Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-Feb-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

“A five-hour round trip for just one duck?” remarked an acquaintance of mine, with scornful disbelief, when I recounted a recent wildfowling trip to Suffolk. “It was worth it,” I replied, proudly remembering the mallard drake tumbling down into the muddy water. On Saturday, after a busy day at the British Shooting Show, I sat in a Birmingham pub chatting to a couple of wildfowlers who were down from Cumbria. As far as they were concerned, crossing the entire country to sit out on the mud in the half-light, listening out for redshanks and curlews, is always worth the journey, even if you don’t fire a shot. I agreed and was pleased to tell them that I’d just sent off an application to join a wildfowling club not far from…

Ian Bell says that his priority as the new chief executive of BASC will be to broaden the appeal of shooting and bring more people into the sport. Mr Bell (pictured) took on the role at the shooting group earlier this month after leaving his position as Commander British Forces Germany. He explained that he wants to find innovative ways to educate the public as to what it is shooters do and why they do it. “We must highlight the benefits we bring to the UK economy and the benefits we bring to the countryside,” said Mr Bell. “While not all may agree with us, they will understand us better and I think that’s important. “I am keen that we reach broader and wider parts of the population than we…

Scotland to review deer management Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is setting up a panel of experts to examine deer management in the Scottish lowlands as part of an ongoing review. Scottish environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham asked for the group to be formed following reports on deer management by SNH and a Scottish Parliament committee, calling for a better understanding of the impacts of deer in the lowlands. She said: “This expert group will help us achieve that and identify how we can better manage our wild deer in the lowlands, and whether improvements can be made to minimise the cost of deer road vehicle collisions, as well as reducing the environmental impact.” Young Guns treated to driven shoot day Youngsters new to shooting got the chance to take part in…

The world of shooting has been rife with rumours of shot game being wasted this season, with stories of burying, burning and incineration. As usual, we seem to delight in shooting ourselves in the foot by propagating these largely spurious stories. Game dealers may not pay for shot game, but why would anyone destroy perfectly usable birds when they will take them and process into the food chain? I investigated one of these rumours on behalf of The Code of Good Shooting Practice and, yes, the shoot had an incinerator, but its main function was explained to be the proper disposal of the inevitable small number of birds that die during rearing. It was true that it was used to destroy a few shot birds not fit for human consumption,…

“I watched in wonder as the wild greys whistled and whirled overhead” Do you have moments with the gun that will live with you forever, those exceptional times or sporting firsts that you’ll never forget? I have many, one of which is a covey of grey partridges exploding over a hedge in Shropshire, which must have included in excess of 100 birds. Much to my host’s frustration, I simply watched in wonder as they whistled and whirled overhead. Nor will I forget my first woodcock as it jinked away through chestnut coppice and I scrambled the gun into my shoulder and dropped it in the bracken 25 yards to my front. With January came Epiphany — the moment when the wise men arrived at the stable and saw something that…

“You learn the life cycle of caddis flies, the intricacies of the daddy-long-legs’ legs” All great country pastimes epitomise the word “noble”; all Shots, hunters, falconers, anglers and ferreters should respect to the utmost their quarry. Working as a team comes naturally, whether it is with other people, with fur or with feather. We all show a stubbornness to be defeated. I’ve never been so wet nor cold but neither so determined as I sat on the foreshore waiting for teal or beneath a tree waiting for my Harris hawk, Hero. When I was asked to step into the shoes of Izaak Walton’s piscator, albeit initially hesitant as to where I would start, I fondly jumped at the challenge. If you haven’t read Walton’s The Compleat Angler, you should. The…

Irecently wrote about some of the implications of feeding a raw food diet (A bit of a dog’s dinner, 7 February). There can be other problems, too, as a sad email from reader Richard Everard reminded me: “My Labrador bitch Bella was 11 in September: I had always fed her on a BARF (bones and raw food) diet. Some time after her birthday she appeared unhappy. I took her to the vet and a week of anti-inflammatory pills seemed to cure her. Then she had similar symptoms as before but vomited and was retching. She seemed much better the next day and two days later she retrieved two mallard from our small flightpond. All seemed well. A week later, she vomited again after her evening meal and again the next…

Once upon a time, the gamekeeper was one of the brown rat’s greatest enemies. While the trapping of predators such as stoats and weasels was perhaps the most important part of his job, rats did not have to go far to fall foul of the keeper’s gin, and they were a target species. In pre-myxomatosis days, the countryside was also full of warreners trapping rabbits and many a rat would have poked its nose into the wrong hole with personal disaster following. Today, on most shoots, things are rather different. With the change from wild lowland game to released pheasants and redlegs, small predators are less of an issue, so it is hardly surprising that most keepers set fewer traps. These days there are other big changes, too; we grow…

I’m a regular contributor to the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, which takes place annually over the last weekend in January. Around half a million people take part, making it the world’s largest wildlife survey. Along with several other bird-monitoring schemes, the Big Garden Birdwatch was instrumental in highlighting the massive decline in house sparrows that visit our gardens. Though they are still the most commonly recorded species in the survey, the small colony that we inherited with our farm cottage 20 years ago died out soon after we arrived. Sparrows have been rare visitors ever since. But there are still house sparrows nearby. We live alongside an ancient drove that is flanked by wonderful thick hedgerows. The drove links us to active house sparrow colonies about 500m in both directions…

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,…

Woodlarks are smaller than skylarks with more rounded wings and a short tail. They are nowhere near as widespread and are more closely linked to woodland. On a sunny day, it is worth checking out hot spots in the Brecklands of East Anglia, Devon, the New Forest, the Thames Basin and increasingly in northern England. Listen out for them along the North Wales coast as well, as wintering records suggest that birds may breed somewhere here too. The Latin name Lullula arborea gives clues as to what to listen out for, and where — a “lu-lu-lu” song, delivered in a song-flight or from a post or branch. The link to young forestry plantations is not as strong as it once was, with birds breeding on rejuvenated heaths and farmland. They…

History records that the first harrier pack in England was established by Sir Elias de Midhope in 1260. Today there are around 20 active packs of harriers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and many more in the Irish Republic and the US. Intermediate in size between a foxhound and a beagle, a harrier should be 18in to 22in in height, and weigh between 48lb and 60lb. The markings are typically white, black and tan, like a foxhound, though the Harrier Club of America states: “A good hound can’t be a bad colour.” Harriers were traditionally bred to hunt hares, but many harrier packs also hunted foxes. Though the harrier isn’t a breed recognised by the Kennel Club, so is not exhibited at Crufts, harriers are well represented every year…

If I had a shilling for every time someone had said “You should have given it more lead in front”, I would be a millionaire by now. I used to have some difficulty visualising the amount of lead needed. As a teenager, I attached a collar to the muzzle of my trusty Webley 100 single-barrelled gun. This had two lengths of wire tipped with beads to give right-and-left lead allowance. While the contraption was a bit Heath Robinson, it helped me and I had some success. Like many ideas for firearms, there is nothing new under the sun and someone had tried this before. However, the firearm to which arms showing the lead for crossing targets was fitted was not a sporting shotgun and its target was not woodpigeons. It…

A recent Supreme Court case may have blown open the real reason why Natural England (NE) has been imposing overly restrictive conditions on wildfowling on land with statutory conservation designations. At least, that is one interpretation of the ramifications of the judgement in the case of Mott v Environment Agency (EA). The case was about the restriction imposed by the EA on a “putcher rank” fishery on the Severn estuary. A putcher rank is an ancient fishing technique involving the use of conical baskets — called putchers — to trap salmon as they run upriver from the sea. Nigel Mott had a leasehold interest in such a fishery and used to catch up to 600 salmon a year. Then, in 2012, the EA limited his catch to 30 fish a…

SHOOT The British Sporting Rifle Club is hosting a charity rifle shoot in aid of Help for Heroes at its ranges at Bisley in Surrey on 23 June. Attendees will have the chance to shoot running boar, running deer and electronically scored static roebuck targets. All range fees and money raised will go to the charity. The entrance fee is £35. Places are limited and interested shooters are advised not to delay in entering. For further information and to book a place, email sdshooth4h@gmail.com. BOOK The second charity shoot on our list this week is to take place at Thirlestane Castle in Lauder on 26 May. This clay shoot will raise funds for the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, which was set up by Scottish rugby star Doddie Weir to aid…

Minette Batters has been elected as the new president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), becoming the first woman to lead the organisation known as “The Voice of British Farming” in its 110-year history. Ms Batters, a beef farmer from Wiltshire, has been elected for a two-year term, replacing the outgoing Meurig Raymond after previously serving as the NFU’s deputy president. Former vice-president Guy Smith has been appointed to succeed her in this role. “I am delighted to have been elected as president of the NFU and I am grateful to all the members who have given me the opportunity to lead our industry through Brexit and beyond,” she said. “At the heart of the NFU is its members and I would like the organisation to aim even higher on…

1 Leica Geovid HD-B 3000 binoculars From £2,525 www.leica-sportoptics.com The latest version of Leica’s laser rangefinding binoculars can reach up to 3,000 yards, offering a wide field of view, excellent sharpness and an LED display that adjusts to ambient light conditions. Ideal for scanning broad terrain or determining the distance to a target in the field, it is available in 8x42 (pictured), 10x42 or 8x56 variants. 2 Hawke Nite-Eye 2000 monocular £249.99 www.hawkeoptics.com Night-vision monocular with a 5x fixed magnification and additional digital zoom capable of observing more than 200m in low light or total darkness. It can capture photos at five mega-pixels in quality and record 10-minute videos. Supplied with an eight gigabyte micro SD card. 3 Jack Pyke Ashcombe zipped wellington boot £79.95 www.jackpyke.co.uk Part of Jack Pyke’s…

BASC is an all-party organisation and since it was founded we have worked to ensure that all political parties support shooting. A political consensus in support of shooting means that we never have to debate the principle of whether or not we can shoot. Instead the debate becomes how we shoot — the detail of what we do. Since Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, that consensus has been at risk. The party has been targeted by the antis seeking to commit it to policies that would seriously damage shooting, if not bring it to an end. This would be a change for Labour, which has had manifesto commitments in support of shooting that date back to 1979. A new Labour policy on shooting is being formed this year, as part…

I am aware that I have an increasing number of Victor Meldrew — “I don’t believe it” — moments, but this time I felt completely justified. It was when I read the piece regarding the Labour-controlled council in Bradford’s decision to end the shooting lease on Ilkley Moor (News, 24 January). It is not a right to manage land but a privilege, and that goes for any land, but especially moorland and any other site of wildlife importance. We manage land, and what lives on it, not just for the moment, for ourselves, but for future generations and that carries quite high responsibilities. We have to consider the long-term consequences of all our actions, and in most cases we have history and science to aid our decision-making. The whole of…

Latin name: Chamaemelum nobile Common name: Chamomile Other names: Roman chamomile, ground apple, Scotch chamomile, pellitory of Spain, St Anne’s flower How to spot it and where to find it: This low-growing creeping perennial forms a mat of aromatic foliage, with ferny leaves and daisy-like white flowers that have yellow centres. It likes moist soil but grows in sunshine or shade, in loam, chalk or sand. It makes an excellent lawn substitute and gives off its sweet fragrance when bruised but doesn’t take kindly to too much “foot traffic”. It does tend to spread but can be divided — ideally in the spring or the autumn. Interesting facts: The name chamomile comes from Greek meaning “apple on the ground”, a reference to the plant’s apple-like aroma and the reason it…

8-11 MARCH CRUFTS 2018 NEC, Birmingham www.crufts.org.uk/ 17-18 MARCH WEST OF ENGLAND GAME FAIR Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset www.westofenglandgamefair.co.uk 23-24 MARCH THE LONDON WING SHOOTING FAIR The London Business Design Centre, Islington, London www.thelondonwingshootingfair.co.uk 24-25 MARCH THE 2018 DEERSTALKING FAIR Border Union Showground, Kelso, Scottish Borders deerstalkfair@gmail.com 13 APRIL BASC NORTH AND NE YOUTH DINNER AND AUCTION Gosforth Park Marriott Hotel, Newcastle Tel 01912 727494 18 APRIL GAVIN GARDINER AUCTION OF FINE MODERN & VINTAGE SPORTING GUNS Sotheby’s London Tel 01798 875300…

GET STUCK IN My husband and I are gamekeepers at Honeycombe shoot and our son Ryan likes to help feed the pheasants. He also likes to get stuck in and help out on a shoot day beating and picking-up. L. Hudson, Gloucestershire THIS CLIMATE OF PARANOIA There are undoubtedly many people who would enjoy shooting, but our freedom to talk about our sport and invite them to dip their toes in the water becomes ever more circumscribed. In the current climate of paranoia, if I write that I have guns and enjoy shooting, then post the piece online or anywhere else the public can read it, I could find myself having difficulties with the police at certificate renewal time because they may consider I have breached my security obligations. Would…

DOES ANYONE remember a magazine called The Working Gundog that flourished in the late 1980s? Published quarterly, priced at £1 including postage, it was aimed directly at the field trialling community, with reports of trials and publication of results. It also included a variety of articles that, 30 years later, make interesting reading. I had never seen the magazine until recently, when a shooting friend, Martin, passed a few copies on to me. Thirty years is a long time, but you won’t be surprised to know that there are quite a few gundog handlers who were active then who are still around. Several of the main topics of discussion from then are being debated today with equal passion. In issue number 10, for example — not dated, but as it…

Rimfire for rabbit control RIFLES Q I am looking for a decent .22 rimfire for pest control, mainly rabbits. My local gunsmith is selling a second-hand Sako Finnfire for £350 — are they any good? A I should say so — I shoot an older Finnfire rimfire and it has never let me down. They were introduced in 1996 as the model to succeed the hugely popular Finnscout Model 78 .22 rimfire rifle and were soon snapped up by pest controllers and vermin shooters worldwide. It is available in three versions: Hunter, the standard model, Varmint, with a heavier barrel, and Range. I would assume the rimfire in question is the Hunter, which has a walnut stock, detachable five-shot magazine and should be screw cut for a sound moderator. They…