yeah it sucks. It's hard but it would be worth trying to get the open licence now, you never know when the opportunity will come up to do a bit of hunting. Speak to gun shops as well, firearms are really inconsistent and seem to go through phases. For a while .308's will get through rather easily, and then they get strict and its next to impossible to get it through. The gun shops will be able to give you a pretty good idea of what will be the end result.

do you have any centre fire rifles at the moment or is this your first?