Since moving to the countryside I see a lot of pheasants running around in the road. If I catch one in a net am I allowed to kill it and eat it?

34 comments

1. what you propose is poaching. Chances are you will get away with it but I will leave it to you to decide whether you want to do that.

2. No you ain’t. If you run it over you can’t take it either but the person behind you can.

   You’ll see a lot less of them from now that shooting season is finished, they’ll be out in force again from October when they leave their habits due to shooting.

3. No.

   Pheasants are only allowed to be killed in the hunting season, and only by gun during organised shoots. They only exist in this country for that singular purpose, in fact. Their native range is southern Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. There are farms that provide them for meat year round, but those birds aren’t the ones you see loose in the fields.

   If you see someone hit a pheasant with their car, you may collect the carcass. You are not permitted to collect a dead one you’ve run over yourself though.

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5. No, it would not be legal to catch and kill a pheasant without a proper hunting license and during the appropriate hunting season. Pheasants are protected game birds in the UK and killing them outside of the hunting season or without the necessary permits and licenses is illegal. It’s best to contact the authorities if you see injured or sick birds who need help.

6. Pheasants are protected in the UK.

   Peasants on the other hand are fair game.

7. Killing things isn’t very nice

8. No, you have to take the contents of sleeping pills, put them into raisins, then scatter them about the woods.

9. Many Pheasants are owned and reared in wire-caged enclosures in wooded land before being released for shooting.

   Once released they are free to wander the countryside however and if you legally have a license for a firearm you are entitled to shoot a pheasant that’s on your property and take for the pot.

   If a pheasant is on private property then the owner of that private property is entitled to take it for the pot.

   If you run one over, yeah, technically anyone else except for you is entitled to take it however no one takes any notice about this law.

   My father used to run over a pheasant every now and again. Totally unavoidable driving a Post Office van along country lanes early in the morning. My mother drew and plucked them before putting them in a nice casserole. I ran over one myself once and took it home for a casserole.

   My cousins buy and rear pheasants on woodland on their farm for a December shoot.

   Roadkill Pheasant is much more pleasant to eat than shot pheasant because you don’t have to be careful not to eat any bits of shot left in the bird.

10. I watched a programme about some guy who lived off grid & he reguarly ate roadkill. This was a few years ago & the law was that you could cook something you found on the side of the road but not if you killed it yourself. So you couldn’t purposely mow down a pheasant for your tea but if you see one getting taken out you can go collect the leftovers to make your dinner with.

11. Long answer no! Short answer, it’s the same as any other crime, don’t get caught!

12. I was kinda distracted and I looked over at the subs name because I read “since moving to the countryside I see a lot of peasants running around” and I saw it’s the AskUK sub I was like “wtf is going on there lmao”. It was a nice one second of confusion.

13. This makes me want to read Danny the Champion of the World!

14. Well, if you fancy eating one that doesn’t have lead in it, and are sure that you won’t be caught with it, geddon. Stick it to the shooting estate owning man.

15. Why would you even think of doing that to such a beautiful animal? Let us all live in harmony 🫶🏽

16. I asked this question as a mentally ill student, except instead of the countryside it was the city, and instead of pheasants it was pigeons. Anyway, the answer was “don’t eat the pigeons in the city, that is a very bad idea indeed”

17. I pick em up off the road and eat them all the time. Just let the cars do the work for you.

18. I believe there are no wild pheasants, they all belong to someone.
    Not sure how that works with the ones I see wandering round south london council estates

19. You could just release it? Instead of unnecessarily killing it.

20. I was so sick of pheasant as a child – we ate it several times a week.

    I had no idea, until much later, how much my parents were struggling financially.

    It was a strange situation – my father had a network of friends from his time at school or playing rugby who were farmers. They used to let let my dad hunt rabbits on their land (which he sold at the local pub), but sometimes pheasants “got in the way”

21. No, because birds belong to whoever’s land they fall on.

    If you were to catch it on your own land, then yes it’s yours.

22. That’s poaching…

    Your local butcher will be able to sort you out some pheasant if you ask.

23. On top of what you’ve already been told here, it’s a very bad idea right now anyway because of avian flu.

24. Canbaliisum isn’t legal here mate id be careful about disclosure of this kind of behaviour

25. Why would you want to do that? That is beyond cruel. No – not only is it illegal it is also immoral.

26. No. It is illegal to kill or take any game bird, including pheasants, outside of the defined season, which is generally from October to February. The killing of game birds outside of this window constitutes an offense under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Pheasants that are reared for the purpose of being sold for meat are also subject to strict regulations, and it is not permitted to take them from the wild. If you find a dead pheasant by the roadside, you should not eat it as it may have ingested lead shot, which can be toxic.

27. I’m not sure if your catch one with a net. They run fast and fly off when they have to beep beep.

28. Do it.

    The people rearing them are the biggest bunch of dickheads, they’re the ones shooting protected birds, foxes & badgers for they’re precious pheasants.

    They also damage the biodiversity in the heather moors doing controlled burns so the pheasants& grouse can eat the shoots.

    All because rich people come from all over to dress up in tweed, drink bloody Mary’s all day and shoots hundreds in a few hours.

    They will breed and feed them through the year then shoot 2-3000+ in 2-3 months, then give most away cos they can’t store them

29. No, it is illegal to catch and kill any pheasants that are not legally hunted during the designated season. Pheasants are owned by the landowner and are not considered wild game, so killing them without permission is considered poaching, which is a criminal offence in the UK. Besides, catching live pheasants in nets is considered unreasonable and cruel to animals.

    Furthermore, wild game such as pheasants must be prepared and cooked correctly to minimize the risk of food poisoning. There are regulations regarding the sale of game meat, including requirements for it to be inspected by a food safety officer, so it’s not advisable to eat game that has not undergone such scrutiny.

    If you wish to eat pheasant, it is better to buy it from a reputable game dealer or farm in the designated hunting season.

30. No, you are not allowed to kill pheasants by any means other than shooting them with a shotgun during the lawful shooting season. Catching a live pheasant and killing it without a shotgun would be illegal, and could lead to you being prosecuted for breaking animal welfare and/or wildlife conservation laws. It’s important to respect the laws and ethical considerations around hunting and wild animals, particularly if you are new to rural areas.

31. Yes, just make sure you have a big enough net. Also, it’s spelt “peasants”.

32. At first glance I read “peasants” 🥴

33. In a net?! I have the most wonderful mental image of you done up as the child catcher, with your comically oversized net, riding around the countryside in your jalopy, searching for pheasants to net.

34. There’s free food in the countryside? Whereabouts? I don’t care about the law, I’ll get jet black head to toe for some free chicken or whatever pheasant is.