Innholdsfortegnelse for 08-Nov-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

It would be an egregious departure from the truth to say I wasn’t a little daunted when I took over the editorship of Shooting Times. Perhaps it was inevitable. Over the decades this magazine has published some of the finest fieldsports writing of all time under many remarkable editors. I never tire of dipping into our archive at lunchtime in search of inspiration from titans like Tower-Bird. Yet, nine months on, things are going very well. To a large degree, this is due to how welcome you have all made me. Throughout the year at game fairs and out in the field, in pursuit of everything from rats to sea trout, the enthusiasm for the magazine that I’ve encountered from long-time readers has been really inspiring. There is nothing quite…

14-15 NOVEMBER KENNEL CLUB HPR CHAMPIONSHIP 2017 Elveden estate, Thetford, Norfolk www.thekennelclub.org.uk/HPRChampionship 15 NOVEMBER NITESITE DEMO EVENING York Guns, York Tel 01904 487180 16 NOVEMBER BASC NOVICE LADIES GAME DAY Whitrigg estate, Hutton in the Forest, Penrith, Cumbria Tel 07949 022753 17 NOVEMBER THE NOVEMBER MEETING, COUNTRYSIDE DAY Cheltenham Racecourse, Gloucestershire http://cheltenhamtickets.thejockeyclub.co.uk/ Online 22 NOVEMBER GWCT MACNAB BALL The Dorchester Hotel, Mayfair, London Tel 020 7290 0110 24 NOVEMBER DEER INITIATIVE BEST PRACTICE EVENT Forestry Commission, Parkend, Gloucestershire Tel 07854 849989, www.thedeerinitiative.co.uk…

Keepers share a gift of grouse The Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group is on a mission to get more people eating grouse. Members have been busy throughout the season visiting local pubs and restaurants in the Yorkshire Dales, providing them with a few free packs of grouse breasts along with recipes and ideas to encourage more people to try grouse while dining out. Migrant workers are “crucial” The CLA has repeated warnings that a reduced migrant workforce caused by Brexit would have devastating consequences for the rural economy. In a submission to the Migration Advisory Committee consultation, CLA senior economist Dr Charles Trotman said: “Workers from the EU and beyond play a crucial role in the rural economy. In agriculture alone more than 30,000 permanent workers and an estimated 80,000 seasonal…

Tom Cooper (left) and Michael Woolhouse do all the gamekeeping on the shoot, in exchange for a gun each on each day. They invite guests to shoot in their places and can be found placing the Guns and running the beating line. They aim to have an average of nine 120-bird days throughout the year. They are focusing on developing new drives, looking to improve old ones and trying to bring the wild game levels — particularly the English partridges — to a level where they are content for the Guns to shoot them should they wish. Four local pubs take a fair amount of game from the shoot, with the rest divided between beaters and Guns. A number of shoot dinners are prepared by Tom’s wife Wendy, usually involving…

“Muntjac are secretive, breed all year and rarely stand still long enough for a shot” We are starting to see our first muntjac. We saw a single animal on a drive last year and another one was spotted helping itself to some wheat from a pheasant feeder two or three years before that. Prior to these sightings there had been others, all several years previously and not all clear nor confirmed; reports of a small deer seen crossing a road, a beater seeing something that might have been a muntjac running off through the brambles on an outside day. That sort of thing but nothing concrete. There were two exceptions. The first was a buck that was caught in a fox snare by one of our tenants some 25 or…

Zeroing for hinds on the hill STALKING Q I hope to take up the offer of some hill stalking for red hinds after the Christmas holidays. My experience with my .243 rifle has so far been with muntjac and foxes. My host has told me that the shooting will be different and I am keen to get it right when I go. My rifle is currently zeroed to hit the target at 60m and most shots I get are less than this. Should I re-zero to 100m or do you recommend more than that? A Stalking red hinds on the hill or open moorland will be very different to the shooting you are used to. The general advice is that shots are in the 150m range though often they will…

The merlin is the smallest of our birds of prey, with females weighing just a bit more than collared doves and males a little less. Males are grey and females brown, as are sparrowhawks, but merlins are smaller, with the pointed wings of a kestrel. Merlins are far more widespread in the winter than they are in the summer, as many birds disperse from their northern breeding areas and move south for the winter. With an influx of birds from Iceland added to this year’s youngsters, November probably marks the peak in numbers. A merlin that spent the long days of June chasing meadow pipits in Orkney might now be seen hunting over stubble fields in Hampshire. Given that meadow pipits make the same migration in the autumn, it is…

MEET Sporting shooter Peter Wilson and triathlon athletes the Brownlee brothers will be hosting a Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) event. The two-hour evening will be held at Duke’s Dorchester Fine Art Salerooms on Tuesday, 5 December. Mr Wilson, a life member of the GWCT, is hosting the event, which includes a Q&A session, drinks, canapés and a raffle, with a bike ride with Alistair and Jonny Brownlee to be won. Visit po.st/Wilsoneve to buy tickets. MAKE A FILM The Pace Brothers and the Northern Shooting Show have launched the DNA Hunting Film Festival, the first of its kind in the UK, and are asking hunters to take part by creating films that offer an understanding of what we do and why we do it. There are two categories…

1 Holland Cooper men’s shooting gilet £349 www.hollandcooper.com Available in a range of British tweeds, this practical gilet will keep you comfortable in the colder weather. Its wax-lined pockets are the ideal size to keep you stocked up with cartridges in the field. 2 Muck Boot Men’s Arctic Ice AG tall boots £165 www.muckbootcompany.co.uk Part of the new Arctic Ice AG collection, these boots are designed specifically for winter, with an 8mm neoprene inner and a fleece lining for that extra warmth in extreme cold. The stretch-fit top line keeps the boots snug to your feet — and the heat in — while a thermochromatic lug on each sole turns from white to blue when it is cold enough for ice to form. 3 Primos Trigger Stick Gen 3 tall…

 Dennis was born in 1942 and since the late 1970s ran a small shoot in Leicestershire. I say “ran” — he was the shoot manager, shoot captain and gamekeeper and general dogsbody. Since he sold his family business in 1992, he had worked almost full-time on the shoot, building it up from a few wild birds to the ideal small syndicate, where about 350 birds were released and where our annual bags were in the region of 200. This was entirely down to the hard work that Dennis put in almost every day of the year. ‘‘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 He…

WHY PLANNING IS ALWAYS VITAL Ferreting is no different than any other countryside activity, be it walking, riding or shooting. It can be all too easy to become complacent and forget about the dangers that Mother Nature and the great outdoors present. There is no excuse for not planning your day properly. The weather forecasts are usually accurate, especially on smartphones. Clothing has never been better designed and hands, feet and head are all equally important. Accidents are just that, so it is advisable to have a first-aid kit handy. The importance of food and drink is often forgotten. Dehydration affects us physically and mentally. By having a flask or portable stove in the truck you can ensure you keep warm and hydrated (above). One thing I find alarming is…

“Recent years have shown the depth of talent in the HPR world and the ability of less familiar breeds” I’VE WATCHED ALL the different championships: retrievers, springer spaniels, cockers, HPRs and pointers and setters. As social events I have enjoyed every one, as they offer a great opportunity to meet people and I’ve made some lasting friendships from chance encounters in the spectators’ gallery. Occasionally I’m recognised: “Aren’t you that bloke who writes in Shooting Times?” I admit that I am. Anything is then likely to follow, from praise for something that I have written to verbal abuse for an article that my acquaintance didn’t agree with. Once I was roundly told off for writing about golden Labradors when I should have said yellow Labradors. I don’t think that I’ve…

“Rabbits on industrial estates are a reminder of wildlife in a sterile world” The boom and bust of local rabbits has become depressingly routine. My childhood was spent shooting bunnies on the family farm and I found an endless supply of targets for my old BSA rimfire. A friend and I shot more than 100 in a single night and rabbits were a fact of life across extensive areas of Galloway. To my eternal shame, I sometimes used to fling away rabbits I shot — there were often too many to handle and the local butchers were unable to match excessive supply with moderate demand. I was able to win over one friendly butcher who paid 50p each for my rabbits and he complimented me for my diligence when he…

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…

A large all-white goose with distinctive orange legs and beak, the Embden is one of several breeds of goose descended from the greylag. The others include the Brecon buff, Toulouse, pilgrim, the Sebastopol and the Roman. Embdens were first imported into Britain in the early 19th century, their origin thought to be northern Germany and the Netherlands. They soon became popular because of their hardiness — they can withstand temperatures below freezing — and because they make excellent table birds. Ganders weigh as much as 34lb, with the goose reaching more than 20lb, so they are up to three or four times the weight of their wild ancestors. American-bred Embden geese weigh just 4oz when hatched, but can reach 5½lb at four weeks. This is an astonishing 24-fold increase in…

“The BMA cannot tell GPs what to do. Getting GPs to agree on anything is like herding cats” My eldest son contacted me about his coterminous certificate renewal. He had been outraged to be told that the police wouldn’t process his application until they had a medical clearance from his GP. He doesn’t even have a GP. I gave him the glad tidings that, because he now lives in Edinburgh, he had to comply. In England and Wales, the default position is that if your GP doesn’t respond to the initial query within 21 days, the police go ahead and process your application. In Scotland, however, they do things differently. Much as I love Scotland, I am so glad I don’t live under a bossy regime typified by spiteful land…

GENERATION GAME This is my family out beating (below) on our local shoot at Sotterly in Suffolk, the first time that four generations of our family have been out for a day’s beating or picking-up together. From left is my grandfather, David, aged 80, my father Kevin, 56, me (Scott), 31, and the young lad on the right is my son Rowan, seven. Rowan enjoyed spending the day with his grandfather and great-grandfather. Shooting is something that is very dear to our family and has been passed down through the generations. Rowan has just started to use a .410 out pigeon shooting with me and, though Grandad has since hung up his guns due to age, he still picks-up regularly on local shoots. We hope we can all spend many…

“We enforce a £30 fine on English, which normally keeps the Guns on their toes” Two friends who grew up on farm shoots have not only reinvented a similar enterprise but are also reintroducing the English partridge and ensuring that all their shot game goes straight into the food chain. Wilsic in South Yorkshire had been run as a shoot for more than 25 years, with the ownership and management changing often. After a year of it not being shot over, Tom Cooper and Michael Woolhouse saw the potential of a good farm shoot for their friends and, with permission of all interested parties, they resurrected the shoot. After a low-key affair the first year, they decided to form a syndicate and run a predominately partridge shoot for the 2016-2017…

“The stonechat is a member of the thrush family to which it bears little resemblance” As spring arrives, the moors and moorland fringe become home for a number of LBJs. “Little brown jobs” is the rather endearing term the birdwatching community gives to all those small, brown, nondescript birds that come here to breed or live here for the whole year. The moors are not the place to find the highest density of LBJs but we have our share, and some are quite lovely. One such is the stonechat, a bird about the size of a small robin but perhaps slightly slimmer. I’m not an expert on local vocabulary but I have never heard the word “chat” used in the manner I did when I lived in Angus. It was…

I was delighted that the National Trust members’ resolution, demanding a ban on trail hunting on Trust land, was defeated at the AGM (News, 1 November). The margin of the defeat was Just a few hundred votes — 30,985 to 30,686 — prompting the Guardian to report that the Trust “was accused of succumbing to pressure from the hunting lobby after a motion to ban trail hunting on the organisation’s land was narrowly defeated at its annual conference on Saturday, sparking warnings that some members would cancel their subscriptions in disgust”. I’m an ex-member of the Trust because I resigned (in disgust) when it banned stag hunting on the 12,000-acre Holnicote estate on Exmoor 20 years ago. My wife remains a member, so she was one of the one per…

Latin name: Atropa belladonna Common name: Deadly nightshade How to spot it and where to find it: We have probably all been warned, at some point, never to eat deadly nightshade which, as its prefix suggests, is highly poisonous. Though the whole plant is toxic, the poison is concentrated in its midnight-black berries. Without those distinctive berries, which appear in October through to November, the plant can be difficult to identify. It is often found in woodland or at its edges. It has smooth-edged, oval leaves with pointed ends and produces bell-shaped purple and green flowers in July and August. It prefers moist but well-drained soil but can grow almost anywhere, in shade or sun. Interesting facts: Deadly nightshade contains atropine — hence the prefix Atropa — which is used…

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE, ISSN 0037-4164, is published weekly, incorporating Shooting Magazine, Shooting Life, British Sportsman,The Angler’s News & Sea Fisher’s Journal and Field Sport, by Time Inc. (UK) Ltd, 3rd floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London, England E14 9AP, United Kingdom. © 2017 Time Inc. (UK) Ltd. Contributions are welcome but must be accompanied by a suitable stamped addressed envelope. Publication of accepted articles is not guaranteed, and the publishers will not be held liable for any manuscripts, photographs or other materials lost or damaged while in their possession, though every care will be taken. The Editor reserves the right to amend any such articles as necessary. Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, a Time Inc. (UK) Ltd company, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU Tel:…