It’s a pity the 49.6 per cent of the electorate have to share the disgust of the rest of the world.

Doubly shameful are those who didn’t bother to vote at all.

I am sure they’d be the first to squeal if their right to vote were to be taken away from them in a dictatorship.

I hope, now that the inhibiting factor of the referendum is gone, we do not see a return, not all at once, of course, as that would be too noticeable, but a gradual, insidious, creeping, bit-by-bit return of all the concessions that the hunters and trappers once enjoyed, that were cut back this spring, especially so as to persuade us that spring hunting isn’t so bad after all: 17 half days, well that isn’t much is it... at least for the present.

I hope I am a poor prophet but experience tells me: wait for it. Now that the hunters have shown who runs the country, what government (bar AD) is going to deny their demands? And we all know how demanding they are.

I sincerely hope I’m wrong, and will keep a copy of this letter and be genuinely happy to write an apology in a few years’ time if I am indeed mistaken.

In the meantime, that 49.6 per cent of the electorate must not give up hope because experience again tells me that hunting and trapping excesses will raise public outrage and next time they may not be so lucky.