To not want to see somebody shooting a gun from my kitchen window?

[Staffielove23]

We back onto a field and the farmer is literally going round with his gun shooting at ‘I’ve no idea what’. Is this legal to do this so close to somebody’s house? We can see him so we are in the firing line. I mean, I know he wouldn’t intentionally shoot as us but what if he gets us while aiming for something else, I know the farm was here before us, etc but I feel slightly unnerved as my children play out in the garden in the evening times with the lighter night, and there’s loads of other fields behind this one that don’t directly back onto people’s houses.

But you haven't been shot have you? Get a fucking grip.

He's a farmer and can shoot on his own land the police won't give a toss.

I remember being stood in my cattle shed once (tin roof) and hearing stray buckshot rain down from the field overhead. You get used to it. I no longer live in the countryside but I don't think you're cut out for it op. Probably be much happier moving elseware, I know for a fact if I genuinely believed my child might be shot I would not stay in the area!

There’s nothing wrong with phoning the non emergency line for advice. That’s what they are there for. If he’s acting within the law then fine, but if he’s breaking the law then that’s not for me to deal with is it.

I’m not going to approach him because he might react badly and I don't want the confrontation, plus if he is breaking the law then that’s for the police to deal with.

Absolutely normal country life.

We farm, we have a small village one end of our land and it's routine to shoot those fields for pest control or as part of our little game shoot in winter.

At the moment there are crops growing and decent flocks of pigeons taking chunks out of them, and also crows and foxes eyeing up my fairly young lambs. They all need dealing with.

In law there is no minimum distance from houses or neighbours, and footpaths crossing the farmers land enjoy no special treatment in law either. He may shoot on them if he wishes so long as he does so safely and ceases shooting to allow walkers to pass when necessary.
However , the projectile(s) must absolutely not leave the boundaries of his land. If you have an issue with the noise then legally it is simply a noise complaint much as it would be if he were chainsawing. The fact he's shooting is irrelevant.

If he is being reckless (unlikely from the sound of it, I think you just don't really know what you're looking at) then it could be serious for him as gun ownership comes with responsibilities and the police do have quite sweeping powers to remove gun licenses even without an actual conviction for anything.

Gun owners are police vetted and statistically one of the safest, most law abiding groups of people in society but if you are concerned go down to the farm and ask politely about what he was doing. We had a new neighbour approach us this way a few years ago after he moved from London. I have to admit my first thoughts were not charitable, I thought something along the lines of 'oh christ another effing townie so and so'... but he was polite and reasonable and wasn't jumping to conclusions.
As we got talking we discovered that we weren't all that different. I started dropping him a couple of ducks or pheasant off during shooting season, he now has a much better understanding of what is going on and any worries he has over it have vanished.

Go talk to him and be prepared to listen to what he has to say. If you just want to piss him off then go ahead and call the police, he'll soon find out who did it and you'll probably end up wishing you hadn't. Landowners tend to have a fair amount of sway locally.

But you haven't actually been shot at though, have you? There hasn't been so much as a near-miss.

What makes you think he's breaking the law?

If you’ve genuinely bothered the police with this then I do hope you get warned about wasting police time.

Somebody in the countryside, on their own property, and by all accounts entirely legally carrying what may be a shotgun or possibly just an air rifle… the nerve of them!

I think living less rurally would benefit you!

If you just want to piss him off then go ahead and call the police, he'll soon find out who did it and you'll probably end up wishing you hadn't. Landowners tend to have a fair amount of sway locally.

You sound lovely and absolutely make me want to go and chat with the farmer up the road. Not. Landowners have to abide by the same laws as everyone else and we have just as much right as yourself to be in the countryside. Sorry but you sound so entitled. As for the farmer behind our house, he can be as pissed off as he likes. If he threatens us in any way I will just call the police again.. I suspect they will take threatening behaviour from somebody with a firearms license quite seriously. 👍🏻

Well, yeah. But what law has he broken?

To answer your title “AIBU To not want to see somebody shooting a gun from my kitchen window?” YANBU but you can’t expect anybody else to pander to your sensitivities.

I think if you go and talk to him another time for reassurance he'll probably tell you what he was doing and why. As long as nothing he's firing leaves his land there's nothing you can do to stop him. If you ever find a stray bullet in your garden it's a totally different matter....

he'll soon find out who did it and you'll probably end up wishing you hadn't. Landowners tend to have a fair amount of sway locally.

This sounds frankly alarming. I'm glad I moved away!

I’m phoning the police to try and find out. It’s just an enquiry. Not like in gunna demand he get taken away in chains. They might have some advice.

That’s what the non emergency police number is for.

I will not be bullied. We have just as much right to be here.

Vermin? What would you class as vermin? No such thing!

One of the fields owned by that farm actually backs onto a football pitch and play park.

I was on your side op
And still am
But your attitude sucks
Dont call the police and talk to the guy
The last thing you want is an angry neighbour that owns guns

Shooting his own legally held gun on his own farm? Yes that's very entitled of him.

Actually you don't have as much right as him to be busybodiing about what he does on his own land. With every reply you are coming across more and more like a stereotypical townie plonker who should just go back to the city.

Nobody has broken any laws, nobody has threatened or endangered you, nobody has come onto you property or shot in your dircetion.

What has in fact happened is that you've peeked out from behind your curtains and seen shock horror! a farmer on his own farm with a nasty scary gun and you've got your little panties in a twist over it.

Chill out, it's a normal part of country life. If you don't like it there are plenty of towns for you to choose from.

I should clarify that I didn't mean he'd threaten you with his guns.

Most farmers are pretty well enmeshed in their local communities, if you go up against him you'll probably find out the hard way that most villagers are wither his friends or get something from him on some way , so are likely to back him over you.

For instance in my village:
The village hall adjoins one of my fields and doesn't sit on a big plot so on special occasions they use my field for parking, bonfires. fireworks, camping etc.
I don't charge them for it and am happy that I can contribute to the local community.

Most villagers walk their dogs on my land, many I trust are allowed to let them off leads and I am not too worries about making them stick to footpaths.

A few of them fish my lakes - for free.

There's a couple of brother who have trails bikes. I allow them at certain times of the year to scramble their bikes on specific bits of the farm.

One family had a wedding last year, I let them put their marquee in my field behind their house for the reception and to nick a load of hay bales from the barn to use as seating. Again, I didn't charge them anything.

If a sticky break plonker goes up against me over something so minor or petty as this, all these people (most of the village) are siding with me.

Be careful about starting fueds in little villages. It will come back to bite you on the ass.

Don't be that person OP.

For starters any 101 call to the police about guns is going to have a police response out to the gun owner regardless of if you are 'just checking'.

that means the gun owner (who even by your own account has done nothing wrong other than use a gun within your eyesight/earshot) will be made aware a ignorant townie neighbour has complained to the police about them.

In my experience it will be all over local social media in no time, and that kind of ignorance is usually fairly quickly shared to all the national farming social media pages too.

You and your chickens are perfectly safe.

Remember who owns your view Op. Not a good idea to annoy that person!

FFS! You’re actually going to ring the police over the farmer using a gun in his fields?

The one thing worse than townies are townies who move to the countryside and bitch about it.

You either need a massive grip or a new house 🙄

Hi OP

Is he aiming the gun in your direction towards your property?

I wouldn't approach someone I didn't know who was using a gun either

He’s welcome to build a wall if he wishes..