# Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Paragraph 4

Extent: S

For subsection (3) of section 10 of the Deer Act 1963 (general exceptions) there shall be substituted the following subsections—
“(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.
(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—
(a) is of not less gauge than 12 bore ;
(b) has a barrel less than 24 inches (609.6 millimetres) in length ; and
(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).”

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69/schedule/7/paragraph/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/wildlife-and-countryside-act-1981/schedule-7/paragraph-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.