What is “Trusted Hunters”

A group of people with an interest expanding their access to a wider variety of hunting locations and are prepared to abide by a trusted code of practice set and administered by the group

The 3 Basic Rules of Membership

There are 3 basic rules for membership of Trusted Hunters

1. Members must register in the closed members website a “Profile” in the Home-PROFILES (TRUSTED HUNTERS profiles) section providing some personal details and also register at least one “Shooting Land” details in the Home-SHOOTING LAND (TRUSTED HUNTERS shooting venues) section, for which they have secured shooting permission.   The shooting land details should provide a fair description of the shooting opportunities on that land but not exact location and are willing to negotiate with other members who may be interested in shooting with them on that land.  (Note - Basic residential back gardens do not qualify)
2. Members must be able to prove that they are covered by shooting insurance through BASC, BASA or other insurance with comparable terms.
3. Members must be prepared to adhere to the “Code Of Practice” that the membership may collectively define and evolve over time.  Failure to adhere to this code may lead to suspension or cessation at the discretion of membership through a vote (Therefore what constitutes “trust” is defined by the members)

Applicants to Trusted Hunters must satisfy the above 3 basic rules before provisional access to the closed Trusted Hunters Website is granted.  Thereafter, membership is retained by adherence to a “Code Of Practice” that its members will define and develop from time to time with the aim of identifying and developing relationships with landowners that benefits the groups ethos of identifying and expanding access to a wider variety of hunting locations for the members.

What is the “code of practice”?

The code of practice is determined and managed by the group in such a way that guards and develops their access to a wider variety of shooting locations.

Benefits

• The most prevalent reason for the reluctance to share shooting land is said to be the fear of an unprofessional approach from someone else, damaging a “hard won” shooting land opportunity.  This is a general issue of “trust” even amongst fellow hunters.  It is a very valid concern amongst hunters – why should people trust another unknown person even when they share the common passion of hunting!  However, this lack of trust ultimately results in individual hunters acting alone.  In the absence of some peer pressure type motivation and social structure to allow trust to develop, people will invariably act alone and with self interest.  History tells us that when people act in union of as part of a group, team or fellowship for example, then the rewards for those that are members has always been far greater than that of the average of individuals acting alone.  The Trusted Hunters website puts in place site feature that provide the basis for a social structure to develop in the form of a the ability of its members to govern it’s own membership.  It further provides the seeds to encourage a certain fellowship through accepted common sense and associated rules in the form of a “Code Of Practice” and trust between hunters to identify, develop and leverage shooting opportunities for the benefit of the Trusted Hunter membership.  This, it is hoped, will result in the opportunity for a wider variety and volume of hunting opportunities for each member than the average an individual acting alone could ever hope to achieve.
• Potential access to a variety of shooting locations
• Mutual support network providing advice on approaching Landowners for shooting permission
• “Trusted Hunter” membership is an added benefit when dealing with a landowner demonstrating that you are a serious and responsible hunter committed to a code of practice that is based on building a strong landowner-hunter relationship and underpinned with membership prerequisites such as shooting insurance.

Site Functionality

• Ability for members to request a reasonable charge (or accept shooting land access “in kind”) for hosting other members.  Note the more shooting locations a member has developed with landowners the more potential financial benefit there may be from hosting other member/s at our venue.
• Members “Profiles”,  “Shooting Land”, Forum and key features of the Trusted Hunter website are accessible to registered members only.  This protects members interests.
• Ability to simply  conduct a hunting land exchange event with a fellow hunter/s
• Ability to organise “plinking parties” or target practice events
• Ability to encourage “non-hunting” or hunting landowners to register their land for vermin shoot purposes.  Landowners have the feature to be able to charge (within the functionality of the website) if they so wish, reasonable fees for land usage.  The ability for landowners to charge a modest fee or simply benefit from vermin reduction is hoped to motivate landowners to register their land and a contact on the site.
• Each member can then invite other members to their shoot and charge an optional reasonable fee or reciprocate free of charge with the other members shoot.
• Each member can request to join another member at their shoot and offer a reasonable fee or reciprocate free of charge with their own shoot.