Farm Hunting

[kanwar76]

This is something from Raj's Post where he mentioned about Farm Hunting. I saw a program (V.I.P weekends) on Travel channel where they showed Royal Pheasant Hunt. They released some pheasants which were later driven towards the guns. I believe there are some farms in US also where they provide farm raised pheasants hunts with pointing dogs etc. So my question is...

Can't we do something like this in INDIA LEGALLY, Don't know about pheasants but there are some quail farms near Bangalore so technically they are not wild life, lf one leave PETA aside, Are there any laws against doing this?
It?s like killing your chickens for eating, I just don't want to butcher them with knife, and I will do that with my gun

Just looking for some possibilities guys...

[dev]

You horrible bater eating person you...why can't it be wild boars

I too thought about what you wrote about, but don't have a clue about this. It would be nice to have a maynor type of set up with a game keeper and all and a spot of wing shooting on a winter day.

Having seen a bird beat in the 70's i'd say it was a great way to discover the hunting sport...the smell of those sellier belloit cartridges and the mountain air in your face.

It was almost like a great glass of ambrosia. Are you going to check out the farms about your idea?


Regards,

Dev

p.s. guess you already know this...People Eating Tasty Animals=P.E.T.A

[kanwar76]

You horrible bater eating person you...why can't it be wild boars

Because they are wild

I too thought about what you wrote about, but don't have a clue about this. It would be nice to have a maynor type of set up with a game keeper and all and a spot of wing shooting on a winter day.

What is maynor type of set up?

I can always go and Hunt in my private property but what I wanted to know is can i do it legally. I am not thinking of harming any wild population. I will just raise quails at my farm and release them for hunting later.

And if there is nothing illegal in this then who knows on a later stage I may start my own hunting preserve where you guys can come and have some fun (Off course after paying me )

Inder

PS: I don;t give a damm aboout P.E.T.A if I am not doing anything against the law.

[Sakobav]

Inder

I willbe surprised if its legal And I doubt Indian law allows or recognize hunting preserves. That said I know of guys who have something similar in HP/Punjab border area ( land was inherited and some additional was bought) and seems they have left their land as is therefore lot of birds nest there and also maintain some kind of watering hole. Its way off the track place, they use it for weekend camping and not sure how they manage the relationship with villagers since wild boar and neel ghai etc do attack the crops. In addition, these guys follow hunting season rules and now a days shoot more pictures then anything else. In the end who you are and who you know matters..not a bad idea though of releasing quail hunting I am not sure

[penpusher]

Hunting any species protected by the Wild Life Act is illegal, even if the birds/animals have been reared on a farm.Infact even the posession of a protected species is illegal unless there is proper documentation from the wild life dept.Quail reared on farms is not protected as its diff. from the Indian Quail.

Releasing captive animals , without the approval of the Wild Life dept, is an offence. Releasing exotic species is also prohibited.

Take care,
SUkhpreet

[kanwar76]

Releasing captive animals , without the approval of the Wild Life dept, is an offence. Releasing exotic species is also prohibited.
Take care,
SUkhpreet

Thanks penpusher,

Is there anything about INDIAN law which you don't know.... .
One more idea goen kapoot................

Inder

[sat]

i'd say it was a great way to discover the hunting sport...the smell of those sellier belloit cartridges and the mountain air in your face.

Dev,

The smell of those S&B cartridges, the open fields, the fresh air, 'what memories'. We would at times open a airtight container with a few 'fired 12ga shells' to sniff at the empty cartridges... best fragrance in the world...

sat

[Kshatriya]

Though the quails being raised on farms are Japanese Quails, that too requires permission from the local forest department.Their inflow & outflow from the farm has to be thoroughly documented.

[mundaire]

Any reason why the local species of quails/ partridge/ pheasants/ grouse are not being raised at farms? Is there any law against this? Surely these birds are not on the endangered list!

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Mack The Knife]

Abhijeet,

I take it they are plentiful in your area but down south I get the feeling that their (partridge and quail) numbers may be reducing. I could be wrong though.

Mack The Knife

[mundaire]

If we are talking about partridge/ quail - their population in a given area depends on several factors.

Due to the huge pressure on land, several villages (across India) have had neighboring brush cleared for farm use. The term used here for such land which was left fallow permanently for grazing etc. (usually by the erstwhile feudal lords) is "kaalar". This "kaalar" is now being encroached in many villages (usually) by lower caste farmers, whose encroachments are ignored by the authorities, since it is a sensitive political issue. Anyhow, this drastically reduces "cover" for these birds, which I would imagine is a bit of a handicap for them, especially considering their nesting preferences.

Also, of course the ever present agricultural chemicals (pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, etc. etc.) can't be helping much either.

There is almost no hunting in our area (trust me, I know!), but still even I can observe a perceptible and steady decline in the game bird population! On the other hand, at my maternal uncles place, there is definitely hunting going on - mostly by army officers at the neighboring tank shooting range (the Indian Army is still above the law in certain aspects )... but still there is no visible decline in numbers - year on year on year!

Before I forget, too much precipitation/ irrigation affects bird populations for certain game (like sand grouse) negatively and areas which were earlier semi-arid and are now irrigated will certainly see a decline in their numbers!

I think I should add here that I am hardly a "know all" on this subject, having been born a generation or two - too late! (don't want the wrong people to get the wrong ideas ) ...
Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Vikram]

Mack The Knife,

Unfortunately, you are not wrong.In AP and Tamilnadu, in many parts, smuggling of quails and partridges to be served in restaurants as specialty dishes.

[Kshatriya]

Common Wild Quail

Japanese Quail

There are two species of quail in India; the black-breasted quail found in jungle (Coturnix Coromandelica) and the brown-coloured Japanese Quail (Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) which is bred for meat or the one used for commercial Quail production.While Indian quail weighs up to 100 gm and lays 100 eggs a year, the Japanese quail weighs up to 250 gm and lays 250 eggs a year.

A government license is required to sell commercial Japanese quail considering the jungle variety of the bird, which is a protected species. The Ministry of environment and forests delegated the power to grant such license to the Department of Animal Husbandry.

[Sakobav]

http://article.wn.com/view/2006/09/04/R ... ders_farm/
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1051877 Wildlife department slaps notice on Amarinder Singh for keeping endangered birds in a Himachal Pradesh farmhouse

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main19.asp ... ng_the.asp


http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050516/punjab1.htm#3 Quail Poaching

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/200405 ... /main1.htm

Chukar or Chukor which was brought to US from India


http://www.umt.edu/urelations/rview/winter04/flight.htm Article on how ground birds can climb steep inclines. It also states such birds are much easier to rare in wild from eggs to hatchings.

Chukar Breeding

http://www.thatquailplace.com/partridge/chukar1.htm

[mehulkamdar]

Navdeep,

Several Indian pheasant breeds are available in the US - Chukar, Monal, Coucal etc. The sad thing is that these birds are not bred in India and Indian farmers breed Japanese Quail instead. Recently, the government of Pakistan set up a huge farm breeding pheasants and quail because the birds have almost been wiped out in that country. MAybe, India could take a hint and start this process as well. After all, the crocodile farms at Sathanur, Mahabalipuram etc have been extremely successful. No reason why bird farms shouldn't be, even if they are run by the government.