I write to praise the brilliant report by David Borg Cardona, the secretary of the gentlemen’s shooting club, St Hubert’s Hunters. I believe it shoots down any misconceptions on the relatively limited derogations that apply to the Maltese hunters.

I now doubt very much that the English contributors to The Times would reply to it and much less write ridiculous articles about the few song thrushes seen in England.

One short comment on that is whether these writers know of the malpractice by farmers on the continent, gassing the birds dead!

Unfortunately, the anti-hunting campaign has long been entrenched at the Education Department for a very long time. I always used to shudder at what the department came up with against the hunters, which is now being backed by Birdlife locally, who, incidentally, have a magnificent (yearly?) grant of €75,000.

I just cannot agree with the prohibition of bird trapping that used to be the major pastime of local trappers, who looked after their miserly catch sometimes better than their family. Their harmless pastime should be allowed and I am sure the incoming government will do something about it and obtain a derogation for them.

I don’t agree with the ultimate paragraph, that the Government has deceived us at all. After all, we did go hunting for the past three years, legally, so what’s the fuss?

I don’t agree with the headline, Hunters Seething At Gonzi Over Referendum To Abolish Hunting. Not at all! Who said so?

Neither do I agree, however, with the establishment of a wildlife crime unit. I do not think we have poachers for big game in Malta!

At this electorally delicate stage, words such as “totally capricious, void and senseless” are, to say the least, uncalled for by St Hubert’s Hunters, a club whose rules, among others, call for members never to shoot at sitting targets.

Should they wish to contest the elections they were free to do so.

I propose that a compromise could be arrived at by fair reasoning. This would be a compromise that could open up the restrictions on hunting, the removal of that silly girl’s headband on our arms and the even sillier bag reports.

If one weighs the promises by the two major parties, they balance out.

The above is my humble opinion and I will now oil my guns, check for the correct cartridges and practise the sport of clay pigeon shooting in order to have a clean kill on the limited catch to come.