Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Mar-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

I have always been one of those people who gets their kit ready the night before. My slip is laid out, a slab of cartridges is put on the floor next to it, and my tie is rolled up and stuffed in the top of my left wellington. I then climb into bed and spend the night tossing and turning in a state of sleepless excitement. Perhaps one day I’ll grow out of this; just as perhaps one day I’ll be able to sit at the edge of a flightpond without my legs starting to tremble and my mouth going dry upon hearing the sibilant whisper of wings in the blackness. But I suspect I won’t. Fieldsports has the ability to awake a sort of excitement among its devotees seldom…

Gundog owners have voiced their incredulity after well-groomed American cocker spaniel Afterglow Miami Ink took the top prize at Crufts 2017, having first won Best in Gundog Group. Taking to social media, one commentator wrote: “The American Mopper Spaniel wins Crufts and shows what a charade it has become!” Another, comparing the dog’s appearance with their own spaniels’, said: “I want my money back. Our dogs look nothing like a bred-for-purpose, perfect example of a working spaniel,” while one owner asked: “Can you see why us real working-dog folk can’t take Crufts seriously?” In response, Caroline Kisko, Kennel Club secretary, said: “Many of the dogs that belong to the gundog group in the UK may not necessarily work in the field but they retain their working instincts. Gundog breeds, such…

BMA advises GPs to charge over licensing The British Medical Association (BMA) has entrenched its position in its demands for firearms licence applicants to pay for their GP’s participation. The latest BMA Firearms Guidance gives GPs draft letters to respond to police forces and raises once again the opportunity for GPs to refuse to partake by claiming a “conscientious objection to gun ownership”. Liam Stokes, head of shooting at the Countryside Alliance, said that the suggestion sets “a dangerous precedent”. Nominate for ladies’ shooting award now The BASC Ladies shooting team is seeking nominations for its inaugural Ladies Star of Shooting Award. The award will be given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to ladies’ shooting. The winner will receive a trophy and a prize from British country brand Sporting…

In response to M. Bradshaw’s comments (Letters, 8 March) it seems that some people are still having problems with their doctors refusing to get involved as they don’t agree with people in the UK shooting or owning guns. I am a doctor and when I approached my own GP a few years ago — a new young doctor whom I had never met — he had no idea that we could own guns if we weren’t farmers or landowners, for example. He was nervous so told me he would speak to his defence union first (MDU) and a few days later he wrote a letter saying: “I do not know this patient well enough to comment on his ability to own guns.” The police approved my certificate. What I want…

The 3-12x56mm scope, with its good range of magnification settings and 56mm objective lens size allowing plenty of light to enter the scope for low-light situations, is ideal for a wide range of hunting and target situations, whether that be vermin control, foxing or deer management. Three of the four scopes here come in at less than £350 and I also tested a premium-priced scope, to gauge the difference and see what you get for paying the extra. Whether you require a smaller objective lens to fit lower to the rifle; you need a broader magnification zoom range; or if parallax adjustment is more important to you, it is worth bearing in mind that there will be a variant of the 3-12x56mm to suit your needs. Nikko Stirling has brought…

Of all the predation control activities that we carry out, Larsen trapping for crows and magpies is perhaps the most visible. It therefore follows that the better we do it, the more likely we are to make the right impression on passers-by. Filthy Larsen traps, with dejected-looking decoys, standing on a heap of splattered droppings and flyblown carcase remains are not a good advertisement for gamekeeping. There are lots of reasons for Larsen trapping, but for most of us the key aim is to prevent nest predation on wild breeding game. We probably hope that other vulnerable species, such as lapwings, curlews, blackbirds and song thrushes, will benefit too. For the uninitiated, Larsens work by territorial intrusion — birds get caught not because they want to make friends with the…

Rocket-powered penguins NATURAL HISTORY Q I was amazed to read in the book Frozen Planet that an emperor penguin will “rocket out of the sea at 400kph (250mph) on to the ice”. I have no doubt that the emperor is the fastest flightless bird, but can it really be that quick? A A 400kph penguin would be a quite remarkable creature. I suspect that this is an error not spotted by the proofreader and that it should read 40kph, or 25mph, which is much more believable but still pretty impressive. Emperor penguins have to launch themselves out of the water on to the ice at speed, because they don’t have the ability to scramble out using feet and flippers. Emerging penguins are unable to check their…

At the same time as our breeding oystercatchers are noisily proclaiming their ownership of territories on beaches and in fields, their Icelandic and Scandinavian cousins are still in flocks, fattening up for the return journeys to northern climes, where spring starts later. There is nothing subtle about the oystercatcher, apart from the cryptic colouration of the two to four eggs in their nesting scrapes. The bold black-and-white colouring makes it easy to pick out a sitting bird so she or he relies on seeing a potential predator early, leaving the nest and waiting for the perceived threat to have ended before returning to brood the eggs. If the first clutch is lost, as seems to be common on Scottish moorland, there should be time to lay a second set. Successful…

“The amount we spend on shooting will be between three and five times the figure we have admitted to” It took a jury in Hull just 24 minutes to clear an 83-year-old farmer of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a much younger night-time trespasser. The farmer — who uses a walking stick and a hearing aid — had fired his shotgun at the trespasser’s car as it drove at him. It emerged in court that the trespasser had “previous”, as the police say. I am reminded of the upstanding citizen who drove back to his isolated home after a day’s shooting, only to find the lights on. His house was being burgled. He rang the police. They said no officers were available. He was told to keep well back and…

ENTER The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) Young Shots Raffle gives eight lucky winners the chance to form a team of Guns on a day’s driven shooting at the GWCT’s Allerton Project demonstration farm in Leicestershire. The approximately 100-bird day will be held in October. Raffle tickets cost £20 and the numbers are limited to 500 tickets. Winners must be under 18 and capable of shooting a full day. To enter, visit www.gwct.org.uk/donate/raffles/young-shots-shoot-raffle. JOIN OUR CLUB If you have shot a right-and-left at woodcock you are eligible to join the exclusive Shooting Times Woodcock Club. You will join our newest members — Huw Price from Derby and Lee Hughes from Essex — in receiving an invitation to the 34th annual Woodcock Club Dinner, which will be held at Crowcombe…

“We could grumble about the loss of the grey partridge or we could set to the task of restoring it” With lengthening days and the return of the waders to their breeding grounds in the hills, it is time to make plans for summer. Along with so many other parts of the UK, Dumfries and Galloway’s population of grey partridges has collapsed in the past 40 years. For decades, my father and his father before him shot partridges and very little else on our family farm, then in a few short years the birds simply vanished. By the time I came on the scene, the species was reduced to hearsay. I gathered that there were a few scattered pairs in the hills, but they occupied a narrow margin between heather…

“Thermal-imaging equipment doesn’t work through glass, which is its only drawback” Controlling foxes on shoots is really important — not only are they a stealthy and crafty predator of game and other wildlife but they also disturb birds from sensitive areas that you might want to shoot over or are being used for nesting. Close to my home in Wiltshire is a small DIY shoot that covers about 500 acres of rolling arable farmland and a couple of woods. The syndicate has 12 or so members who all take it in turns feeding, dogging-in, checking pens and making shoot-day soup. It is a friendly family syndicate shoot; they don’t expect big bags but want a social day out with a few shots. Members of this syndicate try their best to…

FIELD TRIALLERS make poor pickers-up. It is a sweeping statement but one I have heard many times. I recall one headkeeper telling me that he wouldn’t have any triallers in his picking-up team “because they love to do the long-distance retrieve in front of the Guns, but hate hunting their dogs where they can’t see them working”. He might well have been right, but in January I saw as good a demonstration of picking-up as you will see anywhere, despite (or perhaps because) of the fact that almost all the members of the picking-up team on the shoot were passionately keen triallers. The Isenhurst shoot is in the Sussex Weald, not far from Heathfield. It is a private shoot, centred on a block of forestry bought by Clive Nickols after…

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country BRUCE POTTS Shooting Times rifl e reviewer and stalker DAVID TOMLINSON Highly regarded writer and ornithologist LIAM BELL NGO chairman, Shropshire gamekeeper and keen wildfowler GRAHAM DOWNING Shooting consultant and sporting author PAUL RAWLINGS Gundog expert and A-panel spaniel judge CHRIS DE CANI Riverkeeper, with specialist knowledge of chalkstreams TONY BUCKWELL Veterinary surgeon with a special interest in gundogs TONY JACKSON A game Shot, keen stalker and former editor of Shooting Times TOM PAYNE Professional shooting instructor and avid pigeon shooter SIMON WHITEHEAD Author, professional ferreter and rabbit controller IAIN WATSON Keen stalker and senior CIC international trophy judge Contact the team Email: stanswers@timeinc.com By post: Shooting…

30 MAR – 1 APR SHOTGUN COACH AWARD Cambridge Gun Club, Chear Fen Farm, Long Drove, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire Tel 01244 573018 12 APRIL GAVIN GARDINER AUCTION OF FINE MODERN & VINTAGE SPORTING GUNS Sotheby’s Auction House, New Bond Street, London Tel 01798 875300 22 APRIL KENNEL CLUB FIELD TRIAL SECRETARIES SEMINAR Littlebury Hotel, Bicester, Oxfordshire Tel 01296 318540 22–23 APRIL EAST ANGLIAN GAME & COUNTRY FAIR Euston estate, Thetford, Norfolk Tel 01263 735828 6–7 MAY THE NORTHERN SHOOTING SHOW Yorkshire Event Centre, Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire Tel 01472 809727 13 MAY 2017 COUNTRYSIDE CLAY SHOOT Six Mile Bottom estate, Newmarket, Cambridgeshire Tel 01283 810910…

NOT CONSISTENT, BBC How interesting that the BBC has caved in and sanctioned its well-known presenter Dame Jenni Murray (below), while washing its hands completely of its presenter Chris Packham. The pages of Shooting Times are not the place to discuss Dame Jenni’s stance on transgender issues, but she dared to voice the opinion that a transgender woman wouldn’t have had the same life experiences as someone who had been born a woman. I think most sensible people would accept that as a fact. There was the fairly predictable wailing and gnashing of teeth from the LGBT community, the inevitable Twitterstorm and calls for Dame Jenni to be sacked. Cravenly, the BBC issued Dame Jenni with an impartiality warning. Compare this with Mr Packham’s treatment, on the number of occasions…

“Ground without adequate firebreaks or keepers with equipment to fight fires will be ravaged” This year the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) held its AGM in Perth. We had a wide range of speakers, from a moorland botanist to a man who trains dogs to find wounded deer and wild boar. Our main speaker was the Scottish Cabinet Secretary for the Environment Roseanna Cunningham, who spoke about tail shortening of working dogs and the SGA’s focus on legal means as the way to solve species conflicts. It is 10 years since we were forced by law to stop docking our working dogs and this has caused a huge amount of pain and suffering. Everyone is now hopeful that, dependent upon a vote around May, our working companions and their welfare will…

“Pike fishermen are meat-eating, knuckle-dragging beard-wearers who want a fight” The last time I had a hook surgically removed from my thumb was at the minor injuries unit in Ely. “We get a lot of this,” said the matronly nurse practitioner, who took up her forceps and scalpel as she adjusted her reading glasses to a comfortable mid-point along her nose. “Pike fishermen, mostly.” I nodded with identification, because I too had been pike fishing. “Seem a particularly accident-prone bunch,” she offered, as she used the scalpel blade to slice the flesh that was obstructing the large stainless-steel barb attached to the three-pronged trident-like treble hook, which in turn was crimped to 50lb breaking-strain multi-strand wire. She sucked through her teeth as my blood bubbled like watery ketchup from under…

• First, you should be made to feel welcome. I would expect the trainer to be an experienced spaniel handler with evidence of success in competition, or perhaps a field trial judge. • The fee should reflect the level of facilities and numbers in the class. One-to-one lessons cost more but with the right trainer it may well be worth it. • The trainer should have a positive attitude towards the breed of spaniel you own. It will soon be obvious if they do not like or understand the breed. • Vaccinations, regular worming and flea treatment should always be insisted upon before joining a class. Similarly, bitches in season should be excluded. • Training methods should be positive and reward based. There should be no harsh handling or electric…

There are lots of retrieving horror stories, but the following tale is hard to beat. My friend Richard was working his team of cockers and Labradors on a partridge day. He had finished picking-up after the last drive when Roly, a three-year-old cocker, decided to investigate a hole in the field. Ignoring his master’s whistle — he is a very determined dog — he went down the hole to investigate. Richard went over to call him out but by this time Roly was out of sight, though he could be heard scrabbling his way deeper underground. All attempts to call him out failed so in desperation Richard tried digging, but his spade simply bounced off the frost-hard ground. Time was passing fast, and it was now dark. Several members of…

Latin name: Pulmonaria officinalis Common name: Common lungwort Other names: Jerusalem sage, Jerusalem cowslip, Adam and Eve, Mary’s tears, lady’s milk How to spot it and where to find it: As its name suggests, common lungwort can flourish practically anywhere. It is an old cottage plant, quite coarse in leaf, and as a hardy, semi-evergreen perennial, it likes moist grasslands, damp woods and hedgerows. It has broad leaves spotted freely with greenish-white, and clusters of flowers that open pink and change to blue in spring. It flowers from March to May and is a valuable source of nectar for bees. The flower appears before the foliage, though there may be some remnants of the previous year’s leaf, and the foliage fills out as the flowers die back. Interesting facts: The…

With its piebald coat, the Jacob is one of the most recognisable of the many sheep breeds in the UK. Though it has been bred here for at least 350 years, it is not a native but has its origins in the Middle East. The name comes from the biblical figure Jacob, who according to the Old Testament took all the spotted sheep from his father-in-law’s flock and bred them selectively. The Jacob is small and tough. It is a horned breed and though two horns are usual in UK animals, they can have four or even six. Classic Jacob markings are a black face with a white blaze from the horns to the muzzle. Because of their attractive looks Jacobs are often kept in parkland as ornamentals, but they…