{"id":101690,"date":"2025-04-20T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=101690"},"modified":"2025-04-16T22:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T12:43:38","slug":"from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-30\/","title":{"rendered":"From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>THE Victorian duck shooting season bears no likeness to the annual shooting parties held on country piles across the United Kingdom. Both versions are barbaric, but the comparison is too damn preposterous for words; absolutely risible!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>UK\u2019s grouse shooting season runs from the Glorious 12th August to December 10. It is strictly traditional. Any breaches of established protocols are viewed derisively. A serious violation could see a gun sent back to the house \u2014 in disgrace. In order to bag, the doomed birds are frightened from their hiding places by beaters and sent towards the guns. The tweed-suited shooting-party bring down the grouse, pheasant, or partridge, which are retrieved by gun dogs.<\/p>\n<p>The romantic novelist, the late Dame Barbara Cartland, had a small shoot at Camfield Place, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. For invitees it was a ritual event. Lunch \u2013 usually at about 3 o\u2019clock, was served in a barn or stable. Serious guns do not stop for lunch \u2014 they make do with a sandwich, or a cold pork pie. Dame Barbara favoured the classic Russian coulibiac \u2014 sturgeon\/salmon cooked in puff pastry with mushrooms, risotto rice, and boiled eggs, and served with a dill and lemon sauce. In Tuscan tradition, Stilton cheese was eaten with Old Basing fruitcake; vodka and tomato juice, damson gin, or whisky. There were no Eskys or tinnies proliferating; no swigging from bottles of bourbon!<\/p>\n<p>In Edwardian Britain, hunting, shooting, and fishing house parties lasted two- or three-days, mostly Saturday to Monday \u2014 a \u2018weekend\u2019 party might imply guests held employment obligations during the week. At a Sandringham shoot, King Edward VII and guests killed 1300-birds in a single day. Ultimately, some were hung and eaten; the excess went to market. Estates were bought and sold on pheasant or trout availability, and not on income derived from farming or cattle.<\/p>\n<p>Duck hunting is banned in the ACT, NSW, QLD and WA. Categorically, in every single aspect, what happens on the waterways in Victoria is diametrically inconsistent to shoots in the UK. \u2018Bloodsport\u2019 is only the commonality. While most serious shooters are said to abide by the rules, renegade cowboys dressed in camouflage, quaffing from cans and bottles of Bundaberg rum, with double-barrelled shots gun slung over their shoulders, and blasting from the sky everything which flies across their aerial path, is not recreational sport. It is animal cruelty.<\/p>\n<p>A 2023 parliamentary inquiry recommended a duck shooting ban. Surveys have shown 87-percent favour abolishment; however, the government, fearful of the harsh, voter, ballot box consequences, has elected to ignore the voice of the majority and the wildlife massacre continues. The 2019-2020 bushfires burned more than 19-million hectares and impacted 3-billion animals, pushing many species and ecosystems closer to extinction. The balance is fragile. Homo sapiens are not the most important component in the ecological chain. Consider: we are dependent on bees to sustain our food chain. Australia\u2019s list of vulnerable species and ecosystems continues to grow. Our environmental reputation is shameful. Since 1788, Australia has the world\u2019s worst mammal extinction rate, including third-word countries. The east coast koala and greater gliders are being pushed to the brink. It must stop.<\/p>\n<p>Duck shooting is cruel. REFLECT: Is it a sport? Do we need it?<\/p>\n<p>Roland is heard with Brett Macdonald \u2014 radio 3BA Monday at 10.45 a.m. Contact: <a href=\"mailto:roland@rolandroc.com\">roland@rolandroc.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE Victorian duck shooting season bears no likeness to the annual shooting parties held on country piles across the United Kingdom. Both versions are barbaric, but the comparison is too damn preposterous for words; absolutely risible! UK\u2019s grouse shooting season runs from the Glorious 12th August to December 10. It is strictly traditional. Any breaches [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-30\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":101691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-101690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore why a duck hunting ban is crucial for wildlife protection, ecological balance, and ethical standards in Australia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/living\/from-the-desk-of-roland-rocchiccioli-30\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli - 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