations where you’re a reasonable distance from neighbours.......

Can see the reasons behind this but it's sad that we as law abiding firearms owners need to go to this level.... Anyone living in a rural setting should realise that need for pest control.

Nope that’s being to PC for me, rather waste police resources!!

I live about 500m from the edge of town. From time to time I'll hear gunshots at night. It can be hard to establish whether it's in town or on farmland.

years ago on at one of the alex easter bunny hunt, we drove past an older but tidy workers house. farmer said it had been sold off to some townies as a holiday spot, and was occupied by them for the easter hols.
We suggested that shooting that night close by would be off limits but he said "bugger 'em". They've got to get used to living rural.
We laughed and at least one of our crew shot rabbits in the paddock over from it.

Well um if its your land OR you have permission to be there that should be ENOUGH, things have gone way to far to the left and I predict pretty soon things will become very much like the book 1984.

For example the police do not go to "jobs" next thing they will be speaking with "clients"

Think about this, you buy and own your own home but you can't do sweet FA on or round it without getting permission or paying a fee to someone or having it inspected ya da ya da ya da.

They already refer to suspects as clients.

Were I go spotlighting rabbits all the neighbours know what is going on when you are out shooting because there is a rabbit problem and they are used to them being shot, they welcome the thought of someone cleaning them up. I do however use subsonics with a suppressor on the .22 so there really is no noise but there is still a spotlight flashing around.

Its not about obtaining permission to shoot on your own land, its simply letting them know who it is that is shooting especially if you have paranoid crazy locals who enjoy calling the police at the drop of a hat. I know people who love calling the Police because they like the sound of their own voice on the phone.

Nothing wrong with a quick call and saying "you lads might get a call because the guy up the road freaks out if I so much as clap my hands" Look at it this way, if you are not home and someone is illegally shooting on/near your land, don't you want Police to follow it up?

We do this on most of our Pigeon shoots, especially if our setup is visible from a road, has worked in our favour a few times .

Originally Posted by oneshot

Its not about obtaining permission to shoot on your own land, its simply letting them know who it is that is shooting especially if you have paranoid crazy locals who enjoy calling the police at the drop of a hat. I know people who love calling the Police because they like the sound of their own voice on the phone.

Nothing wrong with a quick call and saying "you lads might get a call because the guy up the road freaks out if I so much as clap my hands" Look at it this way, if you are not home and someone is illegally shooting on/near your land, don't you want Police to follow it up?

Hearing shots is commonplace in rural areas. Perhaps better to "be aware" and not placidly ignore everything around you.

https://www.noted.co.nz/currently/cr...five-years-on/

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

They already refer to suspects as clients.

We are f$%ked then

I’m the only shooter in our valley and if there are shots, the old neighbours will say “oh that’s him again” as they all know me, I have their permission, I always phone ahead and in the past they’ve only been too grateful for the removal of the rabbits, cats, hares, pigs, possums, peacocks, turkeys, the odd stray Kaimai deer, even some dumped milking goats once. (I mean, who the hell dumps their unwanted stock on someone else’s farm? Cock heads, that’s who.)

Problem now is that since we came back to the valley from Aus, a neighbouring farm has been subdivided, and now we have six new neighbours, half of whom are sensible, the half of whom are complete fuckwits. Hippy dippy alternative lifestyle vegan mofos. They’re as pakeha as the driven snow, some are even foreign, and yet they try to talk using Maori words and phrases with awful pronunciation, live in yurts, claim to own “their” valley, “their” mountain, wear pounamu bought at the airport and try and greet you with a hongi. They campaign against the wind farm, gold exploration, dairy, they hold mung bean festivals and dress like Jimi Hendrix’s curtains.

Ranting! Anyway, these lentil munching knobs are dead against our pest control efforts and we’ve had a couple of run ins about shooting rabbits and hares on neighbouring properties. Luckily our local police sergeant is a good bloke and one of his constables lives in the next valley over, so I’m well covered and the only time (that I know of) that there was a call to the local cop shop, the tofu princess was put firmly back in her place. And that was daytime shooting, I hardly ever spotlight. But it is infuriating that after so many years of sensible, seasonal pest control and a common understanding of what needs to be done to manage the land, these tie dye blow ins seem to think they have a Zen given right to try and stop anything and everything around them that doesn’t conform to their minority alternative views.

James Hetfield had it right in his interview with Rogan, about why he moved out of the Bay to Colorado.

Sorry @SiB, rant over.

To me it’s about communication; I prefer our good officers of the law to have some hard facts about who, what, and where, if they do receive a call from a ‘concerned’ citizen.

Anyone who names their children after Disney characters, Miss-spells perfectly good names or uses names like “starfire” or “moonlight” is suspect, and the ones to be wary of lol.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

they hold mung bean festivals and dress like Jimi Hendrix’s curtains.

Something has obviously gone badly wrong with their lives. They need a hug.