Thanks. The posts are important to me. This isn't plain ole' anti-gunner sentiment we're hearing. Shooting is an accepted part of our culture; those against it are regarded with sympathy and good humor. This is a response from hitherto reasonable landowners. It doesn't emanate from come-from-aways. It's from neighbours who've been hunting and fishing from these shores for decades, providing access over their lands, interested in what we're doing.
No one wants limits on gauges and loads. We recognize the effectiveness and reasonable noise from some bigger gauges and loads. I agree with the law that allows access to all lands, public and private, below the high-water mark. Our harbour, as nearly all those along our shores, is between high hills. Barrages reverberate heavily far beyond a half-mile. A mile easily. This isn't anti-hunting; it's a noise problem.
We do not have ducking clubs, lodges or regulated numbers on marshes or shores anywhere in our province. As a resident and active gunner in this particular locale for more than 40 years, I can confirm that there has been a significant increase in noise attributable directly to the heavier loads. The blinds aren't an inch closer to houses. There aren't more gunners. It's easy to differentiate the sound of common 12s from heavier loads.
I don't ascribe to the notion of them-and-us in these matters. The environment is the No. 1 political issue in Canada, ahead of health care and Afghanistan. There is a legitimate beef here. Eighty per cent of Canada's population is urban, clustered in a dozen-or-so cities. The shooting sports don't have the numbers. Ignoring or blithely dismissing issues as just-the-antis-again isn't the answer. We're barely clinging to our sport everywhere.
