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

Almost a fortnight ago I sat in the passenger seat of a red van being driven by Manchester’s best-known meat man, Frosty Butcher. Frosty is the fourth generation of his family to work in the trade and as a person with an enthusiasm for butchery, it was a pretty special opportunity. It was really pleasing to meet somebody who shares my enthusiasm for wild goose meat and I was delighted to hear that the belted Galloway produces some fine steaks. Inevitably, our conversation turned to the large supply of game across the country that seems to be far exceeding demand. The work that the likes of the Country Food Trust are doing is invaluable but Frosty was keen to stress that there are more obvious ways to sell the meat…

24 NOVEMBER DEER INITIATIVE BEST PRACTICE EVENT Forestry Commission, Parkend, Gloucestershire Tel 07854 849989 27-28 NOVEMBER ROYAL WELSH AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY WINTER FAIR Royal Welsh Showground, www.rwas.wales/ winter-fair 29 NOVEMBER GWCT NORTH WALES DINNER & AUCTION St George’s Hotel, Llandudno, Conwy Tel 07966 687950 3 DEcEMBER BASC YOUNG SHOTS – INTRODUCTION TO WILDFOWLING DAY Lakeside Sporting, Leicestershire Tel 01283 810910 10 DEcEMBER FEMMES FATALES INTRODUCTION TO COMPAK Barbury Shooting School, Wroughton, Wiltshire wendy@spackers.co.uk 14 DEcEMBER HOLTS AUCTION OF FINE MODERN & ANTIQUE GUNS Princess Louise House, Hammersmith, London 01485 542 822…

“Had Geoff the wily farm pheasant finally fallen to the multiple world champion?” The grass roots of British game shooting cannot be beaten. The core values of being out in the field, shooting a small day with great friends, limited but special opportunities to add to the bag and good food are some of the best things in life. With the shooting industry’s concerns about how and where the shot game of Great Britain is distributed — but the popularity of big-bag days still growing — perhaps the smaller days, with friends and family, should fly the flag. Thanks to excellent initiatives such as Tim Maddams’ involvement with the Country Food Trust and positive promotion of game on social media, things are looking hopeful. However, all who are involved in…

Local students in the 1990s went to Topsham in Devon for only one thing in those days — the Topsham Ten, a pub crawl around its 10 ancient hostelries. Since we’ve all grown up a bit, the reason for my return was not to stagger around the local bars but to visit Good Game at its new unit beside the Exe estuary. Here, partners Pete Woodham Kay and Steve Williams produce charcuterie from Devon-bred pork, beef and wild game. Pete and Steve first met a week before they drove from France to Morocco in a car that cost £100. “Well, actually it was in three cars, as the first one broke down in Dover and we couldn’t get the second one in to North Africa because we didn’t have any…

“There is nothing to beat a plucked and well-dressed bird, ready for roasting” On a Friday towards the end of October, a day of sunshine and cloud, we had the first day of the season on the small DIY shoot with which I have been associated for several years. This time there were a couple of differences — a new drive and a new part-time keeper. The number of birds put down has been doubled, a second pen installed and, suddenly, from a modest two-and-a-bit drives, there are now four and the lunch has had to be delayed until 2.30pm. The new drive, which incorporates a hillside, some rough cover, a strip of maize and a smart new pen set in a copse sited at the foot of the slope,…

“It was good to hear that the sport still has a customer base happy with the ‘smaller’ day” I have now nearly notched up another grouse season and this one has been notable in that there have hardly been two days alike for weather. It is not only the utterings of a rather odd President that have been coming our way from the US, but also the remnants of some pretty nasty weather systems. Grouse are well known the world over for being fast; they don’t really need a 60mph wind to help them out. For keepers trying to get grouse numbers down to reasonable levels, the late-season weather is the be all and end all for attaining the bags — accuracy of Guns permitting, of course — and the…

Q I do a lot of rat shooting with my air rifle and would like to make the change from a scope-mounted lamp to night vision. The only problem is that I don’t like the head-up shooting position required by the screen on some night-vision add-ons and the dedicated night-vision scopes that I have tried are too heavy for me to hold still on aim. How do other shooters get around this? A Night-vision scopes do tend to be quite hefty and the head-up stance required to tackle targets on the screen of an external add-on can make freehand shooting very tricky. Thankfully, there is a very simple way around both problems. What I do is shoot from a seat and use sticks to take the weight of the gun.…

Latin name: Hippophae rhamnoides Common name: Sea buckthorn Other names: Seaberry, sallow thorn, swallow thorn, willow thorn How to spot it and where to find it: The slender, silvery leaves and glowing orange-yellow berries make the sea buckthorn stand out against a sandy coastline, where it is most usually found. Indeed, it has been used to stabilise coastal areas, but can become invasive if planted on or near sand dunes. Female plants produce inconspicuous yellow flowers followed by the orange fruits; both male and female plants must be grown for a good crop of berries. Interesting facts: It is said that the ancient Greeks noticed that if their horses ate the leaves of the sea buckthorn, their coats became very glossy. Hence the origins of its botanical name — “hippo”…

There is something almost hypnotic about a flock of golden plover on a sunny autumn day, flashing gold backs as they fly one way and then white underwings as they fly the other. Birds from as far afield as Russia and Iceland can be found on estuaries and inland fields. Away from the coast, golden plover are mostly active at night. During the day they share lookout duties, doing as little as possible unless targeted by a local bird of prey or disturbed by a tractor. They spread out at night to feed on earthworms and other invertebrates, using their big eyes to pick out movement on the surface of bare fields and newly sown crops. In periods of long snow cover or hard frosts, when food is inaccessible, golden…

The teckel is an alternative name for the dachshund. Teckel means badger-hound in German, a reminder of what these game little dogs were originally bred for. In Germany there are three sizes of teckel — standard, miniature and kaninchen (rabbit dog) — and three coat types (long-haired, smooth and wire-haired). Teckel usually refers to those dogs that retain their hunting instinct and are usually wirehaired standards. Teckels were bred for their bravery, and their ability to go to ground and drag badgers from their setts. On the Continent, there are enthusiasts who still work their teckels for what they were originally bred for. In the UK, teckels have gained a reputation as stalking dogs and they have the advantage of being light enough to carry up to a high seat.…

Q Are some puppies non-retrievers because of their breeding? I have a four-month-old springer spaniel puppy that shows no desire to run after anything and pick it up. He will chase a rabbit given the chance, but will not run after a ball. I have even let the children try, as he lives in the house with us. A All dogs can be taught to retrieve using kind, positive methods. Dogs lacking a natural instinct to retrieve may have developed this due to the owner making a few simple mistakes when the puppy was young and impressionable. Telling it off for pinching some precious possession may have been all that was required to stop a sensitive puppy from retrieving, and I am afraid children naturally are possessive of their own…

“Mr Gove has taken decisions that have not only soothed but wowed a previously hostile audience” Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), is a controversial figure. Even as I write, I wonder how long he will be in his post. He has a talent for mischief and plotting — and for confounding his critics. A hard-core Brexiteer and the adopted son of an Aberdeen fish merchant, he has spoken of how the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy destroyed his father’s business. The environmental lobby, by contrast, is aghast at the prospect of leaving the EU with its cosy maze of regulations and public sector jobs. Furthermore, Mr Gove ended his previous tenure as education minister being loathed by massed ranks of the teaching…

VOTE Our very own ferreting expert Simon Whitehead has been shortlisted for the 2017 Monocular Video Awards. The competition seeks the best videos of hunting and shooting experiences from amateur and professional filmmakers. To support Simon, visit http://award.themonocular.com/vote. You can watch his video at po.st/whitehead. See p.23 for Simon’s latest outing. BUY BASC has started selling a new card to help remove ticks safely, quickly and correctly. The cards can be carried conveniently in a wallet or pocket and feature a magnifying lens that can be used to remove ticks both big and small. They cost £3.95 each plus 78p p&p and can be purchased by tel 01244 573030 and selecting option 1. DINE OUT The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is holding its annual North Wales dinner and auction…

I am never one to shirk a new shooting experience and I love shooting over dogs, so when my friend Nathan Hawkins posted an open invitation to shoot over a breed I had never heard of — the Clumber spaniel — I jumped at the chance. On the day of the shoot I was nearly late, owing to the sudden appearance of Somerset’s “synchronised maize whole-crop harvest team” on the A38 and the A361. As such, I did not have time to admire the scenery of the Exe Valley on a glorious frosty morning. The Clumber spaniel is a breed that has been apparently superseded by springers and cockers, the little rocket dogs of walked-up shooting and picking-up. Yet here, a mile or so along a bumpy private track, in…

Jake Williams made the decision to go vegetarian, aged nine, while eating in McDonald’s because he wanted to get away from the mass production and killing of animals for food. After college, he initially wanted to become a chef, so decided to eat meat but only from good sources, with the goal of being self-sufficient and having his own smallholding on which to rear his own livestock for slaughter. He is now a butcher for Good Game. “Today’s society is closed off from the process of where meat comes from, because it’s too gory and everyone’s a bit squeamish,” he said. “People are afraid of handling meat but it comes with blood and offal and my view is that if you’re going to kill an animal, you must respect it…

FEW TRAINERS THAT I’ve met have had a more easy way with words than Edward Martin of Sealpin Gundogs: he once said that the slip lead was the equivalent of the tightrope walker’s safety net. “You might think that you don’t need it; you might never need it, but it’s more than likely that there will be an occasion one day when you’re glad you’ve got it.” Wise words indeed, and advice I follow even when taking a dog straight from the back door into my field. Over the years my favoured choice of slip lead has changed. There was a time when I liked big, thick rope leads and I can recall someone remarking that they were the sort of thing that might be used for berthing the Queen…

As the shooting season progresses, I admit that I become a little weary of plain roast pheasant and bread sauce, and instead like to use pheasant in dishes that at other times of year require duck or pork. I also love to use it in more exotic recipes, as a reminder of the bird’s Eastern origins. Pheasant meat has a truly interesting flavour, with notes of its foraged diet and corn, which, when the birds are at their plumpest, lends a lovely colour and flavour to their fat. The following recipes are adapted from my new book, Dinner & Party: Gatherings, Suppers, Feasts. PHEASANT, PORK AND PISTACHIO TERRINE Ingredients 30G BUTTER, MELTED 1 GARLIC CLOVE, FINELY CHOPPED 2 SMALL SHALLOTS OR 1 LARGE SHALLOT, CHOPPED 450G FREE-RANGE PORK MINCE 4…

Q I have been offered a large number of various duck decoys. They are made from plastic, have been well used and most of the paint is worn away from them. If I were to repaint them, how realistic must they look if they are to be of any use to me for wildfowling? A Size and shape are far more important in decoying wildfowl than the colour of the plumage. Many ducks at the start of the season have pretty nondescript colouration anyway and will not appear in their full breeding plumage until much later in the winter. A large number of dull brown or grey decoys, provided they are properly rigged and carefully set out, will be far more beneficial to you than a few that are feather-perfect.…

Q I have a young working Clumber spaniel that I have just introduced to game. He was steady to dummies, would stop when I used the whistle each time I threw one and then fetched it nicely, but when he flushes a bird he does not listen to the whistle and moves after it a few paces until I shout “sit”. How do I make him stop on a flush, as I want to run him in trials soon? A During training, has he reacted instantly to the thrown dummy without you using the whistle? I suspect not, because you have used the whistle every time you are controlling him, but he is not exercising self-control. You need to go back to training and teach him that a moving object…

Q I am trying to improve my success rate when ferreting. I have studied your films closely online and have noticed that you rarely use purse-nets. Why is this? A I don’t catch fewer rabbits because I don’t use purse-nets — in fact, by using the nets and tactics that I do, I harvest more rabbits. Over the decades, since the evolution of the quick-set long-net, and the fact that I work a lot of hedgerows, these nets offer a great alternative to laying individual nets. I nearly always have a dog on the warren to offer a little pressure, inviting the rabbits to flee rather than return underground. Of course, it is not always that simple, but the long-nets prevent any escapees — the worst being a return to…

Some 20 or 30 years ago, the Reeves’s pheasant was fairly common on a number of Midlands shoots. I rarely see one now and wondered if there is a shooting or gamekeeping-related reason for their decline in popularity, or if releasing them was a shooting fad that has gone out of fashion? The Reeves’s pheasant (pictured) is a beautiful bird and a relatively good flyer. The reason these birds aren’t released any more has little to do with the birds themselves — though their aggressive nature and propensity to wander may have played a part — but more to do with the fact that they are classed as a non-native species. Section 14 (1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act makes it illegal to release or allow to escape into…

Q Can you explain the purpose of sewelling on a shoot and the derivation of the name? A Sewelling is used to ensure that pheasants flush at a certain point in a drive, usually by suspending paper, rags or coloured strips of plastic from a line about two feet from the ground. The length may be 50 to 100 yards, but is determined by the drive and the point where it is intended to make the birds flush towards the Guns. The line is usually coiled on a drum so that it can easily be uncoiled by a beater. In some cases, especially where the line is extended, small posts or metal rods with U-shaped hooks may be inserted in the ground to ensure the line is taut. The word…

Jonathan Young, editor of The Field magazine and group shooting editor at Time Inc UK Specialist, where he oversees Shooting Times, has been installed as Master of the Worshipful Company of Gunmakers. Jonathan took the Master’s oath at the annual Gunmakers’ Company nomination dinner at the Goldsmiths’ Hall in London earlier this month. Incorporated by Royal Charter in 1637, the Company runs the Proof House and both promotes the art of gunmaking and exercises statutory authority over the proofing of sporting guns and military small arms to test for soundness of barrels and actions. Mr Young said: “The Company’s dedicated team of craftsmen, under the leadership of Proof Master Richard Mabbitt, not only proofs fine British shotguns and rifles, but also military weapons systems, including the Mk44 30mm cannon fitted…

Beaver trapping on hold in Beauly Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has suspended trapping measures for illegally released beavers in Beauly. SNH says efforts will resume at some point next year, but Scottish Land & Estates fears the population will become unmanageable in the mean time. Bird flu warning Keepers are urged to remain vigilant for signs of bird flu this winter. The risk in the UK remains low, but new outbreaks have been confirmed in continental Europe. £120k raised for fishing charity Salmon & Trout Conservation’s recent auctions and charity dinner (chairman Dick Bronks, auction co-ordinator Veronica Kruger and CEO Paul Knight are pictured below at the event), raised £120,000, which will be used to tackle river pollution in England and Wales. NFU boss to bow out National Farmers’ Union…

One of Good Game’s team of stalkers is former Exeter Chiefs rugby player Haydn Thomas, now senior academy coach with the team. Haydn starting shooting clays and doing some rough shooting, then stalking, which he particularly enjoys. He met Steve through a former rugby player friend and supplied him with the odd carcase to turn into sausages and burgers when Good Game was in its early days. Though Haydn stalks as a hobby, there is nothing amateur about the way he approaches the deer management on his stalking ground. Skills that he has developed over the years as a professional rugby player have transferred across so that everything in the field is done professionally — it is refreshing to witness. Haydn kindly gave up his evening to take us out…

“No matter how good we are, there is always room to do things better” All who shoot should adhere to the Code of Good Shooting Practice and most readers will be aware that a new edition was published at the end of the summer. But how many have read even the old edition, I wonder? Whenever I ask for a show of hands, rather few go up. Most of what the Code says may seem like common sense to experienced Guns, but if you have not read the document you can hardly be sure that you are compliant. Reading the Code for the first time, many people find that it contains more about conservation than they might expect. But one of the key arguments that we make in favour of…

There is a subtle difference between a rehomed dog and a rescue dog, but it is one that isn’t always acknowledged. The winner of the 2014 HPR Championship, Howard Kirby’s German longhaired pointer Wamilanghaar Tash (Tashi) had been rehomed by Howard because his previous owner realised that life as a pet would never suit a dog with the talent and energy of Tashi. Howard said that Tashi was a happy dog when he got him, but hadn’t had any gundog training and ate the first partridge he was sent to retrieve. The fact that Howard and Tashi went on to win the top award in HPR trialling does show what can be achieved with a rehomed dog, and is a reminder of how adaptable dogs are to a new life.…

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,…

Can you recommend a good ballistics program so that I can predict my bullet trajectory downrange and give any reloading advice? A I am asked this question a lot, and though there are quite a few computer-based and iPhone-type programs on the market, I rely on the QuickLOAD and QuickTARGET CD-based programs (pictured). These are interior and exterior ballistics programs for ammunition development, reloading and experienced hand loaders. For the internal ballistics part, QuickLOAD allows you to access a huge database of bullets, powders and cartridges that can be manipulated to hypothetically pick a load for your own gun. You can change each component and set the correct barrel length to fine-tune a load to your requirements without wasting bullets and powder to achieve a desired velocity, for instance. I…