Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Oct-2018 i Shooting Times & Country

Last weekend, in a state of great tiredness and sweatiness, I climbed into a taxi at Stansted. Breeks and wellies had been just the thing for shooting hares on a windy Swedish island but they weren’t quite so appropriate for the flight back. “Why are you wearing those?” asked the young Indian driver as we sped off towards London. Observing my own rule about being an out and proud shooter, I tentatively replied: “I was shooting hares.” He looked at me in the rearview mirror with a glint of curiosity, then smiled. “Hunting, innit? It’s the thing I miss most about the Punjab,” he mused thoughtfully. For the next 20 minutes we discussed conservation in India, how the hunting permit scheme works, and his love of stalking blackbucks. “I wasn’t…

Gamekeeping on Radio 4 Liam Bell, chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, got discussions off to a good start during a week in which Radio 4’s Farming Today focused on the work of gamekeepers in the 21st century. Mr Bell made it clear that today keepers are really land managers and that their role definitely includes conservation as they care for woodland, wetlands and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. He also pointed out that “big bags” have declined and are no longer a focus. Catch up with each episode featuring gamekeeping at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj8q Coursers “terrorise” rural communities Cross-party MPs, including crime minister Victoria Atkins, showed strong support for stamping out hare coursing during a consultation with rural groups in Westminster on 16 October. Shadow farming and rural affairs minister David…

When I moved to Shropshire some 20 years ago, a retired underkeeper helped me put the pegs out. I stood facing a drive in a wooded valley, put the number four peg where I thought best and was just about to knock it in when he took both the peg and the hammer from my hand, walked another 10 yards or so to my right and started to knock it in. I thought my positioning of the peg to be the better of the two options and told him so. My reasoning was that there was a gap in the trees where I was putting it and that it would be almost impossible for a Gun to see what was going on if we had gone with his choice. His…

Most of us are only too happy to see a yellowhammer or two picking up a few grains that have been spilt by the pheasants. The trouble is, the easier it is for the desirable wildlife, the more you feed to scavengers, and I have a hunch that most who hopper-feed are giving more to rooks, pigeons, grey squirrels and rats than they are to the little farmland birds. Having experimented with all sorts of hopper designs over the years, I have still to find anything that beats a 25-litre metal drum with slots in the base. This scheme was perfected by my predecessors at the GWCT to use the ubiquitous scrap drums that were freely available on every farm. Today, I buy drums new, ordering them painted green to…

I HAVE RECENTLY moved offices, though only from the north end of an old forge into the recently converted southern end, which until a year ago housed my cars. This minor move did prompt a clear out of old papers, unearthing various forgotten gems in the process. One was labelled simply Picking Up Etiquette, featuring 30 bullet-pointed sentences of advice. I have no idea who gave it to me but it is full of sound advice, especially for anyone about to go picking-up for the first time. It starts with the need to make friends with the local gamekeeper if you want to work your dogs, though it doesn’t suggest how you should go about this. Perhaps any keepers reading this can advise. The advice that follows assumes you have…

Political tensions between Britain and France during the late 1850s led to the formation of the Volunteer Movement in 1859. This was a corps of infantry, artillery and engineers raised on a voluntary basis to help defend Britain in the event of foreign invasion. The men who joined tended to have some status in society, often because they had the most to lose in the event that land was ravaged by hordes of looting Frenchmen. As the volunteers bought their own uniforms, equipment and firearms, an industry sprung up to supply this need. The gun trade recognised this potentially lucrative market and offered better-quality versions of service arms along with all types of ingenious accessories. The Volunteer Movement was very socially orientated too. Other than having a good time in…

but others, especially in the east, may have crossed the sea from Scandinavia or northern Europe. Flocks of skylarks usually gather in stubble fields in the winter, searching for spilt grain and weed seed, alongside finches and buntings, but they can also be found in coastal dunes and marshes, as well as in rough pasture. Though the birds are much quieter than in the summer, a few will give a quick, musical trill when disturbed. Otherwise, they are best identified by their distinctive, bouncing flight — hovering a little with fast-beating wings. The autumn sowing of cereal crops appears to have had a serious effect on numbers of skylarks, which had their best days during the mid-20th-century agricultural boom. There are a lot of skylarks on the move in October,…

There has been extensive media coverage recently about a British mountain biker who was accidentally killed in the French Alps by a stray bullet fired by a local hunter (see News, p.8). Though this sort of accident is rare, it should be a damn sight rarer. According to The Times, 350 people have been killed in hunting accidents in France since 2000. I don’t mean to be snide about our continental cousins. Many are safe and excellent hunters. But a British friend of mine who lives in rural Burgundy has often regaled me with hair-raising stories about the antics of la chasse in his neck of the woods. And lest you think he is the archetypical whingeing ex-pat, allow me to point out that he is a keen shooting man…

RECOGNISE Nominate the lady in your life for this year’s Game Bird of the Year Award. This award recognises the support wives, daughters, partners and friends give to keepers and their shoots by cooking, rearing and picking-up, among other things. It is run by the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust. The Lady Scott Rose Bowl is presented to the winner as a public acknowledgement of everything that “the other half” just gets on with. Nominations must be in by 1 December. Email enquiries@thegamekeeperswelfaretrust.com for more information. DOWNLOAD Listen to an episode of Voice of the Countryside and hear how shoots are getting involved with the British Game Alliance (BGA), why it started and the plans for its new consumer campaign, Eat Wild. Tom Adams, managing director of the BGA, is joined in…

1 Diamond shooting socks RRP £20.95 www.jackpyke.co.uk Take your shooting stocking collection to a whole new level with these diamond-patterned socks. These stockings will not only keep your feet warm and dry on the shooting field but will certainly draw an eye or two in your direction. 2 Seeland shooting gloves RRP £21.99 www.thecountryman.com Winter is fast approaching and that can only mean one thing for shooters — frozen fingers. When that first big frost hits, make sure your hands are cosy in these gloves. Adapted for shooting, they have sewn-in magnets to allow you to flip that forefinger back and pull the trigger easily. 3 Chestnut thumbstick RRP £34.95 www.burtonblake.co.uk Before the fields are starting to be ploughed again, invest in a sturdy walking stick to help push you…

“We must encourage young people into the sport at every opportunity. The likes of George can’t be relied upon forever” “ I didn’t sleep at all last night,” said David Gay, the veteran keeper at Carlton Towers, as we walked to the first drive of the day. “I never do before the first shoot of the season.” “Youthful excitement?” I asked. He half smiled, half yawned in response. Burtons must be one of the most dramatic drives in Yorkshire. Flat countryside stretches as far as the eye can see and power station emissions from eight giant concrete towers on the banks of the river Trent billow into the sky. As I watched thick plumes drift heavy and low, David’s stern words from the briefing came back to me. “Mistakes do…

On reflection, perhaps it wasn’t wise to choose the warmest October day in living memory to take the rifle out in the hope of grassing a sika during the rut. This was to be the last day of the Indian summer. The temperature during the day touched 23°C, the sun blazed down from a cloudless sky and a few weary butterflies fluttered round the garden. Wasps and bees made a final assault on the ivy, while the last apples tumbled to the grass. It was hard to believe that in a week’s time I would be picking-up on the first shoot of the season. Nevertheless, by 5.30pm I had climbed into a high seat overlooking a grassy field fringed by a deep, dark wood, the haunt of sika and roe.…

One subject that my sheet of picking-up etiquette doesn’t mention is what to wear. I have always worked on the basis that you can never look too smart but you can certainly look too scruffy, while your dress should reflect the sort of shoot you are on. If it is a smart shoot where all the male Guns wear ties, I would almost certainly wear one too. If it is a little more casual, a tie is hardly necessary. For years I wore shooting breeks that looked the part but all too often there was a chilly gap between the top of my socks and the bottom of the breeks, so in more recent years I’ve tended to wear moleskin trousers that tuck neatly into my wellington boots. I find…

Latin name: Helminthotheca echioides Common name: Bristly oxtongue Other names: Milton Keynes weed, Langley-beef, lion bristletongue, bitterweed, ragweed How to spot it and where to find it: By the end of October, most flowering plants have faded but the bright yellow of bristly oxtongue can still be seen even into November. A perennial herb, it likes rough grassy places, wasteland, stream edges and clay soil. It can grow up to 1m tall and has branches from its thick, spiny stem — hence “bristly” — and long, elliptical leaves, with wavy edges and more bristles. It has large pimples from which the bristles emerge. Interesting facts: Oxtongue is a member of the daisy family. Its scientific name alludes to its former use as a treatment for parasitic worms, known as helminths.…

31 OCTOBER YOUNG SHOTS’ ACTIVITY DAY Grousemoor Country House, Llandegla www.basc.org.uk/events/young-shots-activity-day-thegrousemoor-llandegla/ 1 NOVEMBER GAME DINNER & TOUR OF PURDEY The Punchbowl, London W1 www.epicurean.club/article/game-dinner 8 NOVEMBER HIP FLASK CHALLENGE Hampden & Co, Edinburgh rdonaldson@gwct.org.uk 9 NOVEMBER PARTRIDGE DINNER Washingborough Hall Hotel, Lincoln cmeeson@gwct.org.uk 12 DECEMBER SALE OF MODERN & VINTAGE GUNS Sotheby’s, London gavingardiner.com…

A debate in the House of Commons on proposed changes to the Offensive Weapons Bill has been postponed until further notice, apparently due to the demands of Brexit on parliamentary time. New amendments to the bill would have made it illegal to possess .50 calibre “high energy” rifles, which would have been reclassified as prohibited weapons under the terms of the Firearms Act 1968. However, more than 30 MPs, including Kate Hoey, Labour MP for Vauxhall, and Simon Hart, Conservative MP for Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, wanted to amend the legislation at report stage to allow shooting enthusiasts to continue to use “high energy rifles” providing that new security measures had been put in place. David Frost, author of Sporting Shooting and the Law and a contributor…

SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT The article by Exeter University researchers that appeared in Shooting Times (Do we need a school for chicksI, 26 September), and the paper behind it, are fact-based but there is perhaps some scope for misunderstanding. GWCT research contributed to the original Exeter University study, which showed that providing reared pheasants with a more interesting diet and pen environment improved aspects of the birds’ morphology and behaviour. These improvements could mean released birds fare better following release, which could lead to a variety of environmental, economic and ethical benefits as outlined in the article. We are working with Exeter University to see if we can roll the techniques out into a more commercial rearing situation and whether “improved” reared birds do lead to more birds in the bag…

Every year, I set myself a challenge — a species checklist of a woodcock, a snipe, a pheasant, a partridge, a mallard, a greylag and a teal. Last season by 28 January I was still teal-less. The little duck had evaded me and I was getting worried. I was also cold, knee deep in a Devon bog, boots full, socks waterlogged and spirits rapidly deflating. Then that distinctive whistle emanated from over my left shoulder. I turned, mounted my gun and gently squeezed the trigger. The 24g steel rattled through my barrels and the report was followed by a splash. I’d done it. This year I was determined that teal would not prove the same challenge. When Ben Leece, gamekeeper on the Wirral shoot, let slip that he had started…

When there is so much pressure on the public purse, how much did the Metropolitan Police spend trying to find the perpetrator responsible for killing cats in LondonI My guess is we will never find out because they are too embarrassed to tell us. The fact is the Disney view of wildlife has permeated into almost every facet of public life with, I am pleased to say, the exception of those at the sharp end of wildlife management in the countryside. It is a pity the Met had not asked a gamekeeper what had killed the cats; it might have saved them a small fortune, especially if they had been advised to do the DNA test at the beginning of the whole sad episode. Those who witness it day in,…

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 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 JEREMY HUNT Runs Fenway Labradors and a professional gundog trainer TIM MADDAMS Former head chef at River Cottage and runs a shoot in Devon SIMON WHITEHEAD Author, professional ferreter and rabbit controller IAIN WATSON Keen stalker and senior…

The Border collie takes its name from the border country between England and Scotland where it was developed as the perfect sheepdog, combining speed and athleticism with exceptional intelligence. Typically black and white, it is not unusual to find brown and white dogs, but all collies have a strong herding instinct, rounding up sheep, cattle or even members of their family. The UK has two separate registries for Border collies. The oldest is that of the International Sheep Dog Society, which values the dog’s working ability above all else. In contrast the Kennel Club, which first recognised the breed in 1977, is more interested in appearance. Because of their trainability, Border collies excel in a variety of disciplines, from agility to obedience and flyball. Many go beating on shoots, but…