Thread: Police called out for Duck shooting

Originally Posted by Allgood

Having been through a situation similar to what the OP posted, my advice is get in early and argue your case...
This is what happened to me about 12 years back.
Being a wildlife ranger, I got notified by F&G that the local council rubbish/recycling place had a problem with Pukekos that were pulling out plants in the educational facility on the property......(Schools visited the place and the kids planted vegetables etc in recycled waste then came back a few weeks/months later to harvest what they had planted.)
After getting the required permit, the only way to deal with the problem was to use a suppressed 22 with subsonics and because of the terrain, there was only one direction available to shoot. This direction was into a 25m high soft earth bank with trees lining 3 sides giving a firing lane about 30 m wide and about 50m long. After setting up a 'Hide' before sunrise the following morning I duly dealt to about 25 pukeko's between 7.15 am and 7,45 that turned up, collected the carcasses and left.
Got back home and about 3 hours later one of my staff ( home business) said the Police were out back wanting to talk to me. It transpired that a person who was kayaking a local creek, and who was opposed to the pukeko cull had laid a formal complaint that they had been shot at, with the bullet hitting the water right next to the kayak. The Police then went on to say that the sound of the shot was witnessed by 2 other people who also heard the bullet hit the water. I told them that wasnt possible and described to them the area and the setup..then after they had checked out my licence, storage etc I accompanied them back to the scene and showed them the setup. They then left to discuss the matter with their Snr Sgt.

They arrived back later that afternoon with a formal letter of warning and told me that it would go on my FAL record. I refused to accept the warning and went down to the local station to talk to the Snr Sgt. The upshot was that the following morning I met the Snr and the 2 officers at the site at 7am along with my rifle/suppressor etc and showed them exactly what I had done....including firing 2 live rounds. ( Got 2 more Pukeko's btw) The police were standing about 30m behind me in the direction I had, according to the complainant, been shooting. They didnt even hear the sound of the the suppressed shots due to the shredding machine at the green waste section munching greenwaste along with all the other machinery that had started working.
To cut a long story short, the police withdrew the warning letter, apologized and went back to interview the complainant and witnesses.....When they pointed out that the gate log showed my entry and exit times between 6.15 and 7.45, the complainant was adamant that the event took place between 8.30 to and 8.45 and that even if they dismissed the timing aspect, due to the noise of the the machinery there was no way they could have heard anything let alone a suppressed 22 from 300m away they ended up giving the complainant a warning letter for making a frivolous complaint and wasting their time.
I also asked for and got a letter stating the outcome of the investigation and stuck it to the back wall inside one of my gun safes in case the matter surfaced when I did my next FAL renewal. ( It didnt)

My suggestion is to gather the facts, present them in a concise and logical way and do not accept any liability whatsoever. It will save time, money and stress in the long run.

Thanks for sharing your experience, appreciated and enlightening.

@Allgood - that was indeed an interesting post. The concerning bit is the effect of accepting the warning letter when renewing firearms licence. It will be too late to appeal or protest your innocence at that point.

Wow thanks for sharing that Allgood. Just goes to show that things sometimes go very very wrong.

Trouble is that the Police can only go on the information that is given to them. They don't seem to have the time to investigate anything properly these days, hence these terrible results and experiences that people are having with them.

Doesn't do them any favors IMO.

Originally Posted by Tentman

And 3 miles away some bugger got a bit of shot i his eye and started a massive manhunt . . .

And when I worked at Borthwicks Waingawa, old Jim and his mates would be shooting ducks from the Mai Mai in the swamp, by the potable water dam. Every shot landed lead on the smoko room, garage and blacksmiths roof. Everybody carried on as normal, nobody died!

Originally Posted by Ross Nolan

https://www.shotgunsportsmagazine.co...statistics.pdf

Less than 400 yards.

It would be nice to see a false complaint charge laid if this is simply a malicious callout.

push for a false complaint and wasting police time

push reeeeeely hard as physics are on your side

better yet ask someone smart to do the math and check the wind conditions of the day ie wind speed and direction

draw and quater them for trying to weaponise the police and do not let them escape punisment

write a letter to the local paper

but first get your facts straight with MV and BC of said projectiles

Originally Posted by no1_49er

Be mindful that if the complainant happens to be some vindictive type of b------, they could arrange that shot be found in the gutters / on the roof.

Thought you the same as above. Just to head this off, make sure you save or take picks of the shells that you used. Ie shot type and size. That way I doubt that they will get it right. Also dose anyone else shoot in the area? How they can go about proving that it’s from your gun I would really like to see.

Originally Posted by Sideshow

Thought you the same as above. Just to head this off, make sure you save or take picks of the shells that you used. Ie shot type and size. That way I doubt that they will get it right. Also dose anyone else shoot in the area? How they can go about proving that it’s from your gun I would really like to see.

Multiple farm ponds and a great duck creek through private property are far closer to the house than where we shoot, lots of shooting done in area.

Really good post here guys as I sit reading and waiting for the last leg to London from Dubai.
Might pay to get someone to put a sticky on this thread.

During the process of writing down notes while memory was fresh something else has jumped out, one officer questioned about the "volume" of shooting.
They appear to have been concerned by either (1) loudness of shooting or (2) number of shots being fired (bear in mind 29 ducks were shot but no more than 40rnds were fired)
This line of enquiry makes the complaint sound even more suspect to me.
At one point was told had not committed any offence and could leave...then other officer (who was the only officer that referred to pellets landing on house roof) stated he would be getting sent a letter. (First contact officers said they were responding to shooting in riverbed "most likely duck shooter" call.
Implications are shotguns are too loud, or you cannot shoot the legal limit of birds because it requires too many shots to be fired creating noise nuisance?

nah...its Karens,who buy a house in the country and get all upset when tiddles the cat/dog/goldfish gets upset by the noise of shots going off...Tiddles is probably thinking its all good fun and wants to join in...... I was asked about this senario by a good mate DURING opening weekend from other side of fence angle...I SUGGESTED to put dog in wagon and go for a drive....or will be come the "bitch of a neighbour" forever afterwards.....MOST places will be luck to be shot 4-5 weekends a season.... if Karen turned up the radio Tiddles wouldnt even notice.

Originally Posted by Sideshow

How they can go about proving that it’s from your gun I would really like to see.

That is simply not possible with shotguns. Matching a fired case to a gun is possible, and matching a wad and shot to a fired case is partially possible, but matching shot to a specific gun is impossible. I think this needs to be taken further as the complainant appears to be deliberately trying to 'set up' the shooter and waste Police time just to make a political point. I despise thieves, but they stand on the shoulders of scum who are happy to sacrifice innocent people for political or personal ends. My services are available if needed.

Yeah @gundoc it was a rhetorical reply. No rifling no proof. Really liked your response to the ops questions awesome

Originally Posted by gundoc

That is simply not possible with shotguns. Matching a fired case to a gun is possible, and matching a wad and shot to a fired case is partially possible, but matching shot to a specific gun is impossible. I think this needs to be taken further as the complainant appears to be deliberately trying to 'set up' the shooter and waste Police time just to make a political point. I despise thieves, but they stand on the shoulders of scum who are happy to sacrifice innocent people for political or personal ends. My services are available if needed.

Really hoping this does not turn into a legal battle but up for it if required and while I am not aware of what services you may be able to help with I really appreciate your offer as I imply from others comments you could be very helpful.
Still feel need to receive letter to see what it says and plan/move/respond from there.

@PestNightshooter also pay close attention to what was said in post #47 with regards to written warning and accepting/Not accepting it!
Very important!

Must be some steel pellets in the gutters

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