Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i Shooting Gazette

A new year always brings with it a renewed sense of optimism, of hope about what good the future might bring and a chance to draw a line under what has gone before. While all of us will be feeling the effects of the coronavirus outbreak for some time to come, I hope that 2021 will bring many reasons to be more optimistic about the future and that a return to ‘normality’, whatever the caveats, will soon bring shooting friends and family back together, allowing everyone to play a part in recharging our unique social fabric. While we cannot be blind to the world outside that doesn’t mean that we can’t still enjoy the nourishment that game shooting brings to our own lives. As ever, if you have a good…

NürnbergMesse, organisers of IWA OutdoorClassics, have announced that the fair will not take place in 2021 owing to exhibitors and visitors being unable to commit due to COVID-19 infection rates, quarantine rules and travel restrictions. The next IWA OutdoorClassics will take place on 3-6 March 2022 in Nuremberg. “Over recent weeks we have received a lot of support and understanding from within the sector. The discussions we have had with our exhibitors have clearly shown that the IWA continues to be an essential part of the B2B community,” says Petra Wolf, from the NürnbergMesse management board. “Despite the challenging situation, more than 1,000 exhibitors had registered for the trade fair. It is therefore with even greater regret that we must now postpone this event until 2022. This commitment by exhibitors…

SHARE YOUR VIEWS Email: martin.puddifer@futurenet.com Remembering Darren Crush The editor’s interesting and thought-provoking article [An empty peg, October issue] regarding our late colleague, Darren Crush, resonated strongly with me. I took Darren with me on his first-ever assignment for Shooting Gazette, a feature on the workings of the London Proof House. I knew that lighting pictures in the Proof House can be tricky so I took with me a range of equipment more usually found in a studio. My intention was to get on with the photography whilst Darren interviewed the Proof Master, craftsmen and technicians. That’s not what happened! At every turn, Darren was beside me, behind me, looking over my shoulder, checking camera settings, noting how I positioned the lights. Questions, questions, and more questions! When we finally…

Venison tagliatelle/ragu SERVES 4 PEOPLE PREP TIME: 10 minutes COOK TIME: 65 minutes Ingredients • 4 tbsp olive oil• 2 medium onions, finely chopped• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped• 500g minced venison• 300ml red wine or port• 1 tsp dried oregano• 2 tbsp tomato purée• 10g beef stock cube, crumbled• 300ml game stock or chicken stock• 400g can chopped tomatoes• 2 tsp cornflour, mixed with 4 tbsp cold water• Salt and freshly ground black pepper• 500g cooked pappardelle pasta Method 1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the onions and garlic and cook for 10 minutes until starting to brown. 2. Add the mince and break up with a wooden spoon. Cook over a high heat for a few minutes, stirring well, until all the moisture has evaporated…

Easily one of the most versatile items of clothing you’ll own and perfect for all-year-round wear, every country wardrobe needs a fleece gilet. Great for warmer days over a shirt or ideal as an extra layer when the temperature dips. Alan Paine’s Aylsham gilet features a robust zipper, two handy zipped pockets and an adjustable draw cord waist for a snug, comfortable fit. The contrast faux suede piping is a stylish addition and it’s machine washable to boot. The winner will be given the chance to choose between the Men’s Aylsham gilet (£84.95) and the Ladies Aylsham gilet (£79.95) The winners of the October and November wordsearches, with the prize of a pair of Hunter GTX Evo Extreme boots from Lowa were Tim Gambrell of Sandgate in Kent and Barry…

Just beside my village is a large area of natural wetland, a boggy ground with shallow water, rushes and willow. It is teaming with bird life and I well remember as a boy, full of trepidation, trying to wade into it to collect birds’ eggs. As was the prevailing agricultural thought at the time, during the 1970s, the local farmer received a huge grant and drained all the land, and barley flourished where once it had been bogland. A pump ran near enough 24 hours a day to keep it like this. Then oil prices rose, climate change began to take effect and thoughts on the environment were reappraised. The happy result was that the pumps were switched off and it was remarkable how quickly the land reverted to its…

Even by the close of the 18th century, the British Army had inaccurate smoothbore muskets and during the French Wars often encountered French soldiers armed with superior rifles. Ezekiel Baker, the London gunmaker, undertook considerable experimentation on rifled weapons and, in the year 1800, his Baker flintlock rifle was adopted by the British Army. The 30in barrel had seven-groove rifling with a quarter-turn twist its entire length. It fired a patched ball and the general design of the rifle was based upon the German hunting rifle of this period. It weighed 9½lb and had a brass patchbox in the side of the butt. It was an accurate firearm; the ball was extremely tight fitting and was difficult to ram home. To overcome this problem, a comparatively heavy wide-headed ramrod was…

Engineering: The robust action has been in production for many years. It will last a lifetime and more with a little servicing and proper cleaning, especially if it gets wet. Looks and finish: The aesthetics are exceptional, as are the finish and presentation of the gun. Handling: This is an all-round game gun that will do the job exceptionally well in pretty much every arena. As previously mentioned in similar reviews, something heavier with longer barrels might be useful on the very highest birds, but you can hold your own with this model for sure. With the slimness of the stock the balance is a little forward of the hinge pin and the gun shoots very well, but I would put a little weight in the rear to adjust the…

Standing in the shower, pondering the meaning of life and the current state of things, I was lamenting the temporary demise of my local shoot when I suddenly remembered a special chocolate cocker and the day I was sure he was a goner. I had the great privilege of picking-up with him regularly on a National Trust estate in Cornwall. A colonnaded hice looked south down the Fal Estuary and, for the drive in question, the Guns stood on a beach facing north with their backs to the estuary. In front of them was a cliff, the park and then in the distance the aforementioned hice. The tide was just on the ebb and I had to stand close to my Gun because I wasn’t wearing waders. The beaters were…

The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust (GWT) has launched a professional counselling service to complement existing services. The move follows the results of the GWT’s gamekeeping survey and a report from the Scottish Government: Driven grouse moors – socioeconomic and biodiversity impacts, which included submissions from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, BASC Scotland and moorland groups. Both highlighted the pressures gamekeepers find themselves working under. The counselling services will complement Jamie’s Helpline and the resilience training and support already offered by the GWT. “I am absolutely delighted we are now able to offer the next step in support for individuals in our community who need that help along with our support,” said GWT chief executive Helen Benson. “This is an important move forward to be able to provide a completely holistic service for…

PICTURE OF THE MONTH A very proud Tony Roberts writes: “My 10-year-old granddaughter, Lily, with her hands full, picking-up on our syndicate partridge shoot at Aysgarth in North Yorkshire.” ANOTHER PERFECT DAY IN POWYS AT THE BRIGANDS Pictured are the shooting party (below) and gamekeepers Jamie Kembrey and Craig Davies (above) from the day at The Brigands last season, featured on pages 20 to 29 of this issue. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a photograph of the beaters during the day. One of the reasons for this was that they were so busy working hard to make sure that each of the drives was executed as well as possible.…

Dear Uncle Giles, It has been put to me by my long-standing team of beaters that they should be given the opportunity to sell their end-of-season ‘cock day’. I’m not sure how I feel about the idea. Your thoughts? PJC, by email Uncle Giles writes, Call me old fashioned if you will, but I think this is a terrible idea at a number of levels. Primarily, because the beaters’ day or cock day – since traditionally only cock pheasants were shot towards the end of the season to preserve the laying hens for the production of next year’s birds – was, and remains, the gift of a grateful proprietor and the headkeeper to beaters who have performed diligently throughout the season. On the shoot where I beat, for example, there…

After everything that 2020 brought it is important to have things to look forward to in 2021. With the partridge and pheasant shooting season closing after 1 February, you might think that the opportunities to step out onto the hallowed turf of your nearest shoot will be limited until the start of the next campaign, but that’s not necessarily the case. The GWCT Big Farmland Bird Count returns between 5 February and 14 February. The 30 minutes’ work that is required from you on one of those 10 days will go a long way to showing how much farmland birds such as skylarks, yellowhammers and corn buntings benefit from the conservation efforts of gamekeepers and other land managers. “Many of them are already doing fantastic work to support and conserve…

January is the peak of the game season; bags may be more modest but the quality of the strong and wily birds can produce the finest sport. On my own little shoot, the walk one, stand one helpers’ day in January is for all those who have given their time, enthusiasm and energy to make days earlier in the season successful. Last January, the day went well and the fun we have on every day’s shooting was particularly special on this one. When the helpers’ day had finished, those who wanted to stayed on for a pigeon flight before everyone met up at the pub. The whole shoot is only about 80 acres with nearly 60 being willow or mixed woodland interspersed by lakes. I had been watching on evenings…

Compared with the smoothbore Brown Bess musket, the Baker rifle was so accurate that Admiral Nelson had the foresight to take on board his ships the newly formed Rifle Corps, later the 95th or Rifle Regiment, armed with Bakers. These riflemen were employed as snipers in his attack on the Danish forts at Copenhagen. Their contribution to the success of this action was officially recognised in the granting of their first battle honour, which was named “Copenhagen”. The riflemen of the 95th Regiment also earned great respect for their accurate sniping during the Peninsular War for their rearguard action in 1809 during the retirement from Corunna under Sir John Moore and the part they played in the Light Division from 1810-1814 when under the command of Wellington. They fought with…

EJ Churchill Shooting Ground has opened a new cleaning facility at its West Wycombe premises. ‘The Bothy’ is a free-to-use facility consisting of four cleaning stations, two racks of cleaning rods and bore mops, two compressed airline hoses and cleaning products from KG, Pro-Shot and EJ Churchill’s own brand of gun oil. Guns can be cleaned by the owners themselves or by EJ Churchill staff. “We decided to show customers how we clean guns here and take something traditionally done back-of-house out in front of our customers,” said Rupert Haynes, EJ Churchill’s gunroom manager.…

Twelve Bore, the latest gin to be produced by independent gin company Wild Fox Distillery, has been billed as a ‘tribute to the gamekeepers who manage Britain’s countryside’. The new gin is said to have ‘a juniper-led flavour, with zesty orange and fresh ginger notes resulting in a velvety feel to the palate and lively citrus scent’. The Lancashire-based distillery was founded by fourth-generation dairy farmers Lizzie and Rob Billington, who began making gin in 2019. Twelve Bore is one of four spirits produced by the distillery. Lizzie said: “With an inherited passion for quality and caring for our surroundings, we strive to embody the heritage of our farm in each bottle. We have full control over each stage, with everything being done right here on our farm: developed, harvested,…

Restrictions didn’t mean shutdown: After the first lockdown I became very busy with lots of customer fittings. People had waited long enough and I am now still doing several a week. Fittings do not require really close contact but both parties wear masks. My fittings take the form of at least two visits, the first to establish what is required followed by subsequent meetings after any work necessary being done in our workshops is completed, to then other visits to check and adjust again if necessary. I believe good gun fitting comes from seeing people shoot targets to be sure all has been done correctly. I also take lots of time getting customers to mount their guns correctly as if that is not achieved straight away, it must be perfected…

When the weather is right and the birds have turned up in good numbers, I would happily put my neck out and say that Galloway is the best place to shoot snipe in Britain. Walked-up or driven days can provide dazzling sport in the south-west of Scotland, and I’ve often been out with Guns who are forced to confess that they have run out of cartridges after an hour or two. There have been several times when I have made this mistake myself. On the assumption that I would have a quiet day, I have filled a pocket with a handful of cartridges, only to realise very quickly that I would need to ration myself. It’s fair to qualify my bold assertion with a few conditions. Snipe will not always…

What are your plans for 2021? I won’t judge you if there are plenty of entries in your new diaries that have only been written faintly in pencil, or if the pages on either side of important birthdays and anniversaries are a desert of white. As I write these words at the beginning of December, the team at Shooting Gazette is still navigating its way through a list of potential shoot visits, the plans for which have been turned upside down by various lockdowns and tier restrictions. It hasn’t been easy to navigate - knitting fog or herding cats is about right - but I hope that by the time 1 February comes we will have been able to observe most if not all of them in one way or…

The Baker bird collectors’ gun was designed to be a small take-down for concealment, whereas this one (right) was designed as a tiny gun for a very young boy. The boy was none other than Prince Alfred and the gun is a Westley Richards single 28-bore gun no 7183. Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert was a keen devotee of shooting and had several guns built for him by Westley Richards in Birmingham, soon granting the firm his Royal Warrant. In the 1850s he had Westley Richards build him a small gun for his son Prince Alfred, who was born in 1844, the fourth child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. As second son, he was second in line to the throne and carried the title the Duke of Edinburgh. He…

A visit to the towers at the shooting school confirmed that all is as expected and that the EELL Classic shoots as good as it looks with a variety of ammunition, both clay and game loads. There were no surprises and the fixed chokes delivered outstanding patterns. If I picked the standard stock my preference would be to have a little weight put in to bring the balance closer to the hinge pin. A better option, though, would be to choose the bespoke stock and have it balanced at the factory. I would have to wait for travel to open post COVID-19, but it would be worth the wait and I could choose my own wood.…

The Kennel Club has announced the cancellation of the Cocker Spaniel and AV Spaniel championships, which were due to have been held in January, because of the uncertainties caused by COVID-19, writes Maurice Stanbury. The International Gundog League, which organises the Retriever Championship, had already announced the cancellation of the 2020 event, which was scheduled to have been held earlier in the season, but was cancelled for the same reason. The championships have run every year since 1945, except in the 1967/1968 season because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The 2011 Spaniel Championship was once postponed, but nevertheless successfully held later in the month.…