Our club, based on the Cambs/Northants border, with an indoor section in the nearest town, Oundle, is just over half a mile from the nearby village. Our main range firing point is internally sound-proofed, surrounded by trees and faces into what used to be a clay-pit in the 19th century. You can stand a couple of hundred yards away and vaguely hear shooting noises, but that's about it. So long as you abide by the range rules regarding velocity, there are no problems. The figures shown here are typical of a short range like ours -
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Nobody gives a hoot what you shoot - and in fact we have an entire day given over to black powder shooting only - no other form of bullet propulsion is permitted - loose or cartridge [sorry], so long as its BP or a sub, you're good.
I've mentioned before, many times, that a goodly number of our almost 500 members also shoot game - excluding the few professionals who are game/estate managers/wardens. None of the shooters I know are overly-blessed with large wallets - in fact, some supplement the usual pay with profits made from selling their kills. I'm not into that side of shooting sports, but if I were to become interested it would present no problems to me, and only entail me getting a suitable variation to my firearms certificate to enable me to use some of my unmentionable rifles for the purpose of killing game.
I would also be required to join the British Deer Society and take their basic deer-stalking and game management course - BDS1 - and upgrade it as time and experience permitted. I'd be looking, too, for a mentor, to guide my burgeoning career as a deer-stalker, one who would, eventually, pass on to the relevant authorities that I was a safe pair of hands to be allowed to seek my own 'permissions' on which to take game. At least ten of my close shooting pals would be happy to take me on as a noob to deer-stalking, unlike many of you, for whom no form of instruction seems to have ever been necessary, I know very little about it and would have to learn the ropes.
Y'see, the UK is a small place, and just about everywhere is owned by somebody or something. So you can't just get out of the ol' pick-up, walk into the woods and start blazing away at anything that takes your fancy, as so many of you seem to take great joy in doing.
Here, where having an 'over' from a .308Win might end up in a bus-stop line, or somebody's living room, all land is assessed prior to use for the kind of calibres that can be shot over it in a safe manner. This, of course, will have ramifications on your choice of rifle. For me, personally, it would not be a problem, as I have eight suitable unmentionables already, any of which would do just fine for the kind and size of deer on these islands.
Not BP though.
