Innholdsfortegnelse for 04-Apr-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

Sometimes, in social situations, when conversation runs dry, I let people in on the secret that being a substandard ping-pong player is a great sadness to me. They laugh but I do not mean it to be a joke. Despite years of practice, my backhand drive remains my only real strength. Lately, I’ve been trying to become a more consistent Shot and I am delighted to report that I seem to be making progress (see p.30). Last time I was at the clay ground, breaking a few straight oncomers, a plump suburban woodpigeon floated through the sky. As I was at a shooting school he was off the menu, but his sudden appearance got me thinking. Many people are seemingly happy to go through life hitting a few live birds,…

18 APRIL GAVIN GARDINER AUCTION OF FINE MODERN & VINTAGE SPORTING GUNS Sotheby’s London Tel 01798 875300 21 APRIL KENNEL CLUB FIELD TRIAL SECRETARIES SEMINAR Littlebury Hotel, Bicester, Oxfordshire gundogs@thekennel club.org.uk 28 APRIL GWCT INTERSHOOT CHALLENGE Chitcombe estate, Dorset dorset@gwct.org.uk 3-10 MAY ARUNDELL ART WEEK The Arundell Arms Hotel, Lifton, Devon Tel 01566 784666 12 MAY WEST LONDON SHOOTING SCHOOL DEER STALKING COURSE Showell Farm, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire Tel 020 8845 1377 12-13 MAY SPORTFISH READING SHOW Sportfish Game Fishing Centre, Theale, Reading, Berkshire Tel 0118 930 3860…

Polish hunting traditions at risk Polish hunters face new restrictions so severe that FACE (the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU) claims they will “literally kill long-standing Polish hunting traditions, culture and methods”. The Polish Senate has accepted changes to the law, including a ban on the disturbance of wild animals when there is no hunting purpose, which impacts upon the training and trialling of dogs and birds of prey. There are also plans to give the environment minister the power to appoint and remove the president of the Polish Hunting Association; remove penalties for anyone who seeks to obstruct a hunt; and ban youths up to the age of 18 from participating in hunting. Step forward for rural connectivity The CLA says the Government’s new…

I agree with Mr Allen-Rowlandson (Letters, 21 March) to a certain extent that drinking and shooting do not go hand in hand. But if abstention is the new politically correct then I have to disagree. We in Scotland have stricter drinking laws than the rest of the UK; even a pint could put you over the drink drive limit under some circumstances. On our own shoot the bottles of red wine have disappeared at lunch, alcohol-free lager and soft drinks are much more in evidence, but a thimbleful of excellent sloe gin made by one of our Guns allows some of us and our beating team to toast our quarry and good comradeship. C. Staples, Edinburgh IN ASSOCIATION WITH SEELAND The winner of Letter of the Week will receive a…

The CIC’s trophy measuring system has had another good year. Newly qualified UK measurers got into their stride throughout 2017 at home and at shows around the country. And senior members of the UK Trophy Evaluation Board (TEB) attended the International TEB in Budapest last September to assess, along with other senior international judges, the research project that has led to the reduction in drying-out time before trophies can be measured. Important in the conclusions of the report was the clear settling of weight at and beyond the 30-day point, making the final discussion a relatively short affair before agreement as to this major change. Equally clear was the fact that, before that 30-day point, weight values could fluctuate unacceptably. This is important because the scoring system, measuring as it…

HOLDING THE LINE To begin, I want to introduce Keepa to direction. This doesn’t mean simply sending him left and right from a distance; this is a common misconception. The most important direction is the initial direction I cast him in. In an ideal world, if I can teach him to hold the line that I cast him on, as long as I have marked the retrieve correctly he should require minimal handling. A common mistake is to become obsessed with distance. At this stage, the only important factor is that Keepa holds that line. If he starts wandering or takes the wrong line, I simply start again. I initially walk him with me and place the dummies so that he can see them. I line him up and watch…

“Dogs neutered early can become locked into a state of permanent puppyhood” NEUTERING DOGS has become such routine practice that I’m sure many people don’t give it a second thought. Bitches always seem to come into season at the most inappropriate time, such as the middle of the shooting season, so unless you want to breed from them there is a strong argument for having them spayed. Similarly, randy dogs can be an embarrassment, especially if they are aggressive, so castration seems to be a simple solution. Opinions vary widely among dog owners and vets on neutering. For most vets, it is routine surgery that pays well and if you decide to have your dog neutered, there are not many who will try to persuade you to change your mind.…

Cleaning stainless-steel rifles RIFLES Q I have a Browning X-Bolt rifle that I use for stalking. It is primarily stainless steel. At the end of the day I immediately dry it (pull through and so on, if required) then allow a couple of hours for it to reach room temperature. Then I dry it again and, out of habit, apply a light coating of gun oil before putting it away. Is the oil necessary, given that the rifle is stainless steel? A The Browning X-Bolt is a great rifle and very reliable, especially in stainless steel, but as with all stainless-steel rifles, the fact that it is “stainless” does not mean you can neglect it. Stainless steel comes in many guises and is made by adding differing alloys, generally chrome…

Introduced species can cause concern but, in the popularity stakes, it helps if you don’t eat farmers’ crops and you look attractive. Nobody seems to object to mandarins; the female is a smart little duck and the male is stunning. Pairs were imported from Japan and China and bred well in the collections of our stately homes. Escapees set up home in many areas, particularly in counties south of London, and there are now well over 2,000 pairs nesting in tree-holes and specially provided boxes from the Great Glen of Scotland to Devon. They are likely to be found on rivers or lakes that are fringed by woodland or thick vegetation, where they feed on everything from seeds to fish. Up to a dozen newly hatched ducklings have to jump…

“Bringing a complete stranger as a call bird into a territory can work wonders” It certainly didn’t feel much like the beginning of spring last month. It was bitterly cold and the plummeting temperatures hurried everyone on the estate back into winter thermals and woolly hats. Though we missed out on the heavy falls of snow, the cutting wind and frosty mornings brought spring growth on the shoot to a grinding halt. On the other hand, the icy weather and the consequently dwindling food resources gave us a good start to our yearly round of pest-control duties. Tackling corvids is always a top priority as the whole valley is home to hordes of them. Despite all the trapping and shooting done on the estate, we only ever seem to make…

SHOOT You can represent Shooting Times and win yourself £500 by taking part in the Handicap Challenge at the Royal Berkshire Shooting School. The event, where each shooter’s handicap is added to their final score, runs until 28 April and you can take part as many times as you like (see p.46). There are cash and cartridge prizes for the top three Shots each week, and the final winners could walk away with a brand-new Browning shotgun and a Laporte trap. The event costs £49 and must be booked in advance. Tel 01491 672900 to book, or visit www.rbss.co.uk for more information and weekly scoreboards. BOOK BASC, in association with The Deer Initiative, is running a “Talking Stalking” evening event in Welshpool, Wales, on 24 April. A number of guest…

1 Franchi Horizon bolt-action rifle RRP £720  www.gmk.co.uk This tough bolt-action rifle is the first Franchi has built in 150 years of business — hence the name as the Italian manufacturer seeks to broaden its horizons. It features a glass fibre-reinforced Techno polymer stock, while the recoil pad has three different lengths and reduces up to 50 per cent of recoil, thanks to twin shock absorbers. 2 NVUK TubeCam-style night-vision kit From £165  www.nvuk.co.uk This affordable piece of kit transforms your scope into a night-vision unit. Built around the Sony Effio-E 700TVL camera, there is a variety of options for customisation, such as a larger screen size or differing Evo range IR torch kits, all of which can be attached to your scope using quick-release fittings. 3 Burris XTR II…

“There were 10 drives but we keep finding new places that would make a fantastic drive” For those in the know, Llechweddygarth shoot has long been something of a Mecca for challenging pheasants, easily matching the famed high birds of Exmoor. The shoot, based in Powys, has never had to advertise, relying on its steadfast reputation for providing some of the tallest game in the country. So what is there to improve? Martin Lott, who took over the management of the shoot in February, believes quite a bit. “We are incredibly lucky — the topography is hard to beat for providing the perfect game shooting estate. But the infrastructure was tired and needed rejuvenating.” Martin came to Llechweddygarth through his love of shooting and a chance meeting with Danny and…

We are approaching the time of year when blackgrouse come into focus. Here in south-west Scotland, the birds have struggled to hold their own over the past few years and continue to decline. Blackgrouse are struggling in Galloway and there is a very real chance that we could lose them altogether in the next decade. Blackgrouse operate over vast areas and they need a great deal of connected habitat to be viable. A single bird can fly many miles in a day and young females can disperse over 20 or 30 miles in search of new habitats. Our blackgrouse have been fragmented by commercial forestry over the past 30 years and good moorland habitats are very hard to come by. Attending the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s grouse seminar at…

THE NAME GAME The second dog that I am following in this series is Briar. She is nearly nine weeks old and full of fun and curiosity. I am taking time to bond with her and encourage her recall. Bonding with her and persuading her that I am the most fun thing in the world is the name of the game. Her attention span is understandably short and until she has had her vaccinations, she cannot go anywhere but here so it is a great opportunity to let her explore and play. She tends to stay close and only stray further from me if she’s following another dog. This means I can easily start training recall. Many people think because the puppy doesn’t go anywhere, they don’t require recall yet…

Acral mutilation syndrome (AMS) is a very nasty inheritable disease that has been found in a number of gundog breeds, including English springers, cockers, German shorthaired pointers and French spaniels. It is a rare autosomal-recessive genetic sensory neuropathy of dogs that results in progressive mutilation of the distal extremities. In plain English, it means that an affected dog will over-groom or bite its own feet. The animal is insensitive to pain so appears to feel no distress despite damaging itself, often severely. It is clearly a distressing disease for both dog and owner and, because there is no known cure, most dogs end up being put down. In working cockers it is estimated that seven per cent of the population are carriers, but I haven’t found a similar figure for…

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,…

The blackface is Britain’s most numerous sheep, making up some 35 per cent of the national flock. It is also one of our oldest breeds, with a history that dates back to the 12th century. Both rams and ewes carry horns. While some individual animals have solid black faces, many have a more mottled pattern of black and white: the legs are similarly marked. The advantage of the blackface, and the reason it has been so successful, is its ability to survive on the most challenging terrain and in the worst of weather. This is helped by the strong mothering instinct of the ewes that allows them to rear their lambs even when snow is deep on the ground. The breed is also easily hefted, ensuring that the flock is…

“Nobody would pay more for my organic venison than they would pay for ordinary venison” Only a tiny proportion of game meat is officially “organic”. It might be healthy, nutritious and truly free range or wild, but the label “organic” was captured by the organic farming movement long ago. You can only use it when the meat has been produced under an accredited organic regime. This is almost impossible under wild game conditions, because you cannot guarantee that the animals won’t have any contact with synthetic chemicals during their wanderings. I know a bit about the organic system because part of my own farm was certified organic, once. I put it into conversion as an experiment. I have always had an instinctive feeling that farming without synthetic chemicals was a…

You may be about to refer me to Alcoholics Anonymous or tell the Editor not to commission retired Royal Marines with a problem with booze, but there is a drink for every occasion. Beer for rugby; wine for evenings in; lager for curries, barbecues and summer holidays; whisky for a roaring fire; bubbly for weddings; Jägerbombs for a misspent youth best left in the — slightly foggy — past… Alcoholic drinks can be many and varied, each giving pleasure in the right circumstance. This series of sporting arguments is very similar. From ferreting to wildfowling, there is no doubt that UK sportsmen and women are blessed with a wonderful array of opportunities, all of them with their considerable merits. A great driven day is like a heavy claret: full of…

“Our ball is the bird but what is important to our success is everything that goes before it” If you are really trying to improve your game shooting, discipline in everything you do during and outside of the season is paramount. In the same way that you would never see Steve Redgraves sloppily splashing his way down the Thames, you will never see a truly brilliant Shot standing lazily at the peg taking speculative pops at out-of-range birds. Shooting Times Editor Patrick Galbraith is rebuilding his shooting and he must make sure he can walk before he attempts to run. You will only see great improvement if you work on and master stages as you go, instead of trying to improve everything at once. It is easy to get frustrated,…

Following my previous piece in this series (Train — not restrain, 7 March), Keepa has been making solid progress in his foundations and working around distractions. I tend to refresh the basics — such as heel and recall — once a week then incorporate them into the other exercises he is now starting to learn. It is easy to watch a working gundog and assume that training them is as simple as getting them to pick a bird and that is it. However, to ensure they truly understand each element, they must be trained bit by bit. By breaking it down, you avoid skimming over important fundamentals that add up to the complete working dog. Both young dogs are progressing nicely and I am excited to be aiming Keepa at…

LAURENCE CATLOW, A PASSIONATE SHOOTER AND ANGLER FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, HAS WRITTEN FIVE BOOKS ABOUT SPORT WITH ROD AND GUN. HIS NOTEBOOK RUNS IN THE FIRST ISSUE OF EVERY MONTH It is time to look forward, but before doing so I want to take you back to the last month of the season at High Park, beginning at about 10.30 on the first morning of January. I was sitting outside my shed on an ancient and very muddy quad bike. I had just been round the feed rides, scattering corn for our remaining birds in the hope it would persuade them to stay around for the next day’s shoot. I had seen an encouraging number of pheasants and hoped we would manage to send a fair percentage…

Latin name: Betula pubescens Common name: Downy birch Other names: White birch, moor birch, hairy birch How to spot it and where to find it: Less well known than its silver cousin, the downy birch has an attractive bark that is dull white in colour and peels with age. It has downy shoots and small oval leaves with a serrated edge. Its range overlaps with the silver birch, but it is happier in damper soil. It is also more compact, forming a pyramid shape as it matures. Interesting facts: “Beith”, or “birch”, is the first symbol of the Ogham alphabet, used in Ireland and Britain between AD 4 and AD 6. Ancient birch woodlands are immortalised in Gaelic place names, including Loch a’ Bhealaich Bheithe in Inverness-shire and Beith in…