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Shooting and wildfowling

Wildfowling is the pursuit of species such as duck and geese, using a smooth bore shotgun, either on foot or under certain conditions by boat over foreshore.

Solitary activity

Wildfowling is largely a solitary activity and bag sizes per visit rarely number more than two or three birds. Most wildfowling takes place around dawn and dusk.

Wildfowler hunters need to have certain qualities to be successful. These include the need to be patient. Wildfowl hunters also need to be able to quickly spot whether a potential quarry (a bird that you intend to shoot) is legal to hunt or not, sometimes in poor visibility. This is obviously an important skill for a wildfowl hunter to have, but it only needs a little bit of background research for you to become familiar with what constitutes a legal quarry.

The British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) has information which is available to download in PDF format, so you can quickly become knowledgeable enough to know what you're doing.

Using lead shot is prohibited

Shooting with lead shot on or over wetlands can poison water fowl likes ducks, geese and swans. Birds swallow the spent lead shot, which has fallen onto the wetlands they inhabit, while they are feeding. This damages the bird's nervous system, liver and kidneys. It also damages the gizzard preventing birds from feeding. Many birds die after ingesting lead shot.

A sustainable harvest of waterfowl is perfectly acceptable, but the loss of ducks, geese and swans due to lead poisoning is not – particularly when some species are under increasing pressure from other factors. It therefore makes sense to ban the use of lead shot on and over wetlands, as it causes unnecessary losses.

Shooting with lead shot on or over wetlands is prohibited in Northern Ireland. This guide will give you advice on what counts as wetland, what are the alternatives to lead ammunition and more general shooting information.

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