Scotland’s first licensed grouse shooting season comes to an end

This year’s grouse season in Scotland was the first with licensing in place. We debunk some of the myths which have emerged around the new licensing regime.

The red grouse shooting season finished on 10 December. This offers a natural point for BASC to reflect and address claims by anti-shooting organisations about the new grouse moor licensing scheme:

1. Some of these organisations have claimed there has been a ‘sabotage’ of the grouse shoot licensing process by shooting organisations: The law clearly states grouse moors, not entire estates/landholdings, must be licenced. NatureScot corrected initial misinterpretations promptly thanks to our work.
2. It has been suggested that the Scottish Parliament’s will wasn’t upheld: The legislation was debated, scrutinised, agreed and focuses on grouse moor licensing by the will of the Scottish Parliament. Shooting organisations, like all stakeholders, lobbied to ensure it did not stray from policy intent to become overbearing for our members.
3. Some have alleged licence holders have been using ‘fake’ grouse shoot licence boundaries. The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act couldn’t have been any clearer on what was to be licensed, “licensing: land on which certain birds may be taken or killed.” NatureScot has confirmed no licences have been granted using inappropriate or unrepresentative boundaries (e.g. around solely grouse butts).
4. It has been claimed that raptor protection is no longer at the core of licensing: New conditions for tackling raptor persecution are reasonable and enforceable.

Our teams have worked hard to ensure the licence scheme is workable for our members. BASC did not want to see licensing introduced, nonetheless a thorough scrutiny process and now licensing regime has been implemented.

We will continue to rebut the speculative and unfounded claims by anti-shooting organisations.