Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Shooting Gazette

C stands for Conservation When it comes to shooting and conservation, all too often people remember the ‘shooting’ but forget the ‘conservation’. This is true for people inside and outside of our community. It is also something I try and drive home to everybody I speak to about shooting and its benefits; in fact I would go so far as to say it should be conservation and shooting. Having grown up as a farmer’s son, I know the countryside and those who reside there. Now finding myself a Londoner, I have a great perspective of both a town view and a country view. The contrast is stark. However, one similarity often shared by people of both town and country is the idea of simply leaving your front door with a…

In his October letter, John Dunk asks if stuffing is reasonable on a game drive. It may seem so under some circumstances, but I would argue there are also times when stuffing is reasonable, if not also appropriate and even necessary. Stuffers or minders, especially with less experienced Guns, serve many purposes: assisting with shooting safety; bird selection on mixed species in September: or calling out descriptions of birds. Then, there are those of us, avid, willing, careful, but unable to shoot standing, or carry everything — not having assistance would be an extreme handicap. It’s difficult for me to imagine Guns taking umbrage over another Gun’s stuffer — is the Gun’s individual bag that important to him at the end of the day? Lou Browning, by email Ed. Thanks…

Tell us a little about yourself, Tilly Ann Clothing and what prompted you to start designing tweeds for children? I’m a wife and also a mother of two toddlers, studying for a PhD in Fashion at UCLan. I studied at London College of Fashion, so the basis of fashion design was already there. When I was pregnant with my first child, I started making pieces of tweed for friends’ children who just couldn’t find anything that was small enough, or good quality, and, most importantly, made in the UK. It just took off from there. Three years later we have a full collection of Tilly Ann, three stockists and a team of seamstresses who handcraft everything we design. The provenance of clothing, and that concept of field to fitting room,…

Successful days’ decoying pigeons on winter rape are few and far between but every now and then the stars align and surprise, surprise a good day evolves. My pigeon shooting pal A.C. spends the winter out on duty shoots on vast fields of winter rape and scores brownie points with the farmers who welcome us in the good times on spring drillings, summer peas and stubbles. I am fortunate to get out on several days’ game shooting at that time of year but like to join A.C. when I can. A typical day was when we covered two fields and he ended up with 15 birds and I 14 birds with the normal story of having a few shots before the flocks disappeared to other rape fields in the area.…

“It was only a matter of time before greys would start to knock at our door.” Grey squirrels are a foreign concept here in south-west Scotland. While the rest of the country has been infested by expanding numbers of invading greys, the woods around my home have always been a stronghold for red squirrels. It’s only when I venture to towns and cities or shoot in other parts of the country that I come across grey squirrels, and they seem very alien indeed. Walking in Edinburgh last summer, I had to stop and crane my neck at a strange and unexpected sound in the trees above me. Somewhere between a sneeze and a whine, the noise was shrill and grating. It was only after a thorough look that I was…

My eyes lit up as I studied the forecast for Mallwyd prior to our day at Brigands in early November. I had volunteered my services as a beater on one of the four drives, and while some had warned I was in for a shock, memories of my schoolboy paper round in the Rhymney Valley reassured me that even though it would be tough, it wasn’t the first time I’d been tested by the Welsh elements. The beating line is the place I gravitate to if there’s a space available whenever we attend shoot days for the magazine. I couldn’t tell you why I love yomping up the side of mountains, thrashing through brambles or squelching through ankle-deep sludge under woodland canopies. I just look forward to the challenge these…

Q My son and I are shooting together on a father and son day in January. He is new to shooting and so will have two shots to my eight, shooting with my old .410. How can we best utilise an instructor to help him prepare for this, and what can I do on the day? A The first thing to remember when you are bringing on a youngster is to find an instructor who is child friendly. Not all are. Some simply lack the ability to communicate effectively to children. I suggest you watch your child interact with their instructor and, as a parent, your instincts will tell you the rest. Do not be frightened to move instructors until you find someone who is suitable. Once you have found…

There has been a lot of talk recently about the safety of so-called smart motorways, after an AA report said that they were 216% more dangerous than old-fashioned ones with a hard shoulder. They are also generating colossal speeding fines, as some of the cameras have been set to trigger at just 1mph over the speed limit, while lives are being lost when camera operators don’t spot broken down cars or drivers ignore the flashing red crosses on the gantries. That they are good for reducing traffic, when outer-lane-hogging idiots permit, is beyond argument, but it seems like better technology and driver training are needed, and quickly.…

We arrived on time only to find no-one about. By 9.15am we began to wonder if we’d got the right day. Gradually people pulled into the yard and eventually the ‘keeper’ rocked up on his quad bike. It was obviously going to be a laid-back sort of day – which is why I’d brought Cecil to try his paw on a peg for the first time. There were five Guns, including my brother (the only one with a dog), Cecil and I, four beaters and one picker-up with an elegant flatcoat. The picker-up had her own truck but all the beaters and their dogs were supposed to travel with the Guns in a small trailer that would have been comfortable for five. “Cecil behaved impeccably. He even retrieved two partridges…

Q I am training my dog a lot in woodlands and I have noticed a few ticks on him recently. Should I be worried and shift training ground? A In my view, absolutely not. We have working dogs and certainly dogs that live for crashing through the undergrowth outdoors. There are ticks all over the UK and especially where there is a concentration of deer. Deer populations are increasing and so will the density of ticks. So, it likely that wherever you train outdoors you will come across them. How often depends on where you live, the time of year (spring and summer are the high point) and the ground you are on. Admittedly, woods, hedgerows and longer grass hold more than shorter meadows (ticks love moist conditions) but they…

Moorland life Each generation produces extraordinary talents and former Swinton Park moorland keeper Douglas Morrison was kind enough to share his life in game shooting with us. From growing up in the sport and achieving record bags in County Durham to rubbing shoulders with titans of industry, politics and European royalty in North Yorkshire, he has seen it all. You’re obsessed! Where do you stand on using a mobile phone on shoot day? Should the device be sleeved until the end of proceedings or is there no harm in checking emails, stock prices, WhatsApp messages or posting on Instagram between drives? Thomas Jones presents four different types of mobile phone user on shoot days – dare we ask if you fall into any category? I couldn’t possibly comment.…

THE AUTHOR of the Letter of the Month will receive a pair of Wexford boots from Dubarry of Ireland (RRP £325). The knee-length side-zip boots – designed for both men and women – are handcrafted from waterproof Dry Fast-Dry Soft™ breathable leathers. The high quality of the boot is reinforced throughout with an insulated GORE-TEX® lining that wicks moisture away from the foot, ensuring the wearer remains dry and comfortable all day. Dubarry’s new hard-wearing durable outsole gives maximum grip whatever the ground conditions.…

By the time this issue reaches the shelves we will know who is to shape our political and economic lives in the years ahead. What the past four years have proven is that amongst our elected representatives – and almost every other group of minority interests with self-built publicity platforms – rational debate illuminated by numerical or scientific facts has been replaced by shouty virtue-signallers whose grasp of truth is nuanced by myopic self interest and a deranged desire to disrupt. Leaving aside matters such as our defence capability, policing, free healthcare, maintenance of a reasonable taxation regime, sustained investment to enhance productivity, nationwide connectivity and a balanced approach to co-existence with a climate that fluctuates cyclically as it has done for millennia, there are many issues on which our…

Dear Uncle Giles, I’d like to take my three-year-old son out with me on our shoot’s beaters’ day but am not sure how I should I approach the timetable. As host, I need to be there for the duration and my wife will be in the Gun line. PWW, by email Uncle Giles writes Your wish to involve your son in all things to with shooting from an early age does you credit. However, I am inclined to agree that a full day might be more than enough for a small person and we would not wish to colour his appreciation of events by taking him too far from his familiar routines and boundaries too soon. We would not, after all, expect to take a young dog from the training…

Does your shoot put on a shoot dinner? In Sapiens’ part of the world – rural mid Wales, in case you were wondering – most local shoots arrange a dinner at a local hotel or pub, and we also benefit from the annual Game Dinner at Y Talbot Hotel in Tregaron. Attended by Guns and non-Guns alike, the dinner is a highlight of the local community’s social calendar. The hotel management generously keep the price of the event low so it appeals to pockets of all depths and its chef excels at preparing a variety of game, including rabbit, pheasant, duck, partridge and venison. Woodcock, which was on the menu a few years ago, won’t return until we’re certain numbers are sustainable. Shoot dinners do many things. Here they are…

Human The original plan for this column was to deliver a decent dog. Not a field trial champion, certainly, but a good, solid working dog that would retrieve game, sit and stay and not embarrass us in public. At least no more than we embarrass ourselves. And to have a bit of fun along the way. There would be some training tips and so forth – some of which might even prove helpful here and there – but mostly it would be a survival guide for the journeyman dog owner to demonstrate we are not alone. It was quite a long time ago, though, that we began. Lot of pheasants on the floor since then. Many partridges and pigeons. Wildfowl. There have been ups and downs, for sure, and some…

Seventy-eight-year-old Douglas Morrison looks out of the study window on the ground floor of his small gamekeepers’ cottage through a monocular, scrutinising the sights before him with an inquiring eye. The fragile optic offers an enhanced view across the Vale of York, separating the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. On a clear day, one can see the Kilburn White Horse that has guarded Sutton Bank since the mid 1850s. Though out of sight, mere seconds from his driveway around to the left of his position, a winding, tree sheltered B-road takes you to the front gates of Swinton Park, Douglas’s former home from home where he was employed as its head moorkeeper for 30 years. Though Douglas, Swinton Park, gamekeeping and grouse shooting have witnessed a good deal…

With a mixture of cartridges from 21gram to 28gram in our pockets, Diane Wade, the former England and GB ladies team shot, and I went out on the grounds. I thought with the 28in barrels and sub 7lb weight we might have to work hard on more demanding targets. We started off with partridge of normal height and speed and finished off with some super targets off the high banks. I have no idea what choke we were shooting, the test gun was fixed choke and I didn’t check, but the breaks on everything were impressive even out to 65yds. We weren’t using any uber-steroid driven cartridges that will hit everything that you pull the trigger on. We are both keen users of 32in 20-bores but I have to say…

CARIBOU JACKET BY SWAZI £155 swazi.co.nz I’ve heard a lot of good things about this New Zealand brand and have noticed more than a handful of gamekeepers and other estate staff up north wearing its garments on shoot days. I therefore decided to give this 350gsm polar fleece a try during a trip up to Lancashire in late November. I was glad I did. The wind was biting and bone achingly cold, but only my hands knew about it for most of the day. Of all the clothes I wore, including thick socks, a technical tweed shooting jacket and lined tweed breeks, this was the garment that kept me warmest and most comfortable. At 700g it’s a lightweight layer, the fit was outstanding, neither tight nor billowing, the cuffs hardly…

Club: Arfon Working Gundog Club Event: AV Novice Spaniel Stake Venue: Carrog Shoot, Carrog, Clwyd Judges: Kevin A. Powell and Noel Parry Guns: Eifion Roberts, Howard Latham, Graham Burton and Ian Ross Sponsors: CSJ Specialist Canine Feeds and Gary McCarthy (Gundog Gear) Host: James Tuner The weather was overcast but dry with a cold wind, the ground was a mix of white grass, gorse, heather and bracken. As the wind got colder the birds got more scarce and our host moved us to a more sheltered area, where we were able to complete the trial. The winning spaniels were all bitches and for the first time there were two lady handlers in the awards.…

Further to Rob Yorke’s article in the October issue on lead shot, I am sure many who shoot will be genuinely interested to know where the balance of opinion lies. Those who shoot are generally of a practical frame of mind, either professionally, or simply by virtue of a desire to ‘do the right thing’ for the very countryside that provides them with their sport. Indeed, through organisations like the GWCT and BDS, the shooting community actively promotes evidence-informed decision-making that puts practicality first. Against that background, and with the Danish precedent for a successful transition, I should like to think the shooting community will readily back a transition towards non-lead shot. We all know that lead shot is toxic, and while there is scant evidence it is causing any…

Have an angle: Most of my ideas for features come from the dozens of stories I hear on shoot days during the season. They also provide a unique slant on issues across the countryside, which can make for a thought-provoking article. So, while both have a place in the magazine, a story about gamekeepers worrying about retirement or redundancy is worth more to our readership (and the sport) than 5 Ways To Be a Better Game Cart Driver. Be organised: Think about when to send a pitch into a magazine as much as what it is about – we’ve already got the March and April issues planned out. So if you want to write about simulated clay shooting in the June issue you’ll need to pitch the idea to us…

We’d be shooting pheasants in late November on the High Helbeck Estate in Cumbria for our dream day. There’d be a crisp light wind to ensure there are some challenging yet sporting birds for us on an estate we always enjoy visiting. Our guests would be welcomed with a warming mug of bullshot by a roaring fire in the shoot room. We’d finish the day with a bag close to 150 birds. Our father would be first on the list. He’s the reason we shoot and have enjoyed the sport from such a young age. Whether it be standing behind us telling us where we were on a bird, or giving up his peg on our family shoot to let us step in, this would be a great way to…

For your chance to win a bottle of Taittinger Champagne for Picture of the Month, send us a team photograph or a picture of something unusual from your shoot. Send high-resolution images or prints with captions to Shooting Gazette Gallery, TI Media Ltd., Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF or email: martin.puddifer@ti-media.com. Peter Woolmer sent us this picture of him and his team at Gurston Down earlier on in the season. The fact the photographer got two of the three dogs to look at the camera was an impressive feat, as any Shooting Gazette snapper will tell you. “The weather was very hot and the air pressure very high which did not help,” writes Peter. “However, Rob Hitchings and Duane Hart produced some classic high partridges over chalk…

William Gilbert Froome was born in 1841 at Hurstbourne in Hampshire. Aged 14 in the year 1855, he left home and travelled to London to begin an apprenticeship with Harris Holland at 9 King Street. The importance of William Froome to Holland & Holland was that he was an expert rifle regulator with excellent shooting prowess and a sturdy frame to withstand the constant testing of the heavy rifles. It is fair to say that William Froome was the man responsible for creating the world-renowned reputation of the Holland & Holland rifle. This shows how much he was valued at Holland & Holland as he was made a director of the firm in 1898 upon Harris Holland’s death and indeed, in a quite unusual relationship between boss and employee for…

It is only a matter of time. Lead water pipes went 50 years ago, lead in paint around 30 and leaded petrol was finally banned under EU law in 2000. Wildfowlers have had to use non-toxic shot for the last 20 years. Soon there will be no cartridges with lead shot, full stop. Lead is nasty stuff, no use to man nor beast, and while it is rather good at killing things when fired from a shotgun, its toxicity and adverse impact on the environment cannot be denied. The shooting community simply cannot go on throwing up tonnes of the stuff into the air to fall where it may. The sooner we embrace change the better. We found a safe alternative for water pipes, a substitute for lead in paint…

Engineering: 10/10 The finish on this gun is first class, and exudes gun-making at the top of its game. The quirk of the hinged butt-trap engineering is fabulous and I am sure this is the tip of their capability. Looks and finishing: 10/10 This gun has the something special about it, and as per my comments earlier, I think this is probably the starting point. Handling: 10/10 If this is how the sub 7lb gun with 28in barrels handles, I can only imagine what handling 30in barrels and a weight a tad over 7lb would deliver. Reliability and customer service: 8/10 Reliability is going to be an unknown evidentially at the moment but Cornwall-based Tony Kennedy has a lifelong reputation in the industry. Bertuzzi presents an opportunity to build your…

1 (and winner of the Westhyde Challenge Bowl) Mrs Kelly Rogers-Davison’s GR D Loveloch Valentino 2 (and winner of the Culzean Cup) Mr John Williamson’s GR B Tealcreek Isla 3 Mrs Lesley Crompton’s GR B Catcombe Cygnet 4 Mr Natham Lafy’s GR B Think Twice Zero to Hero COM Mr Philip Wagland’s GR B Funnyline Fieldquest Kelbrook Other trophies Best Marking Dog (The FTCh Tillwood Theseus Of Holywear Memorial Trophy): Keith Broomfield’s GR D Polihale Vodka Surprize Guns’ Choice (The Castleshaw Trophy) and Best On a Runner (The Parry Tankard): Andrew Fisher’s GR D Kaliture Rooster Westhyde Merrymaker Trophy to the breeder of the winning dog: C. Rees Best Looking Dog or Bitch (The Tim Broad Trophy): Phil Wagland’s GR B Funnyline Fieldquest Kelbrook Best Looking Opposite Sex: Adrian Phillips’…

How to win For your chance to win either a Pintail Explorer smock (top) or a Seasons jacket (right), email high-res images to martin.puddifer@ti-media.com. Please put ‘Gundog Picture of the Month’ in the subject line. The winner will be chosen by the Shooting Gazette judging panel. Good luck! The prize will only be posted to winners with a fixed UK postal address.…