Quoted:
In Texas he could have said "I heard those fuckers over there, so I started blasting in that general direction" and been just fine, legally.
Yep.
Things are getting better over here, but there is still a mentality that blames the victim not the perpetrator. It's good that he won't face charges, and sensible that an investigation be carried out to establish the facts. That would happen in any civilised society. It's just a shame that it took so lonmg for the case to be dropped. I think that the hamgover from the nanny state anti-gun stance of the Labour Party is still present, and when we get common sense judgements as in this case, it still comes as a bit of a shock.
OK, there's an argument as shooters that he should have been certain of his target and not shot into darkness where he couldn;'t see the fall of shot, But as far as I'm concerned he fired at a fox, on his own land.
The fact remains that if the Burglars hadn't been on private land breaking into the property of the famer to commit an act of theft then they wouldn't have been caught in the shot pattern meant for a fox in the first place.