Spring hunting discrimination? (2)

Following Mr Richard A. Hubbard's letter (The Sunday Times, March 18) it is very true that you hardly ever hear a gun go off in the UK, but common sense might lead to the simple point of size.

I travel to the UK (my childhood homeland) every year to shoot at many different species of birds all year round, with no close seasons. My wife often joins me and stays only a few miles away. I shoot all day long from dawn till dusk, sometimes we even go roost shooting which allows us to wait in ambush for the birds as they return to the trees for the night: hence my wife and thousands like her do not hear the gun shots because of the size of the area.

I totally agree that shooting on clay pigeons (plattini) is a good pastime and many have mentioned it before. Two points, though. Could you expect a photographer to take pictures of a clay pigeon? Besides, it is illegal in Malta to shoot on clay pigeons on your own private land. I own my own clay pigeon trap and many times I have asked at the local police station if I can use my trap for fun purposes and the answer is always the same: no.

May I ask seriously, with no cause of offence: does Mr Hubbard have friends? You say you know nobody who goes shooting birds with a gun in Kent. Strange, but I live in Malta and know of a fair few people, gun shops and ammunition shops in your area, and they all make their living, so the sportsmen are there for sure.

Do you know that the pheasants, for instance, are trained to come running to a dog whistle when they are let out of their pens and into the countryside? This is to keep them all in the same area for the guns.

Mr Hubbard mentioned a large bird he saw in Ghadira. I am not going to make excuses. It was probably a bird of prey which, as you know, is protected. But let's just say it was a Canada Goose or maybe even a large seagull, which in Malta are both protected. In the UK they can be shot all year round on a general vermin licence, which means basically 364 days of the year with no season.

Approximate amounts of birds shot in one day in England by one gun on a red letter day? 80-120 pigeons/doves.

Approximate amount of birds shot in one whole season in Malta by one gun? Eight doves (if I have a good season!)