To ask my neighbours not to hang dead animals from their fence?

[Bdg212]

New neighbours like to shoot. That’s their choice, but they hang the animals they kill from their front garden fence for all to see. It’s usually pheasants and sometimes rabbits. Aibu to think this is pretty inconsiderate behaviour? I’m veggie and find it quite upsetting. There are kids about too.

I end up with pheasants hanging off my front gate for a couple of days sometimes. They're left for me and as I work from home I often don't leave the house for days on end, so don't know they're there. Could it be similar?

Otherwise, yeah, people hang their own inside a shed normally, stops the scavengers getting them.

I’m mostly just curious about why they are on the fence as I am not sure what’s stopping the wild animals from eating them/is it the best or only place to hang them? Is there no back fence? Are they offered for sale? Is it just attention seeking??

You could always just pop over “what’s with the birds on the fence?” And find out. Sate my curiosity please!

Aside from that, there’s a lot of misinformation on this thread re shooting and the like. Personally I think it’s preferable to kill what you eat and eat what you kill, where possible. Buying a bunch of pink bits at the supermarket is less tasty but also does put a lot of mental distance between someone and their food. I love meat but some animals are kept in atrocious conditions and it’s unacceptable.

I used to live in a rural shooting area and often found a brace of pheasants/grouse/ partridge gifted outside my house. Just would take them and hang in garage and regift to the local pub
I'm not a veggie but don't have the stomach for plucking and disembowelling birds

@RagzRebooted

Do you object to butchers shops having see through windows?

Well, yes. I don't like to see it, tbh.

I’m now worrying about the hypothetical situation where I’m living in the country and various friendly neighbours place random game in my porch as a kind gesture. How on earth would I swerve that without coming across as a weird townie? Do people in this position have to skin/pluck them and everything? How do you learn how to do it - does YouTube have videos?

Plucking and disembowelling pheasants is a horrible job. You get gifted pheasants because the people shooting do not want to actually do this to eat them. They just want to kill live things for fun.

Are they hung on the front fence for someone else to collect?

@Phrenologistsfinger

YANBU. It’s disgusting! Some (many) country people are backwards and grim. I know, I live there too. Tradition my arse!

Backwards and grim? That's a charming generalisation about people who live and work in the countryside. Take your stereotypes and move to a city.

@StScholastica

AngelinaFibres No, pheasants are not a "crop". They are a wild British bird, who are perfectly adapted to live wild lives, I have several who visit my garden. They do not need feeding. Gamekeepers feed them up to be shot but they are perfectly capable of living in the wild.

They’re non-native, semi-domesticated game birds, not wild British birds! They’re basically feral chickens; a menace to other wildlife, staggeringly stupid and surprisingly fragile - they regularly drop dead for no discernible reason.

I still don’t feel any affinity with people who take pleasure in killing something, but that’s by the by.

I wouldn't like it. It's a residential street not a butchers....

Out of interest, wouldn't the dead animals hanging outside attract flies and go maggoty?

I thought the idea of hanging meat is you do it in a shed or butcher's shop or something?

I don't understand why they would hang it outside.
I live in a rural area, dead animals hung outside would be devoured by birds within a day or two.
I know game has to hang, but generally done indoors for that reason.

That is a back garden type of activity. So likely still visible to neighbors, yet somehow, since it’s the back garden, it seems less offensive. It’s an odd bit of social convention, but social convention is what keeps neighborhoods functioning.

I hope they’re not just shooting random pheasants whenever the whim takes them. That’s poaching.

Perhaps they've been left out the front for others to pick up? I agree it seems very weird if they're actually being stored there. My guess would be they've told friends to come and help themselves.

On more than one occasion I would come home and a brace would be on our gate from our neighbour. Free free-range Sunday lunch, what's not to like? Dead easy to skin (can't be doing with plucking) and gut once you know how.

@7Worfs

Lol at “think of the children” argument. God forbid children grow up knowing where food comes from.

YABU, OP.

I don’t get this argument cause not many people even eat pheasant or rabbit anyway. You won’t find it in Tesco.. lol

Just ignore it, how do you cope walking through a super market with carcasses and joints on the shelves.....or that different.....
It's the country, however- if he's hoping to eat that-- I'd hang it in a shed for protection from pests.

@Crayfishforyou

I hope they’re not just shooting random pheasants whenever the whim takes them. That’s poaching.

They'd have to be rather stupid to publicly advertise said poaching by hanging their loot in their front garden...

Easy answer. Make it unattractive for them to do it. Sneak out at night and steal anything they hang on the front fence. After a couple of times they will stop.

I don’t get this argument cause not many people even eat pheasant or rabbit anyway. You won’t find it in Tesco.. lol

Tesco DO sell pheasant. And ostrich and Poussin and venison and guinea fowl...

Its cheeky. I wouldnt like it either. Report them to the local authotity and say they are attracting vermin.

My family who hunt don’t hang their game outside. They all live in areas with large predators. Hanging dripping meat would be dangerous. They either have outbuildings on the property for the purpose or they hire out the task of prep and butchering.

@WorkingItOutAsIGo

Easy answer. Make it unattractive for them to do it. Sneak out at night and steal anything they hang on the front fence. After a couple of times they will stop.

So your answer is to resort to crime? Tad extreme don't you think?

How long is it hanging out there? Is it spare for other people to take home?

When I was a child I sometimes would come home to pheasants, duck, rabbits hanging off the front door, left by a friend after shooting/ferreting.
Would also see dead moles hung up as evidence of piece work.
I think a lot of children are more resilient than we give them credit for.

@HunkyPunk

I’m now worrying about the hypothetical situation where I’m living in the country and various friendly neighbours place random game in my porch as a kind gesture. How on earth would I swerve that without coming across as a weird townie? Do people in this position have to skin/pluck them and everything? How do you learn how to do it - does YouTube have videos?

I taught my new townie neighbour how to breast out a pheasant.

But yes, there are videos.