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Hello from the Scottish Highlands!

collierboy said:
Hi Doddy and a big warm AGU welcome to you, What sort of shooting are you into ? Guns owned/used.
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Hi mate. I'm mainly target shooting right now since all these lockdowns, but I also do some pesting. Rabbits and corvids mainly. No squirrels in these parts. I live in the country, so have my own pests to sort and some livestock of my own (incl hens) to keep watch on. Gun-wise, I've got a few from BSA, FX, Daystate, Weirauch and a few others. Favourite right now is my Huntsman Regal, but my Ultra SE is also my go to for garden work. I also collect replicas. Missus hates them all...mainly due to the space they take up and the fact my safe keeps overflowing!
 
Speaking of wee Jimmy Krankie.
She wants another indyref, but not until Westminster has finished dishing the money out.
Fecks sake woman wind your neck in, you're as bad as Doris.
Mind, they are all useless twonks.
 
Coypu Hunter said:
Welcome aboard. Are you actually Scawtush, or a Sassenach parasite sucking the lifeblood out of Nichola's nationalist socialist paradise? :alert:
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I was born in Scotland and then moved elsewhere (England, Wales and a bit of time further afield), but since moving back to Scotland, I vote SNP (although I don't particularly like Sturgeon). My dad is English and he votes SNP. My mum is also English, and she also votes SNP. Most people I know outwith my shooting club and who aren't retired now vote SNP. Not all, but most.

Within the shooting club, there's a higher percentage who don't vote SNP and the outspoken folk tend to vote Tory or UKIP (or whatever they call themselves these days), whilst those who keep it to themselves almost certainly don't vote that way (and a number I know to be SNP voters too).

Having read through many threads on here as well as this one, I can see that Sturgeon is not well liked (and I don't disagree with some of the criticism of her or her party), but just to explain things a little for those who don't live in Scotland, around 50% of the Scottish electorate votes SNP and their support has been pretty consistent for over five years now (there's not a single party in England that gets close to that percentage of support). Whilst those who don't vote SNP are definitely a higher percentage in the shooting world (and there are various reasons for it), that isn't an accurate reflection of Scotland itself.

I don't give a monkeys how anyone votes for nor what anyone thinks of me for how I vote, but you don't have to go far to find Scots voters (many who weren't born here, for that matter) who vote SNP (on paper, it's a fifty fifty chance) and any assumption that anyone who shoots must oppose them really isn't true at all. From my experience, it just pushes people away from the sport. I know plenty of Scottish shooters who now won't say what party they support because they can't be bothered with dealing with a lot of the stuff above in this thread, and I know some who've all but given up on being part of shooting communities as they're tired of the 'banter' that assumes everyone must be of a like mind. Bit of a shame, really.

I love shooting. I've been shooting since I was in my early teens, many moons ago now. If airgunning as a sport is going to survive in Scotland (and probably elsewhere in the British Isles, for that matter), it's going to have to appeal to more than its traditional base. Once you drop below mid 30s age group up here, the percentage who vote SNP is somewhere between 60-70%, so making them feel unwelcome isn't going to do much for the sport.

Personally, I don't mind a good debate nor banter, and having lived for years in England there's absolutely plenty that I could rip it out of in return if I wanted, but it is a bit off putting for many newer and younger folk and a bit out of step with what many of them believe and how they vote. It's a bit of a shame if they're made to feel unwelcome, no?

For me, it's water off a ducks back, but that's because I'm old enough to have been round the block a fair few times and I don't care if people don't agree with me or not, but I'm all for trying to get new folk into the sport and to do that I really feel we need to be as welcoming as possible. I run airgunning courses for our local scout groups and many of them absolutely love it. But many younger people have views that are diametrically opposed to those which are more prevalent amongst the retired generations, and most would be totally put off by some of the stuff I've read on here, unfortunately.

Theres a lot of great content on this forum, brilliant advice and I'm happy to now be part of it, but hereon in I'm going to give party and constitutional politics a bit of a sidestep, as there's more than enough other places for me to debate that stuff until the cows come home!

Cheers lads 😊🍻
 
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@DoddyMac I think you'll find most of us loathe all politicians pretty much equally, irrespective of their party... It has more to do with them being lying incompetents with their noses in the public trough than with their nationality... :alert:
 
Welcome a nice selection of guns you have. Lucky to never voted for a politician find some funny to watch but most are public schoolboy twats used to go to those schools till I got expelled from a few :D
One did have a rifle range which was cool think likely was air rifles but was over 44yrs ago cant remember.
Not sure that's a thing now. Was taught a fair bit about guns at school most friends then had air rifles at their homes few had rifles where their fathers were into shooting too.
 
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