Innholdsfortegnelse for 20-Dec-2017 i Shooting Times & Country

Some weeks ago I had something of a foreshore run-in. Four wigeon whistled overhead at dusk and the party I was with fired at them. True to form, the birds flew on unscathed. Some 20 minutes later, a large skein of greylags appeared and, uncharacteristically, I had a right-and-left. As I went to retrieve the fallen, two men appeared from behind the gorse. “Have you had a nice flight?” one of my companions asked them cheerfully. “Absolutely not. You all ruined it by shooting at those ducks,” was their response. As they got into their car, they turned and said they were leaving “as the police had been called”. The whole thing seemed bizarre but, trying to do the right thing, we pootled over to the nearest house, knocked on…

New project aids Avon wildlife The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has received funding for a new conservation project in the Avon Valley. A team of ecologists has started work on the Ellingham Floodplain Restoration Project, which aims to benefit breeding waders, wintering wildfowl, otters and water voles in the area. The hope is to also reverse the decline of lapwing and redshank by creating hotspot sites with ideal habitat and management over the next 12 months. Matthew Pixton, estates manager at Tarmac, whose landfill communities fund will finance the project, commented: “We’re delighted to have supported a project which is so beneficial to local biodiversity. “Supporting, protecting and encouraging wildlife and biodiversity is something we strive to do across the whole of our business, and funding this project is…

I went to the Good Food exhibition at Birmingham’s NEC recently and an enjoyable show it was, though not too good for my diet and waistline. I was very disappointed to see that BASC was not there, nor was anyone who promotes game meat. At every game fair I attend, there seems to be BASC with food to try and chefs showing off their culinary magnificence with all things game. That is all well and good, but they are mostly preaching to the converted. I feel that they need to market game meat to a wider audience; those who may think of it as “toffs’ food”, or out of the reach of us mere mortals. Pheasant and pigeon does not have to be expensive. If more people wanted it, it…

“As keepers do not want lots of grit left over, they judge the amount spot on” As the grouse season is over, the attention of all the moorland lads will now be focused on getting medicated grit out. This is not a practice without its critics, who largely drop into the same category as those who would like to see heather burning banned. The reasons for their resistance to the grit is rather like their resistance to burning. In the absence of good science to back up their claims that it is environmentally damaging, it seems to be an attempt simply to reduce the numbers of grouse available and hence make grouse shooting less viable. As far as the grit is concerned there are mutterings of the chemical possibly leaching…

I wish to buy a night-vision sight for my .22 Anschutz rimfire that I can also use on my .22-250 Sako for foxes up to 150 yards. Can you recommend one for under £1,750? As the daylight hours dwindle, night vision and thermal imagers will tend to replace standard optical scopes for vermin-type shooting duties. You have to be really careful when buying any night-vision or thermal kit these days, especially from the internet, as specifications and quality can vary enormously and what seems like a good bargain may not be. Buy from a reputable dealer — I use Thomas Jacks (www.thomasjacks.co.uk) because it imports direct from the manufacturers and offers a three-year guarantee on kit that it supplies. In your price range, I would look at the Pulsar Phantom…

I have recently started feeding a pond with barley for flighting duck, but I am worried about what effect it might have on the fish. It should have no effect whatsoever. You may even find that some of the cyprinids in the pond develop a taste for well-soaked barley. The carp in a pond that I feed for flighting certainly have. The main impact of feeding large numbers of duck on to a pond is on water quality and the increase in nutrients caused by faeces. This can lead to algal blooms in the summer and possible oxygen depletion as the water warms up and loses its ability to hold on to oxygen. To counter the algal blooms I cut a couple of bales of barley straw in the margins…

My dog’s eyes are starting to get cloudy; he is nine years old. Do you know what could be causing this condition? There are three parts of the eye that can be affected by cloudiness: the cornea (the clear outermost layer at the front of the eye), the fluid in the anterior chamber of the eye (immediately behind the cornea) and opacity of the lens. Unfortunately, a cloudy appearance can either represent a normal ageing process — as the dog’s lens matures — or alternatively indicate some, more serious, eye problem or a potentially serious underlying health concern. For this reason it would be best to have a veterinary surgeon examine your dog’s eyes. The most common reasons for the cornea to be clouded are infection, inflammation or scarring. However,…

Few dogs have such a bizarre appearance as the komondor, a large sheepdog that is still worked in its native Hungary. The breed has been known in Hungary for more than 1,000 years, and is famed as a courageous guard of domestic livestock. One of the largest and most powerful of dogs, an adult male komondor can weigh as much as 130lb and stand up to 31in tall. However, what makes the komondor so distinctive is its extraordinary white corded coat, giving it the appearance of a walking floor mop. It is a coat that requires a great deal of grooming to prevent it becoming matted, something that pet owners take more seriously than the shepherds who work their komondors. Though reputed to be affectionate and loyal, the komondor is…

I beat on several shoots. The headkeeper on one of them is insisting that anyone who wants to shoot the keeper’s days in January has to produce a certificate of insurance or a membership card for one of the shooting organisations that includes third-party insurance. None of the beating team on that particular shoot has ever had an accident. We only shoot there one day a year and it is now going to cost us an extra £50 or more to do so. What are your thoughts? I am continually surprised by the number of people who shoot who are uninsured. I think the headkeeper’s stance is perfectly reasonable, and his insistence that anyone shooting the keeper’s days produces an insurance certificate or membership badge from one of the shooting…

“If Bradford council gives in to the animal rights bullies, the council will take a financial hit” On Ilkley Moor, local interests are being trampled underfoot by animal rights activists who want an end to grouse shooting, regardless of the loss of income to the moor’s owner, the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, and without consideration for jobs or the environment. Their campaign is essentially negative. If Bingley Moors Partnership’s grouse shooting lease isn’t renewed in 2018, there will be no benefit to the moor nor to the local community. On the contrary, shooting lease income of £16,000 plus moorland management and wardening worth about £100,000 a year will be lost, leading to a loss of biodiversity and amenity. It is interesting to read that the local Labour MP,…

IN THE GARDEN There is plenty to be done outside before we get to the New Year. As the weather grows colder, make sure any structures you have put down to protect plants over winter are still securely in place. You should also harvest any remaining leeks, sprouts, parsnips and cabbages, and insulate any outdoor taps. Also watch out for mice seeking to make a meal out of any stored produce. WATCH Dame Judi Dench heads into the great outdoors and shares her deep love for woodlands in Judi Dench: My Passion for Trees, airing on BBC 1 at 8pm this evening (Wednesday, 20 December). This one-hour, one-off special follows the Oscar-winning actress over the course of a year as she sets out to understand the vital role that woodlands…

If you drive east on the A47 in the direction of Great Yarmouth you eventually come to the Acle Straight. This road is frequented by motorists whose erratic driving highlights their ambition to meet their maker ahead of time. It draws a straight line through prime Broadland grazing marshes, bordered to the north by the tidal river Bure and to the south by Breydon Water — the estuary of the Yare. If you brave this tarmac death trap at 5am in goose season and dare to glance out of your windows, you may witness unearthly lights dancing out in the Stygian gloom. No supernatural force at work here, though; these twinklings are the head torches of members of the Great Yarmouth Wildfowling and Conservation Association groping their way out on…

 MY RECENT ARTICLE on the problem of disposing of surplus shot game prompted a lively response, so thank you to everyone who contacted me. Such feedback confirmed to me that it is the biggest challenge facing the shooting industry, and if no satisfactory solution is found it is bound to be deeply damaging to our sport. “If you can’t remember what you’ve shot, you have shot too many, haven’t you?” My correspondents all agreed that the root of the problem is over-supply, with too many shoots producing far too much game for game dealers to cope with. There have long been moral and ethical discussions in the shooting press about big bags, but the view of many people, including me, is that if the end product — the shot game…

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,…

Over the past 20 years, the creation of reedbeds has encouraged a population boost for bitterns. Having declined to just 11 booming males in 1997, the latest figure from the RSPB suggests that there might now be as many as 150. There are more bitterns in the UK in the winter than in the summer, with flocks from Scandinavia and BITTERN  coastal countries of mainland Europe to join our birds. Bitterns have benefited hugely from co-operation between mineral extraction companies, councils, the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts. Instead of filling gravel pits with garbage, then reinstating farmland, many of these spaces are now turned into reedbed nature reserves. This is great for bitterns, as well as birdwatchers hoping to spot one as it stands motionless in wait for eels or…

I am just starting to ferret with our old gamekeeper. He keeps pulling my leg about how big my ferrets are and says that to be any good they have to be small in order to get behind a rabbit in a stop-end and push it out. Is this true? Of course it’s not. I hear this all the time, but when you look at ferreting logically it is self-explanatory. The rabbit has three choices. It can either bolt, face the ferret head on or scurry to a dead end in the warren’s series of tunnels. What we want is the first, rarely the second, but more often than not will get the third. The stop-end in a warren is designed to let the rabbit tuck in with its head…

11 JANUARY BASC GREY SQUIRREL CONTROL COURSE Denmark Farm Conservation Centre, Betws Bledrws, Ceredigion Tel 01283 810910 14 JANUARY THE BARRIE MURDOCH MEMORIAL TRIAL Wickenby Airfield and Woods, Lincolnshire Tel 07974 234883 17-18 JANUARY LAMMA East of England Showground, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire Tel 01754 890001 23 JANUARY GWCT FARMLAND BIRD ID DAY Fawley Court Farm, Herefordshire Tel 01572 718730 16-18 FEBRUARY THE GREAT BRITISH SHOOTING SHOW National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham Tel 08443 380338 25 FEBRUARY THE SAVILLS COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE POINT TO POINT Badbury Rings, Dorset Tel 07974 141933…

“A battalion of pheasants rocketed over the hedge and powered towards the far field” A bunch of friends, some dogs, a smattering of well-placed shots, a bright sunny winter’s day and a bloody good eight-mile walk. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday. I had to scrape the ice from my car in the morning, sending a powder of freezing “snow” up my arm. But it didn’t seem to have the same negative effect on my demeanour as it might, say, on a Monday morning. I cheerfully ignored the freezing sensation in my fingertips and made one last mental check — dog, gun, cartridges, wellies. It was time for a much-anticipated day with the Calverton Cowboys. As the name suggests, we are a rum mix; some…

Boxing Day for me has always been the highlight of Christmas. It is a chance to get out in the open air, enjoy some good sport and shake off the excesses of the previous day. It is exactly 50 years this Boxing Day since I shot my first pheasant. It was also the first pheasant I’d ever fired at but not my first game bird, as I had bagged a grouse the previous August. My pheasant was a wild cock, surprised in a small wood where my friend and I used to shoot roosting pigeons. I can still recall the excitement of the shot, the thrill when my bird fell and the horrible realisation that it was a runner. I didn’t have a dog, so I was after it in…

“The tide was ripping grass off the bank; inches were slipping away into the sea” The dog and I crunched through the frost. This is my 17th consecutive year of shooting on this estuary and the trees cut familiar shapes against the silent dawn. Water moved softly over the mud. This is a deep, narrow channel where wildfowl come to roost in the day. The steep mudbanks protect the birds from the cold wind, and fresh carpets of grass are available to graze and roost within a few yards. Sheep mumbled in the darkness, their fleeces crusted with ice. The Labrador was a silhouette against the water as we dropped down on to the bank and moved to our usual spot beneath a hawthorn. It is hard to imagine how…

If you like birds, then it is worth taking a careful look at a flock that takes off from a stubble field or out of a cover crop. There could be tree sparrows with the finches and the buntings might not all be yellowhammers and reed buntings, especially this year. The violent storms and strange weather patterns of the autumn delivered quite a number of rare buntings to our shores and they may well have joined larger flocks of more common species in our fields and game cover. Under pressure The UK is home to just five species of breeding buntings: reed buntings are everywhere; yellowhammers are almost everywhere; corn buntings are patchily distributed; snow buntings are in the highest parts of Scotland; and there is a small population of…

Can you settle an argument? My stalking companion says that he has seen a hind that is a cross between a sika deer and a fallow deer on our stalking permission. I don’t think that such a cross is possible and that he is mistaken in what he has seen. Who is right? Simply put, you are correct and your friend wrong. While sika can and do hybridise with other deer species — the cross with red deer being the best known — they are able to do this because both species are near relatives with a similar chromosomal structure. Fallows on the other hand are not closely related to sika, nor for that matter to any other deer except perhaps for the Persian fallow. So fallow do not hybridise…

Latin name: Cytisus scoparius Common name: Broom Other names: Beesom, besom, green broom, Scotch broom How to spot it and where to find it: What you think is a gorse bush without the sharp thorns could well be a broom, a large, deciduous shrub that looks very similar. It is found on heaths, woodland, railway embankments, stony riverbanks and roadside verges. It grows to about 4ft and produces long, straight and slender branches. It has bright yellow flowers that are followed by seedpods that explode to disperse their pollen. Interesting facts: It is likely that broom got its name because its long, whip-like stems were cut and tied together to make brushes. The name of the genus, Sarothamnus, is formed from the Greek words signifying “to sweep” and “a shrub”.…

I have a two-year-old cocker which started chasing rabbits out shooting and got chastised for it. I took him to a friend’s small rabbit pen to continue his training, but he would not hunt and kept shutting down and freezing instead. How can I steady him if he will not hunt? The most likely cause of your cocker freezing is that the pen environment is new to him and he is shutting down because the abundance of rabbit scent in it is also associated with him being previously chastised for chasing rabbits, therefore he is not going to risk moving. To deal with this you need to get his confidence back using open ground and let him have his head for a while to take all the pressure off him…

I only get the chance to go out with my air rifle about once every fortnight and my accuracy is often somewhat lacking. Would it be beneficial for me to shoot paper targets when I arrive on my permission or is the disturbance likely to do more harm than good? Putting a few shots through your air rifle at the start of a hunting session is a very good idea. The muzzle report from a moderated air rifle isn’t very loud and the improvement that a little practice brings to your technique will far outweigh any disturbance it causes. I always keep a folding target holder and a few paper targets in my backpack ready for impromptu practice sessions. Apart from sharpening up my shooting, it is also an opportunity…

I recall that 25 or 30 years ago a sporting partridge called the oridge was introduced into the UK, but I haven’t been able to find out anything about it. Can you help? The oridge was a hybrid partridge, produced in captivity by crossing the chukar, a bird of south-eastern Europe and Asia, with the rock partridge. The two are very similar, but their natural ranges do not overlap. The rock partridge is confined to the Alps, Italy and the Balkans, but they can be elusive and difficult to see. I have only watched them in Bosnia, where they favour rocky hills and mountain slopes. Game farmers found that it was easy to cross the two species, producing tough chicks that were easy to rear. However, their popularity as sporting…