Go find your own patch.

[Diamond Jim]

Coming from a family that owns land that is regularly accessed by unauthorised shooters thinking they can come and go as they please, I say honour the decision of the landowner and play to their rules. If you've done the right thing for 40+ years then it's likely they will stick with you. If the new crowd stuff up then the owner will get fed up eventually and ask them not to come back - bottom line is it's the owners call not yours. If that's not you then save up and buy your own property and deal with everyone that wants to shoot on your land and convince themselves that they are doing you a favour.

[Elmer]

Thanks for the the advice Jim, will go out tomorrow and buy 10000 acres and your invited to have a shoot.

[Member-Deleted]

G'day Diamond Jim mate i'm from the bush also and I find loyalty runs both ways firstly I doubt Elmer would not do the right thing and secondly nobody doubted the rights of the farmer just voicing the hurt of loyalty not being returned in kind if the farmer is planning on a change of visitor it would be only polite to give reasons as to why especially after 30-40yrs of shooting there .I know I would be hurt if this wasn't forth coming I would think i'd done something to upset the farmer . You see the world is not one sided and respect is need from both parties ( land owner and shooter) the farmer will exercise their right by deciding whether you get on or not we all know that . More harm than good can come from changing the goal posts midstream shooters tend to pick up on this and tend to avoid these farms and sometimes leaving them to bare the damage of ferals . although this is not always the case.

[Elmer]

Exactly Bushy.....l have always respected the owners rules and have never left anything behind (except for tyre tracks).
Finding a decent property to shoot on is like gold, I have an emotional attachment to that land and it s**ts me when i see it turned into a townees playground.
I am currently on the hunt for new ground, I will still go there but something different would be nice
cheers

[Oldbloke]

Mate, I shot on a property for about 40 years. The owner started going a bit troppo. Soooo, I decided, against my grain to move on and find a new property. About 6 months later there was a murder/suicide on the proprty. (Owner and wife both in their 90's)

Bloody glad i pulled out when i did.

[Elmer]

Jeez, oldbloke its a good thing you did pull out.

[Diamond Jim]

I don't mean to suggest any wrong attitude or disrespect by Elmer or anyone else. If that's how it came across please accept my apology...but (there is always a "but") the world changes. I regret that I can't shoot airguns in my inner city backyard like I used to do. I hate that new arrivals in the town nearest our properties think our properties are open for them to trespass and shoot on without consent. I hate that WA doesn't have a duck or quail season any more. I hate that we had to surrender perfectly good firearms in the buyback. I hate that I can't climb Ayers Rock any more. It goes on and on.
Celebrate the fact you've had 40+ years of good relations with your host and, by all means, regret the fact it can't last forever but accept that we are temporary visitors here - including the landowner. When I've saved up enough to buy my own patch I might invite you for a shoot!

[Member-Deleted]

No offence taken Diamond Jim . mate we all have hates and some regrets but common sense , respect and common curtesy from both parties isn't one of them ie land owner and shooter common sense is you don't shoot a persons land without permission, respect is you respect all rules and the wishes of both parties, and common curtesy is you both keep each other in the loop and respect each others space. it's not that hard to do but it's hard when you turn up for a shoot and find a bunch of hoons have been given the ok to be there with out the farmer notifying you about them so I see this as a safety issue and very dangerous

[Diamond Jim]

I totally accept the safety aspect. That's a real concern. The landowner/manager must know who is on their land at all times, where they are operating and they must make sure they communicate that information with other visitors. Unfortunately change occurs whether we like it or not and the owner/manager that Elmer (or any of us) has known and dealt with and had a good relationship with gets replaced with or is influenced by a new generation who want to look after their mates. Properties get sold to new owners with different agendas. It is a sh!t sandwich but it is how the world has worked for thousands of years. I can shoot better than my boys but I wouldn't want to box with them any more. I'm in a different stage of my journey and while they will never know the things I've seen and done, I'll never know their lives. I regret both but that's life. We cant freeze time and we can't go back.

[Khalild]

Such a shame this sort of thing happens. New to the sport however have tagged along with friends. Really feel for the property owners who have to put up with people who don't respect boundaries. Makes it hard for every one else who tries to do the right thing.

[NTSOG]

G'day,

I'm lucky enough to have permission to shoot on several neighbouring farms. I was chatting to the owner of one family farm [owned by the same family since 1880] and the farmer told me there had been a single red deer living up the hill in one paddock for some time. A couple of days earlier he had been inspecting a mob of sheep only to find some drongo had shot the deer. The carcase was left to rot and no meat taken. There's no way to know who shot it or when as there are plenty of forest and plantation roads for idiots to sneak along at night. [We get a few night-time robberies of farm sheds as well.] It's not the first time a deer has been shot 'for fun' and left to rot nearby. Unfortunately it seems that, as more people come to live in the country, we get more drongos who could not give a damn about how to behave around stock, drive like madmen and have no respect for private property.

Jim.

[Oldbloke]

"Drongos" don't worry, they are everywhere. Try construction site's.

[Pudlux]

Up our way we have those halts its that call themselves 'Ringbark and Run. They ensure that landowners are very wary about who they allow access. Only a matter of time before these fools kill someone or better yet, get some of their own back.