{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981/schedule-7/paragraph-4",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981/schedule-7/paragraph-4.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/1981/69",
  "legislation_title": "Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981",
  "path": "schedule/7/paragraph/4",
  "kind": "paragraph",
  "number": "4",
  "heading": null,
  "text": "For subsection (3) of section 10 of the Deer Act 1963 (general exceptions) there shall be substituted the following subsections—\n“(3) A person shall not be guilty of an offence under section 3(1)(c)(i) of this Act by reason of any smooth-bore gun for the purpose of killing any deer if he shows that the deer had been so seriously injured otherwise than by his unlawful act or was in such a condition that to kill it was an act of mercy.\n(4) A person shall not be guilty of an offence under section 3(1)(c)(i) of this Act by reason of the use as a slaughtering instrument, for the purpose of killing any deer, of a smooth-bore gun which—\n(a) is of not less gauge than 12 bore ;\n(b) has a barrel less than 24 inches (609.6 millimetres) in length ; and\n(c) is loaded with a cartridge purporting to contain shot none of which is less than .203 inches (5.16 millimetres) in diameter (that is to say, size AAA or any larger size).”",
  "extent": "S",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Sch. 7 para. 4 repealed (E.W.) (25.10.1991) by Deer Act 1991 (c. 54, SIF 4:3) , ss. 17(6) , 18(3) , Sch.4 ."
    },
    {
      "type": "M",
      "label": "M1",
      "text": "1963 c. 36 ."
    },
    {
      "type": "X",
      "label": "X1",
      "text": "The text of Sch. 7 paras. 3-12 and Sch. 10 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991."
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/schedule/7/paragraph/4",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-31T10:30:49.503545+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}