Innholdsfortegnelse for 22-Aug-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

The roebuck leapt up into the air and clattered off through the woods. “It won’t have gone far,” said Tim Weston as he sent his young cocker up the hill to find the beast. “That was a perfect shot.” I don’t get out stalking very often so his praise was most welcome. We paced out the distance at some 150 yards then clambered beneath a hedge into the darkness of the trees. As our eyes adjusted to the light, the little cocker came into view, wagging his tail delightedly next to the dead deer. While Tim gralloched the buck, I thought about where my love of fieldsports began, cycling the lanes of Dumfriesshire with an air rifle on my back. It was not so many years ago but scenes like…

Populations of endangered birds on grouse moors in northern England would plummet without the predator control carried out by gamekeepers, according to a new report. Newcastle and Durham universities surveyed the numbers of ground-nesting waders in upland areas and used statistical models to simulate how bird populations in the North Pennines and Yorkshire Dales might be affected if grouse moors were managed differently. According to the report, if there were no keepers controlling foxes, stoats and crows, the number of curlew chicks hatching in upland areas could fall by 87 per cent. Though some birds would still fly on to the moors from other areas, the sharp reduction in successful breeding could cut the overall number of curlew in the uplands by 60 per cent. Meanwhile, the number of golden…

Guided morning and evening flights A guided evening flight for one Gun on Rockland marshes and a guided morning flight for pinkfooted geese are two of the lots on offer at the Rockland Wildfowlers Club auction. The club is raising money to safeguard its future by buying land for shooting and conservation and all funds raised will be put towards this purpose. The auction runs from 1-30 September. For more details visit www.rocklandwildfowlersauction.co.uk. More than £1,000 raised for hospital Beaters and pickers-up at the Gibbons Farm shoot at Thorrington, Essex, held a charity pub quiz at the Red Lion, also at Thorrington. After a lot of fun and laughter, and a mistake or two by the quiz master, everything went smoothly and a good night was had by all. The…

In Ireland rough shooting predominates. Most Guns are members of local gun clubs and we rely on the permission of farmers to allow us to shoot their land. Our quarry is mostly wild birds, mainly pheasants (cocks only), woodcock and snipe, along with wildfowl. Most clubs also organise some vermin control and try to supplement the wild stocks of pheasants by rearing poults and/or releasing adult birds. While there have always been some landowners who do not allow shooting on their land, a bigger threat to our sport is growing. That is the loss of suitable habitat needed to sustain our wild stock. I fully understand that farmers must make the most of their land for financial reasons, but it is a great shame to see more and more wild…

The days are not so hot and any morning now I expect to awake to the sound of geese flying south for winter; we have just arrived at that time of the year when summer is starting to fade. Most of my contemporaries seem to mourn the passing of summer as the nights begin to draw in increasingly earlier. However, I have always greeted the autumn and winter months with enthusiasm. The end of the roe rut has always heralded the arrival of the game season and all other sporting pursuits that the shorter, colder days bring. Reminiscing on these days brings to mind the tranquility of a particular outing last January when darkness fell at four. I had proudly put the finishing touches to a new set of quad…

Glib statements along the lines of “all wildlife benefits from keepering” are seen as propaganda rather than fact by most thinking people; and they are right. I like to think that I produce a real biodiversity benefit from the wild lowland game management on my shoot, and my partridge count helps to support that. But “all wildlife”? Well, no — you would not want to be a crow or a magpie on my patch, for example. As one who has seen every entry to the Purdey Awards over the past 20-plus years, I know how the judges have sorted between those with good records and those who just tell a tale. Every time grey partridges feature in an entry, the partridge counts are examined as real evidence. Most significant winners…

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…

I am deeply unfashionable on most matters, so you’ll have to forgive me for being evangelical about the perils of plastic. I have been banging on for years about the need to move away from single-use plastic in shooting. And now I find myself overtaken by the environmental mainstream. It’s an odd sensation. Yet, judging by some of the readers’ comments (Letters, 8 August) there are still decent, thoughtful members of the shooting community who don’t see the light. Let me summarise the issue: non-recyclable (single-use) plastic is a pollutant. Discarding it in the environment is permanently damaging. Yet we shooters don’t even need to use it because there are cost-effective alternatives. If you told me that you wanted to walk over my farm with a bucket of bite-sized bits…

VOTE The search for the Eat Game Awards champions of British game has reached the voting stage, with the public being asked to vote for one of 10 shortlisted nominees in categories including Best Restaurant Regularly Serving Game, Best Chef Regularly Cooking Game and Best Game Butcher. Voting closes on 30 September and the individual or business with the most votes will win in each category. The results will be announced at the Eat Game Awards dinner at Boisdale Canary Wharf on 9 October. Cast your vote now at www.eatgameawards.co.uk. BOOK Buy your tickets for the 33rd Frampton Country Fair on Sunday, 9 September. Fourteen thousand visitors are expected to attend the fair on the Severn with several exciting displays on offer, including a vintage punt-gun demonstration. Dog competitions will…

Fans of Sherlock Holme be interested to learn t a Colt pistol belonging t creator, Sir Arthur Con Doyle, is up for auctio 20 September at Holt with an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000. The .38 Colt M1902 military model pistol was discovered in a safe deposit box left with C Doyle’s London solicit 1921 — the year in whi Firearms Act became The author died in 1 and the pistol seems t been forgotten, only b discovered in 1974 when a rationalisation of the deposits was made. The pistol is originally thought to have le’s ier, he h Africa e his sible d it aw. For more information contact Simon Willey on tel 01485 542822.…

1 Leather shotgun handguard RRP £55  www.hollandandholland.com Ideal for the side-by-side enthusiast, these real leather shotgun handguards provide excellent protection against hot barrels when shooting. They are a must-have accessory whether it is a clay day or a fast driven day. 2 Härkila Pro Hunter Move jacket RRP £489.99  www.ardmoor.co.uk The latest addition to the Pro Hunter range, this jacket combines durability and freedom of movement with waterproof, lightweight and breathable protection. It is designed with plenty of ventilation and shaped to allow optimum mobility, with all the style and functionality of a traditional shooting jacket. Ideal for the active hunter, the Pro Hunter Move will keep you dry and comfortable whatever the weather. 3 Hull Partridge cartridge RRP £348 per 1,000 www.hullcartridge.co.uk We will leave it up to you…

A few months later, I finally removed the frozen buck from my freezer and entrusted it to the experienced hands of Gary Knight from G. J. Knight Taxidermy. My inexpert skinning had left a long cape to give Gary as much material as he may need, but the cape had frozen right around the little head, obscuring his mask and antlers. Reluctantly, I left Gary’s workshop without him having a chance to properly assess my prize. The next day, I had an excited phone call from Gary, who said that it would be a sin not to get the little beast measured and scored. As this was the first muntjac taken on my new stalking ground, the beast that had christened my new sticks after an almost frustrating afternoon stalk,…

“We watched a young buck, with a potentially nice head, grazing 80 yards away” Rain had fallen but now the sky had lightened and only a slight breeze from the south-west rippled through a field of ready-to-cut wheat as we parked the car. There were still two hours of daylight left; sufficient, we hoped, to grass a buck for the freezer and to assess the sika situation from high seats. Over the past few years I have come to prefer a high seat to stalking. I know that more skill and fieldcraft is demanded of the stalker, but the advantages of a high seat greatly outweigh the effort and energy demanded of the grounded hunter. From a high seat you can watch the scene undetected, take a shot and know…

WHEREVER I WENT AT the Game Fair last month I bumped into Clumber spaniels. They were everywhere — in the main arena, in the working dog ring, in the Kennel Club zone, the Sporting Dog Pavilion. The fact that there were so many Clumbers at the fair was no accident but was due to the enthusiasm of the members of the Working Clumber Spaniel Society (WCSS), for whom the event is not only a major get-together, but an opportunity to show their dogs off to the world. An overseas visitor to Ragley Hall could have easily come away with the impression that the Clumber is the most popular sporting spaniel in the UK. Thirty years ago the Clumber was virtually extinct in the shooting field and if it weren’t for…

What are you planning to put back in return for all that you take out? This vital question is one we should all consider at every level of our sport. Early in my gamekeeping career, I was privileged to work with a generation of landowners who had the well-being of the countryside at heart. I’m not saying that today this attitude is absent — there are some excellent examples of guardianship of our precious resource. I worked for many years on a wild bird estate in the Scottish Borders. By today’s standards it was a 100 per cent loss-making venture; there was no attempt to recoup expenditure of any kind. I was happy to start my working life, taking my fortnightly pay and learning my craft. It wasn’t until several…

Latin name: Drosera rotundifolia Common name: Sundew Other names: Dew plant, eyebright, lustwort, moor-grass, red rot, rosa solis, youthwort How to spot it and where to find it: If you’ve seen the 1986 cult classic Little Shop of Horrors, you will be familiar with the idea of carnivorous plants. We have our own version, the sundew. Found in bogs, marshes and fens, it grows among sphagnum mosses or on acid peat. It produces small white or pinkish flowers but it is its glowing red colour that attracts the insects it feeds on. Interesting facts: The round leaves of our native sundew have the highest concentration of vitamin C of any known plant. They are fringed with tentacles that are loaded with glistening, sugary drops of mucilage to lure insects, which…

26 AUGUST GLAD RAGS & CARTRIDGE BAGS CLAY SHOOT Saplinbrae House Hotel, Aberdeenshire Tel 07841 393155 31 AUGUST ROYAL GARDENS TOUR, SPORTING DINNER & AUCTION Highgrove House, Gloucestershire jlanger@gwct.org.uk 9 SEPTEMBER HAMPSHIRE COUNTRY SPORTS DAY www.hampshirecountrysportsday.co.uk/ 9 SEPTEMBER CARMARTHENSHIRE WILDFOWLERS’ ASSOCIATION NOVICE GUNDOG TEST Stradey Castle, Llanelli Tel 07557 336211 15-16 SEPTEMBER MIDLAND GAME FAIR Weston Park, Shropshire www.midlandgamefair.co.uk…

The modern rifle scope represents the culmination of almost 300 years of development. It is an item we take for granted, with integral iron sights now seen almost as a niche item. It didn’t take long for us to realise that combining the refractor telescope concept — originating in 1608 — with the aiming system on our increasingly accurate firearms, would allow hits to be made at longer ranges. The modern age has equally seen how diminishing eyesight can benefit from the single focal point required to use a rifle scope as against the rear, front and target focal positions needed to be accommodated for correct iron sight usage. In 1776 Charles Willson Peale attempted to have a telescope mounted to a rifle as a sighting device but, fitted without…

“If anything, it is over-engineered but it is a joy to take to bits and look at” There is a fashion these days for sporting rifles with straight-pull bolts. They are hailed as the latest in firearms technology and extolled by many pundits. Those who are kind enough to read my column will know where this is going. Over the years, I have tried to show that, in terms of firearms design, there is nothing new under the sun. The basic principles of the guns we use today were established from the 1860s onwards. There is nothing new about the straight-pull rifle bolt; it dates from 1886 when the Austro-Hungarian military adopted a Mannlicher rifle with one. For decades before, rifle bolts had to be turned before they could be…

For the great maJority of us, our gundogs are family pets and companions, not Just working animals. This makes socialising them all the more important, as a dog that is relaxed in any surroundings it finds itself in is a pleasure to own. In recent weeks I’ve been socialising my sprocker puppy Emma, who is now five months old. One of our most enJoyable outings was to Bury St Edmunds on a Saturday morning. Bury is an attractive Suffolk market town and on Saturday mornings it is busy with the numerous stalls of street traders. I sat on a bench in the middle of the market with Emma at my feet, watching the world go by. She was clearly fascinated but unfazed by all she saw, from the nearby busker…

“Killer owls” taking poults GAMEKEEPING Q I am losing poults to an owl or owls. Is there anything I can do to stop them or at the very least reduce the kills in and around the pen? A Sadly not. You can try hanging things from trees to deter them, but I am not convinced it makes any difference. First, I would double check that it is in fact an owl — or owls — that is killing your poults. There are plenty of other things wandering about at night or at last light that could be the culprits. The owls, being opportunists, may simply be eating the bodies of the birds, which are being killed by something else. If owls are killing them then, as I stated earlier, there…

climates, ensuring its popularity in tropical countries. It is one of the prettiest of all cattle breeds. Its dished face, large limpid eyes and fawn coat make it instantly recognisable. Jerseys were not always this colour — in the late 19th century their coats ranged from dun or even black to silver. Even today the colour changes with the seasons. The Jersey’s greatest claim to fame is the high butterfat in its milk, averaging 5.3 per cent. While Jersey cows are noted for their gentle temperament, the bulls can be fierce and unpredictable. The Jersey is the smallest of the Channel Island cattle breeds and is unusual among the cattle of northern Europe in being remarkably adaptable to extreme Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about the Jersey is that a…