"OUR wildlife is being exploited by these cowboys," says Des Crofton. "There were a lot of cowboys in this game in the past," says George Gossop. "There are cowboys out there but we are not all the same," says Sandy Percival.

Feathers are flying in the game shooting world. This particular row has nothing to do with the growing lobby of people who consider it barbaric to shoot living things for pleasure. The argument is between those who want to bring in tourists for a spot of shooting and those who think our native birds should be kept for native guns.

At the front line is Des Crofton, of the National Regional Games Council (NRGC), who is taking a High Court case to prevent the State issuing further licences to tourists under the present licensing system. NRGC is the umbrella group, representing 22,000 members of 875 clubs.

"We're obviously in favour of game shooting but it has to be sustainable," says Des Crofton. "We don't believe that it's in the best interest of Irish wildlife to be bringing in tourists on shooting holidays. Traditional, native hunting takes place once or twice a week during the season. But visitors who are paying dearly for their holidays expect to hunt every day while they're here. What happens then is that the land to which the promoter holds rights becomes overhunted and they may trespass on native land where they have no hunting rights."

On the other side of the battle line are shooting holiday promoters like Sandy Percival and George and Randall Gossop.

"Over 60 per cent of my farm is woodland and I have maintained it as hardwood - ash, sycamore, beech, oaks," says Sandy Percival of Temple House, Sligo, where tourists come to shoot snipe and woodcock. "I've got to make money out of that 60 per cent somehow and I chose to organise shooting holidays."

"I agree that all shoots should be inspected," he continues. "And that there are those who bring in too many guns. But if a shoot is properly managed, it doesn't pose any problems.

George Gossop of Tullinisk House in Birr agrees and considers that this market is being undersold. "We should be shooting less and charging more for good shooting holidays," he says. Our visitors' activities at Tullinisk are very tightly controlled. At most we would go out only three times per year, generally twice and I always go with them."

Only approximately 2,500 visitors a year come to Ireland to shoot, according to Bord Failte, compared to 87,000 anglers, 97,000 golfers and 39,000 cyclists. Bord Failte does not promote shooting holidays, partly because the numbers are too small to be significant.

"We don't think there is enough of a product there. If we were to really turn on the promotion, between native shooters, the visitors we do have, and the limited season, we would soon run out of birds," says John Brown.

Visitors mostly come in the winter to shoot woodcock, duck and snipe, though there are French and Italian groups which come during the summer to shoot pigeons. Randall Gossop organises pigeon shooting holidays in Co Wexford.

"It's a two way service," he says. "I provide sporting pigeon shooting for tourists who come over to Ireland and take pot luck. On the other side it is a crop protection service for farmers."

It is the shooting of migratory birds like snipe and woodcock which is causing friction but these are the very species which most attract the visitor, says Sandy Percival.

"They're fed up shooting hundreds of pheasant a day and are looking for something more challenging," he says.

Randall Gossop points out that the regulations are quite stringent. A promoter must have 1,000 acres for every three days per two weeks shooting. But NRGC insists that the rules are neither adequate nor adequately enforced.

Bord Failte rejects this. "We don't want people coming in and breaking the rules," says John Brown. "If notified of any abuses we certainly follow them up. But any time we have asked NRGC for hard evidence, they have failed to provide it."

"Germany and Italy take in fewer shooting tourists than us though they have far more land," says Des Crofton. "The reason Ireland gets so many is that our regulations are perceived as lax with tourists not subjected to the same sanctions as elsewhere. Bord Failte pooh poohs this but we know it is happening. Our wildlife is being exploited for commercial gain."

While Mr Crofton considers this more reprehensible than our wildlife being exploited for sporting pleasure, a growing lobby of people would disagree. To them, his organisation's concern for wildlife rings hollow, as its real concern is about having enough wildlife for its own members to shoot.

This spat over who gets to do the killing seems misplaced to the many who believe that all who shoot should hang up their guns.