Innholdsfortegnelse for 05-Jul-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

A couple of weeks ago I spent my lunch hour tapping out a piece for a national newspaper on ways that game could solve Britain’s food poverty crisis. The following day, on the train back to London, I noticed an unusually large number of Twitter notifications on my phone. Opening the app, I discovered that one of fieldsports’ self-appointed adversaries-in-chief hadn’t much enjoyed my article and had taken to the Twittersphere to declare that the “Editor of Shooting Times wants to feed lead to the poor”. I burst out laughing. Here was a “very intelligent person” — according to their website — making one of the most absurd and unscientific claims I have heard this year. I won’t name the individual because firstly, they would be beyond delighted, and secondly,…

11–13 JULY THE GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW 2017 Great Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire Tel 01423 541222 14 JULY FARLOWS AND OUTSIDE DAYS ONE-DAY INTRODUCTION TO GAME SHOOTING Stockbridge, Hampshire Tel 01722 780009 19 JULY FESTIVAL OF HUNTING East of England Showground, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Tel 01733 234451 22 JULY NGO NORTHUMBERLAND & DURHAM TEAM CLAY SHOOT Stotley Grange Farm, Barnard Castle Tel 01833 660869 28-30 JULY THE GAME FAIR Hatfield House, Hertfordshire Tel 01707 252707 4 AUGUST HOLT’S CHARITY CLAY SHOOT AND AUCTION Sandringham estate, Sandringham, Norfolk Tel 01485 542822…

Campaign aims to improve rural access Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has launched a campaign to encourage respectful access in rural Scotland. The Care for the Countryside initiative was unveiled at the Royal Highland Show last month and highlights three topics for campaign: dog ownership, fly-tipping and responsible mountain biking. SLE chairman David Johnstone (pictured below with SLE policy officer Karen Ramoo) explained: “Often these incidents can occur as a result of thoughtlessness rather than malice, but we hope by promoting respectful access to our countryside that visitors and residents can help us to reduce the number of problems we see in these areas each year. “We want to encourage more people to not only visit our rural land and water but also to value it and recognise where problems…

Thank goodness the Scottish Government has finally come down on the side of common sense, as far as docking the tails of working gundogs is concerned (the less said about the rest of it, the better). I applaud the environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham’s commitment in getting the legislation through so that the existing ban of tail docking was overturned. The amendment was voted for by a resounding majority of 86 MSPs to 29 — there are always a few cowards who won’t put their heads above the parapet and abstain on any vote — and is a triumph for animal welfare. I cannot help but wonder how those 29 MSPs who voted against the amendment made their decision. I would suggest that for every shooter, their dog is probably more…

 CANINE HEALTH IS the subject I least enjoy writing about. It wasn’t one that unduly preoccupied Peter Moxon over the many years he wrote about gundogs for Shooting Times. When he started writing for the magazine in the 1950s, his main concerns were with distemper (also known as hard pad), hepatitis and leptospirosis. I am not sure that anyone had any real concerns about hip dysplasia in those days or even progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), let alone hyperuricosuria (HUU). “There are so many diseases that affect Labradors that it would be easy to spend £1,000-plus on tests alone” HUU indicates abnormally high levels of uric acid in the urine. Dogs suffering from the complaint tend to form stones in their bladders or sometimes kidneys. The usual treatment, which is both…

“From personal experience, it is heart-breaking doing the same work twice” There is little doubt, and if there is I shall soon be told, that other than the species, the difference between the low- and high-ground wild bird keepers is the amount of preparation before the shooting season. Having done a short spell in the lowlands, I am aware of what we had to do but compared with the uplands it pales into insignificance. The track or road network can take weeks; it all depends just where the keeper happens to be in the construction plan. If he is well through then it is only patching up. I say “only”— given Mother Nature’s ravages — and on a large moor that could still take a few weeks and hundreds of…

The heat has been turned up in the past month — the mini heatwave in June meant that the dogs’ training sessions had to be curtailed. That said, Remy the Labrador and the two springers, Dolly and Logan, have made some excellent progress. With the start of the shooting season not far away, they are getting to the point in their training where we are putting the pieces of the jigsaw together. I have been concentrating on developing that vital “gun sense”. I also had to make a difficult decision regarding Logan. A close friend tragically lost his nine-year-old springer spaniel due to a poisoning incident and he was desperate to find another dog before the season starts. He was quite taken with Logan and, after some soul-searching, I have…

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,…

There is something feisty about a male whitethroat. Instead of sitting within a bush to deliver his song, like most of his warbler cousins, the whitethroat sits atop a gorse bush or hawthorn hedge and bashes out the tune. If the mood takes him, he will take off, rising into the air, still singing, very much as greenfinches do in March. Male whitethroats continue to sing into July, especially if there is a chance of squeezing in a second nesting attempt before the season comes to a close. In the autumn, they head south for countries such as Senegal, the Gambia and Burkina Faso. Whitethroats arrive back from Africa in April and May, looking for a thick hedgerow in which to set up home. The number of returnees depends on…

“Education officials argued that the shooting ranges would teach patience and concentration” There was a fuss in the media about youngsters at a primary school enjoying themselves with plastic guns at a mock range, courtesy of West Midlands Police. The kids had such fun that, inevitably, a parent complained. I wonder what that parent thinks of a recent development in Hungary. Over there, officials are planning to build shooting ranges at state schools. At the same time, a further 197 shooting ranges, for adult members of the public, are being planned for other sites. When it comes to shooting sports, it seems that the Hungarian president, Viktor Orbán, is robustly supportive. Naturally, his socialist political opposition isn’t. Backed by a teaching union, they have complained that teaching youngsters to shoot…

BOOK A PLACE Outside Days and Farlows have teamed up to offer a one-day introduction to game shooting on 14 July at Stockbridge in Hampshire. This sociable course is designed to explain the rules, practice and etiquette of driven shooting for those new to the sport. At the same time, participants will get the chance to take a look behind the scenes of a noted sporting estate and get up close and personal with the gamekeeper. The package includes coaching, gun hire, cartridges and full hospitality at £345 per person. For further information, or to book your place, email: introduction@outsidedays.com or tel 01722 780009. EAT Redcurrants are in season this month, which is a great (if tenuous) excuse to try our delicious pan-seared venison loin with acorn squash puree and…

Rural workers have thrown their support behind a new wildlife survey, which aims to collect data on species of conservation concern. The Nidderdale Moorland Group (NMG) and Moorland Association have backed the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s Wild Watch, a three-year project focusing on threatened species including the curlew, wood warbler and green hairstreak butterfly, in conjunction with the charity Planet Birdsong. Data is being gathered by ecologists, along with help from the public, to be used by conservation bodies to create species action plans. Local keepers, moorland owners and farmers have all pledged support to the campaign. Moorland Association director Amanda Anderson said: “We need to bring to light the incredible innate knowledge of those most connected with the day-today management of the land to help stop the…

“Dear shooter, your love for the over-and-under allows me to get a proper gun at a reasonable price” ‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after.’’ King George VI It was with great anticipation that I opened my Shooting Times to see what intelligent discussion might be set down about side-by-side shotguns (Is the side-by-side history?, 21 June). Sadly, I was completely underwhelmed by the article. It was merely a comparison of what is currently popular, with no technical analysis whatsoever. We all know that the over-and-under is the fashion. Perhaps I, as an aged shooter, a scientist by education, now a consultant engineer, and someone who…

“Our sport’s detractors hate it when you take these debates out of the Parliamentary chamber and into the countryside” Richard Benyon’s wealth is vast, his landholdings are huge and over the years the tabloids have depicted him as a doyen of elite Tory detachment. To some extent this was bound to be simply another case of red-top misrepresentation, but I was expecting to find a clubbable man of substance, the sort of bloke who wears red braces, Church’s brogues, and won’t let you get a word in edgeways. I found somebody very different. “Monbiot makes me feel rather schizophrenic,” Benyon reflects, when I point out a copy of the ferocious activist’s Feral on his bookshelves. “There’s so much good stuff in there. After all, Monbiot is the one who identified…

It is always amusing sitting in the waiting room of a veterinary surgery and seeing the various customers come in. Many dogs, of course, are petrified of visiting the vet and are well aware of where they are as soon as the car arrives in the vet’s car park. These are the dogs that have to be dragged, carried or cajoled into the waiting room, where they sit shivering with nerves. I have had dogs like this, as well as the opposite: the dogs that positively enjoy going to the vet because they love the variety of other dogs and creatures that they encounter there. It takes a firm lead to persuade these dogs not to check out the cat carriers and the rabbit baskets, let alone the other dogs.…

THOUGH REMY WILL be mainly used as part of my picking-up team, I will also work him on some small walked-up days and occasionally use him as a peg dog. With this in mind I have been working on developing his gun sense, a skill that is invaluable for any gundog working in the shooting field. Remy has already been introduced to the sound of gunshot but this was under controlled and static conditions. I know he is totally steady to thrown dummies, so now is the time to start to put everything together. STAGE 1: The first stage in this exercise is to simulate a walked-up shoot day — Remy is walked at heel while a helper carries a shotgun. At an already allocated point, the helper throws out…

What’s the right round for roe? RIFLE SHOOTING Could you recommend a suitable round for roe stalking? I have just acquired a piece of land, and I am filling in my application for a firearms certificate so need to choose a calibre. Discussing calibre or cartridge type is always problematic because not one round is ideal — many shooters want to use it for vermin and foxes too. In reality, it is not necessarily the cartridge but the bullet that exits the barrel that is the most important consideration, as this is the only part that hits your target. For roe you have several choices, depending on where you live. In England and Wales you need a minimum of 0.240in calibre and 1,700ft/lb energy; hence the .243 Win or other…

Latin name: Ribes uva-crispa Common name: Wild gooseberry How to spot it and where to find it: Look closely among the shrubs in woods and hedges, particularly near streams, and you might just find a wild gooseberry. Like their cultivated cousins, wild gooseberries are good to eat and will be ripe from July onward. The deciduous shrub grows up to 1.2m and flowers from March to May. The bell-shaped flowers are pale green or cream and grow singly or in pairs, while the fruit can be green, yellow, red or purple. The fruits of the wild gooseberry are much smaller than those of the cultivated bushes. Interesting facts: The so-called “wild” gooseberry may actually be feral, as they have long been cultivated in the UK. Both have viciously spiked stems…

A classically well-proportioned, good-looking sheep, the Hampshire down is the result of a cross that took place more than 150 years ago between three breeds: the southdown, the Wiltshire horn and the Berkshire knot. The Wiltshire horn and the southdown both survive as pure breeds, but the Berkshire knot is extinct. The breed was highly valued for its ability to graze the chalk downs, helping maintain fertility on the thin soils. At one time there were huge numbers of Hampshire downs, for this was once the dominant downland sheep of southern England. There were sales at which as many as 20,000 sheep went under the hammer, and many pure-bred animals were exported over the world. Today the breed is valued as a terminal sire, with lambs sired by a Hampshire…

TAKEN TO TUSK Injury to dogs by muntjac is not as uncommon as David Tomlinson (Gundogs, 31 May and Letters, 28 June) may have suggested. However, the usual cause is not a stabbing wound from the antlers but a cut or slash to the neck or flank from the muntjac buck’s razor-sharp tusks. The tusks are frequently used in fights with other bucks, as the scarred face of many an old buck will testify, but the muntjac has evolved a thick skin to protect itself against such injury. A dog’s skin is thin and vulnerable in comparison and is easily penetrated should it get involved in a fight with a muntjac, often one that is cornered against a fence. I have never come across a penetration wound caused by an…

Magnum calibres are not for people who are recoil-sensitive but are sometimes necessary, depending on the size of game you shoot. The Weatherby range from the US made its name with proprietary magnum calibres in rifles of many styles and encompassing all tastes. There are elegant Sporters with seriously good-quality woodwork, synthetic models for varminting and pure hunting rigs. The Mark V embodies everything that a long-range or magnum rifle should be: it is solid, accurate and capable of ballistics that keep a bullet’s trajectory flat for less drop at a distance. Roy Weatherby was something of a pioneer in magnum cartridge design, creating a range in the 1940s that remained unchallenged in the commercial market until the likes of Lazzeroni, Winchester and Remington came on board. Weatherby’s early designs…