Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-May-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

I have a confession to make. Last year, towards the end of November, I picked up a shot mallard and threw it, albeit gently, over the fence into the back of my father’s pickup. This might not sound like the biggest transgression in the history of human misbehaviour but on a symbolic level, it’s problematic. That duck was a food source. Harvesting food is at the very heart of fieldsports and remembering that, and treating shot quarry with the utmost respect, is fundamental in persuading people outside our world about the value of shooting. As most of you will be aware, last year shoots found it harder than ever to sell game to dealers. The reasons for this are many but, on a basic level, the better we can be…

1 Redford tweed cap RRP £65www.westleyrichards.com Made in England by a family-owned company, this cap will add the perfect finishing touch to your shooting ensemble. Exclusively made from the finest Scottish wool tweed in the Scottish Borders, the caps are available in a range of sizes. 2 High Lumen rechargeable torch RRP £84.98uk.gpbatteries.com This ergonomically designed flashlight offers an easy one-hand operation for effortless light control and is charged via a micro USB port. This torch is invaluable for the early riser or those doing the late-night pen and kennel checks. 3 Many-Tools-In-One system RRP £29www.orvis.co.uk This handsome stainless steel and hardwood multitool features a hammer, two slotted screwdrivers, can opener, serrated blade, knife, pliers, wire cutters, nail claw and a Phillips screwdriver. An absolute must for the modern gamekeeper,…

As a lifetime poultry keeper I share and appreciate Mike Short’s sad news about the loss of his chickens to a fox (Country diary, 2 May). Over the years, I have found that the most effective way of protecting my birds is with an integral cage trap with its own personal entrance. With the trap being firmly fixed inside the hen house, there is no need for bait. Then I have despatched the fox with a shot to the head with my .410. I have never experienced fear for my chickens again using this method of control and have accounted for many foxes and saved many hens. After the same devastating situation as Mike, I didn’t even want to talk to anyone for three days.…

I have only once shot in a trial: I didn’t enJoy the experience and resolved never to accept an invitation to do so again. It is a very different experience to a normal shooting day, as you are under pressure to perform and to be, shall we say, rather less selective than you might be if out rough shooting on your own. If, like me, you would rather not shoot woodcock or hares, then shooting in a trial is not for you. Many Guns who shoot in trials are regulars who do enJoy it and are very good at it. However, in recent years there has been a growing trend for the Guns to pay for their sport, rather than shooting as guests of the trial as used to be…

“ A Gun is a Gun is a Gun, isn’t it? If you’re out shooting on a game day, you are known as a Gun, end of.” So says Tracy Meston, senior coach at the Roxburghe Shooting School in the Scottish Borders (www.roxburgheshootingschool.co.uk), one of a growing number of women in the UK who shoot. As other industries begin to look closely at their treatment of women — questioning gender pay gaps, inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment — some in the shooting community are wondering if it is time to do the same. “There is nothing like the refreshing presence of female Shots to keep you on your toes” “The way that shooting is going, it’s going to end up being licensed,” says gamekeeper Jonathan Davis, who works on the Babworth…

“Shooting also benefits and shapes the natural environment and supports livelihoods and local communities” With potential rises in licence costs, GP fees and long waiting times for certificate renewals, shooters could be forgiven for thinking that their sport attracts little support from the Government. However, good news could be on the horizon, as a result of the Digital, Culture, Media & Sport select committee inquiry into the social impact of participation in culture and sport. Organisations and the public were invited to submit evidence showing how culture and sport are linked to positive impacts on health, community and education. A detailed 10-page document submitted by BASC explained how shooting can help to get more people active, reduce social isolation and promote personal well-being while encouraging engagement with the natural environment.…

RESPOND Shoot managers are encouraged to complete the 2018 Shoot Benchmarking Survey organised by Savills and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) to receive a detailed report with benchmark figures for small, medium and large shoots. The report helps managers to identify areas of strength and weakness in their performance. “I would encourage as many shoots as possible to take part in our free benchmarking exercise — regardless of their size and commerciality,” said Savills director David Steel. “Our bespoke reports, which each participant receives, will clearly show where shoots are over- or under-performing against their peers — appropriate action can then be taken, which is especially important given the increasing financial pressures that most shoots have to operate under.” Roger Draycott, GWCT head of advisory services, added: “The…

Four years ago James Askew picked up a clay gun for the first time, never thinking that he would be the Shooting Times winner of the Handicap Challenge in 2018. “I was taken to a clay ground for the day and got hooked,” he said. His winning score was 94 out of 100 with a handicap of 16, and he was presented with £500, donated by sponsor Sunseeker London, as well as the prestigious Shooting Times Cup. The Handicap Challenge was hosted by the Royal Berkshire Shooting School from March to April and is known for its unique handicapping system, which gives average club shooters the chance to compete on a par with high-level Shots. Proving that practice makes perfect, Mr Askew hones his clay shooting skills most weekends and…

BREEDING FERRETS As I started to read Simon Whitehead’s piece (What price a ferret?, 9 May) for the second time — I had to read it twice to try to comprehend the majority of the theatrical content — my wry smile developed into a full-blown chortle. You could be confused that you were reading an article about breeding a thoroughbred racehorse or the next international field trial Labrador. While I understand that it is prudent to breed healthy stock to similar types to produce progeny that is fit for purpose, I find it difficult to believe that Simon, or anyone else for that matter, is capable of breeding “prey drive” into any ferret. Was the article intended to make the working and breeding of ferrets sound so complex and genetically…

After my first piece in this series (A river runs through it, 28 March) I was panicking about how my grey partridge ex-layers would cope with the tail end of the Beast from the East. In quintessential British fashion the weather dominates my thoughts and conversation. Now that we have finally shrugged off the ice and snow, my current disquiet is caused by rain. If — and I am at the “if” stage — my greys have started to nest, the forecast looks like the birds may need to call upon Noah for assistance rather than any help I can offer. The weather is a variable that any keeper, be they greenhorn amateur or veteran professional, cannot control. The Met Office forecast for East Anglia would have been sublime for…

The gulls I shot that day were lesser black-backed gulls and are the only gull on the general licence. I am covered to shoot them under the general licence, as I am with crows and pigeons, because they are causing agricultural damage. It can be very difficult to identify the many different gulls you may come across in the field. I have years of experience as I culled them professionally for a number of summers. If your gull identification is a little sketchy and you are unsure about what you are shooting at, I would advise that you leave the gulls be. They are a huge pest problem in certain areas and can provide some fantastic sport. However, you need to be 100 per cent sure that you do not…

“We concluded that the fox had died quickly after being attacked by nesting swans” Love them or hate them, there is no denying that mute swans are one of our most regal birds and our waterways would be poorer places without them. In early May, I knew of at least a dozen pairs of swans nesting and defending territories around the flooded gravel pits and myriad river channels of the Lower Avon in Hampshire, where I was catching and tagging foxes. Not so long ago, before the swans started building their nests, I had a line of snares set along a weaving run across a river meadow, which was frequently crossed by foxes. To my great surprise, I managed to catch a pen after she blundered into a snare set…

“Steel is by far the cheapest non-toxic shot and works well on the foreshore” Late one evening at dimpsey, I’d locked up the workshop and was walking down the garden path towards the house. Taking a last deep breath before crossing the threshold, I inhaled the rich sulphur-and-iodine tang of the nearby mudflats. The tide had turned and was creeping back across the mud and washing before it all the feeding birds. A heron flew overhead, laboriously oaring his way back to his growing family who waited patiently in a monstrous ramshackle nest precariously swaying in the top of a tree some three miles inland. Then I thought I caught a few thin, whistling notes from high above. There it was again, clearer this time. A staccato, curlew-like call that…

Once there were millions but now there are just a few. Not only has our native grey partridge declined dramatically in the past 100 years, but it has gone completely from many areas. In the 1930s, when the Eley cartridge company set up what is now the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), grey partridges were the most common game bird, though even then part of the mission was to stem an early decline. So what went wrong? Greys were always notorious for their fluctuations. In warm dry summers they did well but if the year was cool and wet, the insect cycles were delayed and chicks chilled and starved. This chick food story was the key to the decline, which accelerated during the 1950s. With rationing still in place…

Why is my Lab losing marks? GUNDOGS Q I have run my young Labrador in a couple of working tests and both times I have not reached the final stages because I handled my dog too often on retrieves. He stops on the whistle and does exactly what I tell him, but he has a habit of going out 30m and stopping of his own accord, waiting for me to push him back. If it is a long blind retrieve he does this two or three times. As he is under good control, why is he losing so many marks each time? A Gundog working tests are designed to simulate what happens on a shoot day or at a field trial, therefore judges should give full credit to a dog…

Latin name: Crithmum maritimum Common name: Samphire Other names: Peter’s cress, rock samphire, sea fennel, crestmarine How to spot it and where to find it: Before long, green shoots will start to appear in profusion on cliffs and rocks along much of our coastline. While it prefers light, moist soil, samphire is adaptable to cultivation and a variety of soils, as long as they are allowed to dry out and there is no standing water. It is a perennial plant with blue-green stems, divided leaves and yellow-green flowers. Interesting facts: The delicate, salty taste of samphire goes perfectly with fish. The fleshy forked stems are often compared to asparagus, but samphire is still uncultivated and must be gathered by hand from the seashore, making it perhaps the last wild crop…

Did you know that the population of Yorkshire is bigger than that of Scotland? According to the last census, in 2011, Yorkshire is home to 5.3million people, slightly ahead of Scotland. Moreover, Yorkshire’s economy is larger than that of 11 European Union countries. And in the 2016 Olympic Games, Yorkshire athletes won more medals than countries such as Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. Had it been an independent country, Yorkshire would have ranked 17th in the medal league table. I was thinking about this when I visited the recent Northern Shooting Show at Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Now in its third year, it is now an established fixture in the sporting calendar. And I am proud to say that I had a tiny role in its birth. Funny, isn’t it,…

Sponsored shirts Stalkers visiting game fairs this year to submit trophies for measuring may spot that the judges are clad in smart new hunting shirts. The garments have been supplied by John Rigby & Co and are part of the gunmaker’s new sponsorship of the CIC UK Trophy Evaluation Board, an organisation established to measure deer antlers and other trophies in accordance with international CIC rules. In addition, submissions paperwork will also be returned in a smart CIC and Rigby branded certificate folder. In 2017, the team of UK judges evaluated more than 1,000 heads, of which 294 made gold, 279 silver and 280 bronze. Catch and release The Environment Agency has postponed suggested changes to national byelaws that would have introduced a mandatory catch-and-release policy on several rivers in…

As an aside, this exercise has already revealed an inconvenient truth for the army of armchair environmentalists who raucously clamour for the blanket prohibition of herbicides and insecticides. Without their targeted use, cover crops won’t grow properly or even at all. Without cover crops there will be less habitat, flora and micro fauna — meaning even fewer red-listed bird species. Think on, George Monbiot et al, before you put your fingers to keyboard for your next righteous article.…

“There is a valid argument that closing an eye can restrict your peripheral vision so keep both open” As a young shooting instructor still learning my trade it is invaluable to have the guidance and advice of experienced heads at your fingertips on a daily basis. At the shooting ground I teach at in Berkshire we have a great team of world-class shooting instructors, but with more than 60 years of experience between them, Robert Cross and Nigel Muir are certainly worthy of their legendary status. Both Nigel and Robert are fascinating to talk to about all things shooting. Nigel is essentially a game shooting instructor, though he has no trouble with the demands of any client, clay or game. Robert also instructs many game Shots but he is a…

“If someone asks: ‘Can it do this?’ Tim’s standard response is: ‘I will make it do it.’” sure only a couple of years had passed since I interviewed Tim Hankey about his innovative field trial management system. But my article appeared in the issue dated 19 December 2014 (Taking the trial out of trialling). In the piece I explained how Tim had watched his wife, Jennie, enter numerous trials, filling in forms, writing cheques and posting 50 or 60 letters in the hope of getting seven or eight runs. He thought that there had to be a better way. Tim had spent his career in IT, writing software for companies such as BT, so had both the skill and the knowledge to design an online entry system for field trials.…

1 When was the whimbrel protected? 2 Which colonel is generally regarded as the father of modern wildfowling? 3 Which late 19th-century author wrote Letters to Young Shooters and Shooting High Pheasants in Theory and Practice? 4 Which early 20th-century naturalist penned the bestselling Morning Flight? 5 He is known for founding the World Wildlife Fund, but what was Sir Peter Scott’s favourite shooting sport?…

If the lowland keepers think it’s been a miserable winter, spare a thought for those a few hundred feet higher up the hill. Smatterings of snow greyed the Pennines towards the end of November and from then on the weather never really let up. Weeks of trapping days were lost due to deep snow cover — time that cannot be replaced as the months tick past towards spring. On the stoat front alone, it simply means that there are probably more animals left on the ground than many keepers would like. As numerous pieces of research have shown, in the absence of foxes in many areas the stoat is the most important predator for ground-nesting birds. The main problem with the weather this winter is that it carried on 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 grasshopper warbler’s song is one of the strangest to be heard in the UK. It is quite rightly likened to a fishing reel but the “cast” just keeps going, as the male reels his song for minutes or even hours at a time. The tone seems to change as he turns his head, but the song keeps going. Grasshopper warblers arrive back from Africa at the end of April and set up home in rough vegetation, perhaps on the edge of a reedbed, in a tangle of brambles or in a young forestry plantation. The nest is built on or close to the ground, perhaps in a clump of grass. You can tell that a male has successfully paired with a female if he stops singing as much, reeling…

One of the themes in my ammunition collection is cartridges with British military marks. These are generally commercial cartridges that have been marked with the Government’s broad arrow to show that they are military stores. After June 1940, Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. Though Operation Dynamo had resulted in some 338,226 troops being evacuated from Dunkirk, much equipment and many arms had been lost. Hitler was determined to deliver the coup de grâce and plans for the amphibious invasion of Britain — Operation Sealion — were well under way. Fortunately, the Royal Navy retained control of the Channel and the Royal Air Force denied the Germans the air superiority that was a prerequisite for Sealion’s success. A call for volunteers to defend Britain was made and on 22 July,…