Innholdsfortegnelse for 17-May-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

I was sitting at my desk eating a cinnamon bun when I first heard the news. And unless you’ve been hiding in a grouse butt for the past few weeks, I imagine you’ve heard it too. Yes, in the likely event of a Tory landslide next month, Theresa May has pledged to give MPs a free vote on legalising the second finest fieldsport. Admittedly, opinions are divided amongst the hunting fraternity as to the usefulness of May’s commitment but I see it as a brilliant opportunity, not least because the sexiness of articles on trail-hunting is limited. Inevitably, within minutes of her announcement, cyberspace’s fizziest were going at it hammer and tongs. Most of the posts I came across were far too complex to be repeated here but the League…

21 MAY BENELLI SP’AUTO CHAMPIONSHIPS Southdown Gun Club and Shooting School, West Sussex Tel 01903 877555 24 MAY BASC & GWCT SHOOTING FOR THE FUTURE COURSE Allerton Project Visitor Centre, Loddington, Leicestershire Tel 01425 651013 25 MAY GWCT CLAY SHOOT Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, Leicestershire Tel 07836 598202 26-28 MAY NRA ARMS FAIR AT THE 2017 PHOENIX National Shooting Centre, Bisley, Surrey Tel 01483 797777 28-29 MAY HIGHCLERE COUNTRY SHOW Highclere Castle, Newbury, Berkshire Tel 01889 563232 31 MAY NGO GAME MEAT HANDLING COURSE The Shoot Room, Ox House Farm, Combrook, Warwickshire Tel 01833 660869…

New outbreaks of bird flu reported Gamekeepers are being warned that they still need to keep captive birds away from wild birds after isolated new outbreaks of avian influenza were reported in Lancashire. DEFRA confirmed the outbreak in a flock of chickens on a farm near Thornton a little under two weeks ago, followed by a second outbreak in a flock of chickens and duck nearby. A number of the birds had died, while the rest were humanely culled. A spokesman for the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation (NGO) said: “It is disappointing that after many weeks without a confirmed case, bird flu has again been found in the UK. With gamebird rearing now well under way and releasing due to start from June, the timing of this outbreak is not good.…

I read the recent article about former Shooting Times Editor Tony Jackson ( The life and Times of Tony Jackson, 3 May) with great interest and was surprised to see that his predecessor, Philip Young, came from the RSPB. Tony recalls that in those days — presumably the 1960s-1970s — the title had a good relationship with the RSPB, which may come as a surprise to many readers. I also imagine that most readers also believe that the official RSPB policy is to work towards a ban on all shooting. I came across a complaint in the 2016 winter edition of the RSPB’s magazine Nature’s Home that even though the magazine had featured alleged killing of raptors by the gameshooting community, it had also given a platform to another former…

“A hunter needs to trust his dog, even above the evidence of his own eyes” Most of us would never think of going shooting without a dog, but not long ago it was thought quite unusual to take one on a deerstalk. How quickly things have changed. Now “dogs for deer” training days are increasingly commonplace as more stalkers come to appreciate the difference a canine nose can make in the search for a missing deer. Though I do not always stalk with Teal alongside me, my Labrador is never farther away than the back of the Land Rover, because she has the ability to locate a deer that human senses alone would never find, turning despair into delight. This happened one early morning at the beginning of autumn. There…

The genesis of the Jack Russell terrier has been told countless times but there is one aspect that is invariably neglected. We know, through E. W. L. Davies’ A Memoir of the Rev. John Russell and His Out-of-Door Life, that in 1815, the Reverend, then 20 years old and obsessed with hunting, was on the point of taking his final exams at Oxford University. One day, while strolling near the river Cherwell, he encountered a milkman with a terrier — “such an animal as Russell had only seen in his dreams”. Determined to acquire the dog, he bargained with the owner until the animal, a bitch called Trump, came into his possession. White, with a patch of tan over each eye and ear and a dot of tan at the…

Special delivery GUNDOGS Q Following a riding accident I am unable to bend easily and though I do not shoot I have trained a spaniel for picking-up. I taught him to jump up, or rather lift his front legs up to my waist to deliver when he was in training with dummies. Will this be acceptable when I take him out shooting for the first time next season? A I hate to mention health and safety but obviously the shooting field is full of hazards and if your dog jumps up or puts its feet on you when you are standing on uneven ground it may cause you to overbalance and injure yourself further. You do not shoot, therefore the likelihood of an accident involving guns is minimal, but dogs…

Medium-sized and horned, Gloucesters are best recognised by their unusual mahogany colouring, making them look almost black at a distance. They have a distinctive white stripe along the back, the underside is white, with a flashing white tail. It is considered dual-purpose, though it is rather slow maturing for beef. These cattle were first documented in the 13th century, and there is a theory that they might have Norman ancestry. dairy breeds, the Gloucester is also one of the rarest, though it has staged a recovery since the 1970s, when only one herd remained. Today there are around 700 female cattle on the studbook. We are all familiar with double Gloucester cheese but few would recognise the Gloucester cattle whose milk was once used exclusively by the Severnside cheesemakers. One…

There are still five days left to enter the 2017 Purdey Awards before the deadline on Monday, 22 May. Entries are welcome from all sizes or types of gamebird shoots. They can be submitted by the owner or keeper, or a syndicate, farm, estate, club or wildfowling association. Judges are looking for genuine results based upon the available resources — so anyone can win, whatever their size or budget. Visit po.st/PurdeyForm to download the entry form. For more information, email purdey.awards@purdey.com or tel 020 7499 1801. There are still spaces available on the joint BASC and Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Shooting for the Future course being held at the Allerton Project Visitor Centre in Loddington, Leicestershire, next Wednesday (24 May). It promises to be a fun and educational…

1 Sporting Saint hen pheasant pelt dummy From £12.49 www.sportingsaint.co.uk This lifelike dog training aid is best used as a placing dummy to help your gundog get used to picking-up shot game. Available as pelt only or with several different weights of dummy. Cock pheasant alternative also available. Enquire for bulk deals. 2 Orvis folding travel crate From £89 www.orvis.co.uk Lightweight and featuring ventilated mesh windows and zipped entry doors, the Orvis folding travel crate has water-resistant mat backing and a removable plush polyester Sherpa fleece mat, all packaged in a strong tubular metal frame that’s easily collapsible for travel. Ideal for use in the car or at home. 3 Can-Am Traxter HD5 £9,479 inc VAT http://uk.brp.com/off-road/dealer-locator.html This roomy side-by-side vehicle (SSV) is new from Bombardier Recreational Products. It was…

“I see why people enjoy shooting with smaller bores but they can be used as an easy excuse for missing” When the Editor of Shooting Times asked me if I would try out pigeon shooting with a multitude of guns of various calibres, I was less than keen. The usual gun I shoot with, a Perazzi 12-bore, has been custom-fitted for me. I take my shooting very seriously and how I perform on any outing is a huge factor in how I judge the overall success of a day. Shooting smaller bores was going to be interesting not just because of their size but because, in contrast to my Perazzi, they would feel so alien. Not that I’m trying to make excuses at this early stage, you understand… A word…

SLOW COOKER VENISON SOUP Ingredients VENISON BONES WITH MEAT ATTACHED AND ANY OTHER MEAT SCRAPS SALTED WATER A SELECTION OF CHOPPED VEGETABLES, SUCH AS CARROTS, POTATOES, ONIONS, SWEDE, CELERY AND LEEKS A HANDFUL OF PEARL BARLEY, RINSED 1 BAY LEAF CHOPPED PARSLEY TO GARNISH THE METHOD Serves 6 1 Place the bones in a slow cooker with the salted water an inch below the rim. Leave to cook on low overnight. 2 In the morning, remove the bones and the meat should fall off them. Discard the bones. 3 Skim off any fat on the surface of the water and put the meat back in, along with the vegetables, pearl barley and bay leaf. 4 Leave the slow cooker set on low, and head off for a day’s fishing. When…

“They fly up high to drift on the wind and sleep by turning off half the brain at a time” One of the summer highlights in Norwich is the sound of parties of screaming swifts flying overhead as they chase each other along the streets and fling themselves into their nesting cavities under the eaves of houses. There appear to be plenty of properties that provide swifts with access into roof spaces, but elsewhere it is susceptible to programmes of urban regeneration. Swifts feed by scything through the air with their mouths open, trawling for aphids and other flying insects. British summers are less than predictable and swifts have developed specialised ways to cope with cold and windy weather, when insects are harder to find. Unlike blue tits, which make…

“Surtees is crammed with lecherous lords, adventurers and minxy girls” It has long been my contention that today’s shooting man or woman, in order to understand and enjoy their sport, should have a comprehensive grasp of its history. This can only be acquired through the study and understanding of the sport’s background, and the key players of the past, through the simple art of reading and the creation of a library of sporting books. All well and good, you may murmur, but the fact is that far too many of the scores of volumes earnestly offering advice and wisdom to the users of flintlocks, percussion guns and the more advanced shotguns of the last decade of the 19th century are largely irrelevant in today’s shooting world. However, there is at…

“AMS is a disease that dogs can inherit and leads to the affected animal over-grooming or biting its own feet” I HAD A SAD CALL from a friend: her 11-year-old English springer, Mufti, had been diagnosed with a nasty disease called hyperparathyroidism and has only a few weeks to live. I had never heard of hyperparathyroidism before, so I did my research. Apparently the parathyroid hormone regulates calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood, increasing blood calcium levels by causing the element to be reabsorbed from bone. The parathyroid glands are small, hormone-secreting glands that are located on or near the thyroid glands near the windpipe. Overactive parathyroid glands cause abnormally high levels of parathyroid hormone to circulate in the blood. Primary hyperparathyroidism, which is what Mufti has, refers to…

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 rifle 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 Times,…

“Evidence that badgers predate on hedgehogs, lowering local populations, is established” New research from the Netherlands and the US has found that looking at vertical stripes can trigger unusual brain activity, resulting in headaches or worse. A jokey editorial in the Telegraph listed Newcastle United football shirts as a possible risk. I can go one better — what about badgers? Those stripey-faced critters do seem to provoke rather odd behaviour in some people. Take a recent report in the Farmers Guardian. It outlined how Gareth Wyn Jones, a hill farmer from Wales, used his Twitter account to ask Countryfi le if hedgehog populations were being driven down by increasing numbers of badgers. He was “really surprised” when the RSPCA’s David Bowles snapped back: “No evidence of badger populations impacting on…

OPEN TO DEBATE The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is proud to be welcoming more than 30,000 visitors to the Scottish Game Fair (30 June-2 July). For those seeking a traditional game fair experience, the ticket price of £20 — reduced if booked before 16 June — is a bargain. I do not know when you could last attend one of the larger game fairs for £12 or £13 (Letters, 3 May), but I do have a CLA Game Fair programme from 1979 in my office — it cost 50p. Sadly, inflation creeps up on us all. Gundogs remain an exciting and important part of the fair. We are delighted that terrier racing is making a return in 2017 but, as ever, we can’t fit in everything. However, we…

“When the hatchery is in full swing, there are 3.2million eggs getting ready to hatch” Game rearing is arguably the most important part of the driven shooting scene and doing it well is what all gamefarmers strive for. Most achieve this, but some do it on another scale altogether. Gwyn Evans at Bettws Hall Game Farm, near Newtown in Powys, Wales, runs what is probably the largest shooting-based business in the UK. Gwyn founded Bettws Hall in 1988, starting out as a hill farmer with only 300 sheep and a few cattle. Over the following 30 years, from its traditional agricultural foundations the business has diversified into a highly successful game rearing company and owns and manages nine shooting estates across five counties, including areas of mid-Wales and the West…

1 BARRELS 30in Damascus barrels, 2½in chambers, no choke, blackpowder proof. 2 STOCK Straight-hand stock, cross-bolted fore-end, steel butt-plate, flat-top chequering. 3 ACTION Break-open hammergun with Jones underlever and double-cocking back-action locks. 4 DECORATION Fine scroll engraving to action body, locks and furniture. Anyone who has used a double-cocking hammergun, especially one fitted with the Jones underlever, will be aware that loading/reloading is not a quick job. Yet compared with muzzle-loaders, even a shotgun like the Griffiths was a quantum technical leap and is still appreciated by aficionados of early breechloaders. To use a shotgun like this Griffiths gives the flavour of stepping back in time. William Griffiths, originally based at 70 Bridge Street, Manchester, is listed as being in business from…

“Rule number one: if a beast was shot at dusk and ran into cover, leave it until morning” I recently attended an area meeting in the north-west Highlands and the main topic of conversation was wild boar — or feral pigs, as some people call them. Whatever we decide to call these animals one thing is certain: we are sitting on a ticking time bomb. Look at Sweden — its few animals two decades ago have turned into an estimated population of 150,000. And Sweden still has all the major apex predators, such as wolves, bears and lynx. The annual cull in Germany of wild boar is 500,000. Today’s road traffic accidents would pale into insignificance if you compare our indigenous roe deer, which weigh 50lb or 60lb, with boar,…

I think that dogs are very much like children. When they are well behaved, they are a pleasure to have around, but if they are not they can be a real pain. My liking for dogs is well known, but it doesn’t mean that I want to be pestered by a dog demanding attention or have the wretched animal jump up and deposit dirty paw prints all over my clothes. Puppies are such endearing creatures that it is easy to see where bad habits start. Many people are guilty of encouraging puppies to come to them, even if that means the puppy stretching up to you and standing on its back legs. With a six-week-old cocker spaniel that is a delight, but it won’t be as much fun in a…

Common name: Wood anemone Latin name: Anemone nemorosa Other names: Lady’s nightcap, moonflower, wood windflower How to spot it and where to find it: The star-like flowers of the delicate wood anemone wink shyly from the forest floor, forming a pale carpet during their flowering season from March to May, before the canopy gets too dense. The rest of the time, this dwarf perennial is stumpy root, called a rhizome, which is largely hidden from view. The petals are white, sometimes with a pinkish tinge, and the anthers are bright yellow. Its presence suggests an ancient woodland, though it can also be found in hedgerows and upland meadows. Interesting facts: The Ancient Greeks believed the wood anemone was a gift from the wind god Anemos sent to herald his coming…