Innholdsfortegnelse for 03-Apr-2019 i Shooting Times & Country

Over lunch last Friday, a youngish, newly married man told me his wife came shooting for the first time last season. She reportedly enjoyed it greatly and has every intention of going again. “Her family shoot,” he added, “Her late grandfather ran a syndicate on his farm, but he was of the opinion that shooting is a bloke’s thing and women don’t take much interest in it.” I almost spat out my beer. Later, I thought about all the people I know who shoot and it struck me that they are a disproportionately male group. For example, there were a great many boys I went to school with who were keen on shooting but whose sisters had never given it a go. Interestingly, though, I currently have lots of female…

The Royal Horticultural Society has given advice to gardeners struggling with urban deer. A survey of 740 gardeners has shed light on which plants deer seem to enjoy and which they tend to avoid. The butterfly bush, buddleia, was found not only to be a great source of nectar for struggling insect life, but also resistant to the attentions of deer. Other shrubs that deer disliked included bay, broom and cotoneaster. Deer also spurned many classic cottage garden perennials such as daffodils, foxglove, sea thrift, lady’s mantle and catmint. Strongly flavoured herbs were also not much liked by deer, with mint, thyme, oregano and sage not making it into their menu. Anyone who would like to attract deer into their gardens could also try a wide range of plants. Tulips,…

1 Browning Ultra clay shooting vest RRP £69.99  www.countrywaygunshop.co.uk The Ultra shooting vest is stylish, lightweight and incredibly comfortable. It features places for anti-recoil pads, as well as two-way large zipper pockets for ammunition, a large rear pocket and back straps for attaching a number. 2 Balmoral wide-fit wellington RRP £135  www.hunterboots.com Designed for a wider fit on the calf, the Balmoral boot has been specially created to perform across rough and challenging terrain. The sole is lightweight and features commando cleats for grip. The new soft rubber used for these boots boasts durability, flexibility and comfort. 3 Bloc Shadow W301 glasses RRP £50  www.bloceyewear.com These glasses allow you to get one step ahead and see the birds coming before anybody else. Moulded nose pads provide comfort…

Lots of people shoot rooks and for lots of different reasons, but not many people eat them. They are missing a trick — rook is an excellent meat and at least a rival to pigeon. Small young rooks are fine plucked and roasted but older birds will need more careful treatment. Many people would say not to bother with older rooks as the meat becomes inedible once mature, but there is a recipe that can make these older specimens taste wonderful. I find a miso broth with lightly spiced and then fried rook breast, served over noodles, makes an excellent use of these tougher but flavoursome old-timers. In terms of cookery, think of rook as pigeon in disguise. In fact, if you ask me, rooks are even more of a…

I have suffered a tragic loss and things at High Park will never again be quite the same. It could have been worse, of course. It is not as though Tony Smith has retired — he is already full of plans for next season and seems in good spirits. All the friends who share our shooting days are, to the best of my knowledge, in decent trim. My dogs are well and youngster Zac even shows signs of growing up and turning into a gundog. But I am mourning the death of my beloved quad, which has finally expired after serving me so faithfully for so many years. It is a loss that hurts deeply, though it doesn’t hurt half as much as thinking how expensive its replacement is likely…

KEEPA HAS come back into work well and is building up his fitness and stamina. For the vast majority of these articles I focus mostly on the dog. However, I have spent the past month mostly attempting to whip myself into shape. I have had a trip up north and, more recently, to Wales for some brushing up on my technique. As any decent trainer will tell you, there is no such thing as the perfect trainer, and like any sport in the world, it is easy to slip into bad habits. A coach, or at least another pair of neutral eyes, is vital if you are to improve. I would like to spend the summer improving my dogs in preparation for the trialling season, but this will only happen…

The first wet night in March is a moment of tremendous significance. Deep beneath the trees, the soil begins to move. Fallen leaves are parted by slow, clasping fingers. Toads haul themselves out of the earth and begin to creep quietly through the moss towards open water. It is a watershed moment for the seasons, but there are many places in Galloway where the toads swarm in a moving tide. These torrents can be disarmingly spectacular, and the creatures blur into a single, creeping mass that runs for a mile or more. They are easiest to see on a tarmac road in headlights, and the highways can be littered with these creepy crawlers on a good night. It is hard to give an idea of numbers but my wife and…

Latin name: Primula veris Common name: Cowslip Other names: Bedlam cowslip, fairy cup, galligaskins, key flower, lady’s bunch of keys, St Peter’s keys, luck flower, paralysis, petty mullein How to spot it and where to find it: The yellow, nodding blooms of the cowslip were once dotted through hay meadows, ancient woodlands and hedgerows, but it is less common now because of the loss of those traditional habitats. Apart from the egg-yolk yellow flowers, the cowslip can be identified by its rosette of crinkled, tongue-like, dark green leaves that grow low to the ground. It flowers from April to May. Interesting facts: The name comes from “cow-slop”, meaning cowpat, referring to its favoured meadow habitat. More romantically, it is sometimes called St Peter’s keys, said to grow where the saint…

1 Which goose species will come off the quarry list in Wales this year? A Greenland white-fronted B Pink-footed C European white-fronted D Brent 2 George Digweed broke his record of the longest-range clay live on the Fieldsports Channel in 2011. What distance did he record? A 60 yards B 86 yards C 112 yards D 130 yards 3 Which gunmaker has its shop at 57-58 South Audley Street, Mayfair, London? A James Purdey & Sons B Holland & Holland C William Evans D Boss & Co 4 Who wrote The Gamekeeper at Home, The Amateur Poacher and The Life of the Fields? A Henry Williamson B Denys Watkins-Pitchford C W.H. Hudson D Richard Jefferies Do you know the law? Now take the real test! Visit www.gwctknowledge.com to become a…

A Lake District farmer has had his conviction for disturbing ospreys quashed. But why was he prosecuted in the first place? The Lake District Osprey Project stands accused of squandering public money — and local goodwill — on the persecution of an award-winning conservationist. Paul Barnes, of Braithwaite, Cumbria, adamantly denied that he had intentionally or recklessly disturbed the birds, which were nesting on a platform on a pole he had supplied. But last year, after he was spotted driving a tractor and trailer containing schoolchildren near the nest, the authorities threw the book at him. He was initially convicted by magistrates last August, to the glee of the usual raptorphile cyberbullies. He then faced a stressful 18 months waiting for his appeal to be heard at Carlisle Crown Court.…

RECYCLE Take your used fishing lines to any Orvis UK store to be recycled. Orvis has announced a partnership with the Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme (ANLRS), which offers fishing line recycling points in more than 200 locations, including any Orvis store. Viv Shears of the scheme said: “We look forward to... allowing fly anglers to recycle their old monofilament, braids and especially fly lines.” James Doyle, retail sales manager at Orvis UK, commented: “The ANLRS offers the most environmentally effective route to fishing line recycling in the UK.” WRITE If you’ve always wanted to write for Shooting Times here is your chance; we are looking for submissions for our reader’s story feature. Write up a fieldsports day or memory worth sharing and send it to steditorials@ ti-media.com. Articles should…

I very much enjoyed reading Tom Payne’s piece about the legalities of pigeon shooting (Birds, you and the law, 20 March). I did note, however, a serious omission from “Tom’s tips for staying legal”, which is informing the police when you are about to start shooting. By simply dialling 101 and requesting a reference number from the police, your activity is logged with them. You will be asked to provide your name, date of birth, names of any other shooters who are with you, vehicle make and registration, where the vehicle will be parked and the time you intend to start shooting. By doing this, the police are aware who is shooting in a particular area. At the end of your session, don’t forget to inform the authorities that you…

In my previous article (Rested and raring to go, 6 March), I introduced Sika, a beautiful black-and-tan cocker bitch who will be training with me to become an all-round shooting and family companion. She has settled quickly into kennel life and bonded with me well. At the beginning I kept her training light and fun, as it should be at this tender age. I am more often seen with retrievers rather than spaniels. However, Sika is not the first cocker spaniel I will have fully trained and hopefully will not be the last. While the end product — a perfectly trained, biddable gundog — is the same, the training pathway for cockers is different to that of Labradors. Of course, you can never generalise a dog by its breed, but…

Laurels, laurels and more laurels. Tackling these bushes is the bane of my life. Hopefully, the pheasants will appreciate the huge amount of work I am undertaking to manage the laurel blocks for them. Cutting the tops off the regrowth is not fun; even less so when they are covered in rainwater that falls down the back of your neck each time they are shaken. Taking some time out from habitat work to attend relevant local events and courses is well worth the effort, and gives me a break from the laurels. I am a firm believer in keeping up with current legislation and supporting the shooting organisations that are the backbone of our industry. Too few support these events, especially as gamekeeping is an ever-changing profession and understanding the…

You will never find a wild wolf suffering from plaque. A diet of raw food, with plenty of chewing on hides and bones, ensures that wolves keep their teeth in sparkling condition. Contrast this with a dog that eats a diet of wet food, with nothing to gnaw on, and you can see where problems start to arise. A frightening statistic is that 80 per cent of pet dogs have dental disease by the time they are three years old, and that gum disease is the most common clinical disease seen in dogs. Until recently I have rarely cleaned my dogs’ teeth, though they have been fed a sufficiently sensible diet that has helped keep their teeth plaque-free. However, when my 12-year-old springer incurred her first ever vet’s bill last…

With their huge horns that appear totally out of proportion to the animal carrying them, the Watusi cattle of Rwanda are the most impressive of the many breeds of cattle that can be found in Africa. Their horns can be as long as 150cm, with the tips 180cm apart and a circumference of up to 45cm. Though the animals come in many colours, most are dark red, sometimes spotted or splashed with white. Slender and long-legged, Watusi cattle have typically narrow chests. These cattle are prized more for their looks than their milk production, though the butter-rich milk is highly valued by the tribes that herd them. Bloodletting, mixing blood with milk, is normal but these cattle are never eaten. Possession of a large herd is a sign of wealth,…

Data collected by BASC has shown a wide variation in the quality of service of the firearms licensing teams of English and Welsh police forces. The time required to grant a new firearms certificate varied from 271 days in Warwickshire to only 36 days in neighbouring West Mercia. Dorset Police was revealed to be one of the worst-performing forces, taking 159 days to grant a new shotgun certificate, 133 days to grant a coterminous certificate and 97 days to renew a firearms certificate. By contrast Cleveland Police had several of the fastest turnarounds, granting shotgun certificates in a fifth of the time taken by Dorset and renewing a shotgun certificate in only a week. Readers also told Shooting Times that they had very variable experiences. Freddie Lawder described Dyfed-Powys Police…

CPSA raises vital funds for charity The Clay Pigeon Shooting Association (CPSA) has raised more than £6,000 this year for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Macmillan Cancer Support. Part of it was raised through a networking event for clay shooting instructors at Doveridge Clay Sports Centre in Derbyshire, where attendees received a masterclass in gun fit and took part in a 75-target Flurry competition, with Zoli guns provided by Edgar Brothers. Doveridge ran two Olympic Skeet layouts. The combination of gun-down shooting, faster targets, and a random delay of up to three seconds on the traps was a challenge for many usually unflappable Shots. Fatal shooting on Perthshire estate A man believed to be an Italian national has been killed in a shooting accident on a Perthshire estate. The…

Jessica (Chesapi Enchantress) was my first Chesapeake Bay retriever. She was dead-grass colour and she grew into a big dog, about 95lb in weight. In her pomp she could jump a five-bar gate from a standing start. Olympic standard some might say. I collected her at six weeks old and she was a sweet little puppy. It didn’t last. When she was about 10 or 11 weeks old, I decided she was strong enough to walk with the Labrador pack down through the farm to the river. The river itself was in spate, so I was careful to keep the dogs in hand. Not Jess. She took one look and dashed into the water, and was promptly swept downstream. “Oh dear,” I said, or words to that effect, as I…

SIKA IS A typical cocker: very busy, eager to please and full of mischief. In the same breath she is quite sensitive and could easily be overwhelmed or have her natural drive and instinct quashed. With cockers I tend to take everything a little more slowly than I do with my Labradors. Cockers don’t mature as quickly as Labs, and I find they start life the opposite way around. Sika’s hunting ability is already at a level that most Labrador owners dream of; but her ability to sit calmly with some self-control is seriously lacking. For a Lab puppy at this age, the “sitting still” part is easy and the hunting comes a little later. Despite this, I will try to get the basics in place before I push Sika…

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…

Next time you are in a reedbed listen out for the “ping” of a bearded tit, a bird that is easier to hear than to see. As you stare at the edge of the reeds and hope to spot a movement, the person next to you in the bird hide is quite likely to say “bearded tit, over there. Just disappeared into the reeds. Too late, missed it.” These are frustrating birds; they are not tits and don’t have beards, but they are attractive and much loved by photographers. It is a challenge to wait for hours in the hope that a male, with his blue-grey head, yellow beak and striking Fu Manchu moustache, will make his way to the top of a reed and stay there for a few…