Everything You Need To Know About Safe Shooting In Peri-urban Areas

One question I hear constantly from concerned people is, "how is it safe to shoot firearms in peri-urban areas like schools?". In this article I am going to answer that exact question and share my real-world experience of conducting feral animal control operations in peri-urban areas. Now, before we get too far into this, let's clarify what a peri-urban area is.

What Is A Peri-urban Area?

Peri-urban areas are almost any locations where the general public have access. These locations include industrial areas and business parks, schools, public buildings like libraries, and recreational areas like golf courses, council parks, etc. They could even be a large shopping complex or a cinema complex. There really is too many locations and areas to list, but I think you get the idea.

Why Is There A Need To Shoot In Peri-urban Areas?

Feral animals like pigeons, Indian myna birds, rabbits, hares, foxes and wild dogs, all seem to take a liking to peri-urban areas. As an example, let's look at feral pigeons. Feral pigeons are a major pest in schools, industrial areas, and business parks. They roost high up in gutters and open ceilings, causing an enormous mess with their droppings, damage to buildings, and risk the spread of disease.

Now, to remove these feral pigeons, you have a few options. One being you can climb up there and destroy their nests and roosting areas, which will only help briefly. The issue is you haven't really solved the problem of removing the feral pigeons. The reality is they will simply rebuild and carry on creating a mess.

Employing a professional contract shooter to remove these pest birds is a safe, cost-effective method to ensure they can't return. This also means your clean-up efforts are worth it because once you clean up the mess, it won't return unless new birds move in. This is why regular visits to keep feral pigeons under control is a great preventative measure to ensure these areas remain clean.

Are There Special Licence Requirements for Peri-urban Area Contract Shooters?

Absolutely, yes. This is where the safety part starts to come in. For a professional contract shooter to conduct feral animal control operations on non-rural land and public access areas, they need to have their firearms licence endorsed for 'Business or Employment - Other'.

This licence comes with “Special Conditions” that must be adhered to. As a condition of this licence, we are required to notify local police prior to any eradication taking place. Public safety is the responsibility of the licence holder and there must be no public access to areas while the eradication is taking place. We must ensure that authorisation is obtained from all relevant authorities (e.g. National Parks and Wildlife) prior to the eradication of any protected species of bird or feral animal.

For more details on professional contract shooter firearms licensing, please check out my article Licences, Land Zones, and Special Conditions for Contract Shooting. 

How Is Shooting In Peri-urban Areas Performed Safely?

Notify All Relevant Authorities

This is where the rubber hits the road, so to speak. As you read above, the first step is ensuring all relevant authorities are notified of the planned eradication and any additional permissions are granted if required.

Secure the Area From Public Access

Once the relevant authorities are notified, the building or area needs to be secured to ensure there is no public access. I also go one step further and place appropriate signage in visible locations so that on the off chance someone sees me walking around with a firearm, they know I'm there officially, or they can simply call the police and check.

Only Use Appropriate Firearms And Equipment Tuned Specifically For The Job

I cannot stress enough that this is the most important point, and here's where the real-world experience comes into it. For feral pigeon jobs in buildings, I use a specialised air rifle that is tuned so that it is powerful enough to ensure a humane kill but not powerful enough to cause any damage to roof sheets or surrounding infrastructure in the event of a miss or a pellet passing through a target. And let's be honest: misses can happen, and pellets can pass through targets occasionally.

This is the main reason why professional contract shooters like me run airguns like this FX Impact M3, which I have tuned specifically for close-range bird work in peri-urban areas.

These airguns are so highly tunable that you can control the exact speed of the pellet for the distance you will be shooting. For general pigeon work, I run a tune for .22 calibre 15.89gr pellets travelling 650fps for an optimum distance of 25 metres. At 25 metres, these pellets are grouped on a target smaller than a 5 cent piece, which is the accuracy I want. I also know this is the speed the pellets are travelling due to using a chronograph while tuning. When it comes to professional contract shooting jobs, nothing is left to chance.

The other aspect of consideration is appropriate optics for performing the job. I find the best optics for feral pigeon control is a digital day/night vision scope. This allows me to shoot on dusk as birds are coming into roost and then once dark I can change across to night-vision mode to continue shooting with clear identification of the target and surrounding areas. This is incredibly important as open ceilings often contain electrical and other wiring conduits that we need to keep clear of. 

The final consideration is noise suppression. While appropriately tuning an airgun will reduce the majority of the muzzle report, the fitting of a suppressor to the muzzle will go one step further to removing the rest of the unwanted noise. Firearm suppressors (a.k.a. silencers) are prohibited in NSW except for special circumstances where a genuine business or employment need can be shown. Once permitted, contract shooters like me have access to firearm suppressors to ensure we operate as quietly as possible to ensure the most efficient results and minimise any noise impact on nearby civilians who may incidentally hear a gunshot.

Ensure Your Shooting Lane Is Clear

The final step to ensure a safe contract shooting program is to only ever take a safe shot. Now, a safe shot means I am in a position to see the target clearly, and have a clear view of any surrounding areas that may affect my shot. This means I am never shooting across, over, or near an area where someone or something may pass, and I am also clear of any critical infrastructure. Also, importantly, I have absolute certainty that if I miss, the shot will hit a safe backstop and that there is no chance of it travelling any further than my target location. This is something I will go into more in another article dedicated to safe shooting.

What About Other Areas Like Golf Courses?

For jobs on other peri-urban areas like golf courses, targeting foxes or other predators, the firearms used will generally be larger. However, all the same principals and practices outlined above apply.

The End Goal

Of course, there are cases where contract shooting simply isn't safe due to varied circumstances, so in those cases another control method, like baiting or trapping, must be employed. However, when contract shooting is possible, the absolute goal is to provide the safest contract shooting program possible, while also providing the best results for the customer, with the least noise impact on any civilians who may be nearby. This generally takes careful planning and cooperation from key stakeholders and relevant authorities, but when done properly, really is a cost-effective method for controlling feral animals like pigeons in peri-urban areas.