Innholdsfortegnelse for 17-Apr-2019 i Shooting Times & Country

You will all be well aware of a small but vocal group who, despite the conservation benefits of our sport and despite its ethical meat production, are vitriolic in their opposition to shooting. In some instances this seems to be founded on the basis of scientific misinformation and in others it appears to be political or sociological. Regular readers will know that, from hen harrier persecution to very large bags, we are not afraid to call out bad practice. We should not be under any illusion — those who hate what we do aren’t interested in constructive discussions or collaborative conservation. They are extremists who want to see an end to game shooting. Over the past century, extremism in various guises has reared its ugly head in this country. I…

British game looks set to feature in many more Hong Kong and Macau supermarkets and restaurant menus following a successful trip by the British Game Alliance (BGA) this month (News, 10 April). Immediately after his return, BGA managing director Tom Adams told Shooting Times: “We were very much pushing on an open door,” he commented. “By working with the Department for International Trade, we found the appetite for assured British game was thriving in Hong Kong; getting consistency and quality was key for these markets and that is what the BGA will be ensuring.” The BGA had 20 meetings, two with the huge retailer Dairy Farm and the PARKnSHOP supermarket group. Both expressed keen interest in buying assured British game and the team is now working with distributors. In addition,…

28 APRIL SHOOTING GREY SQUIRRELS FOR CONSERVATION OF REDS Gardner’s Guns, Carlisle j.bailey203@ btinternet.com 11-12 MAY NORTHERN SHOOTING SHOW Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate www.northern shootingshow.co.uk 4 JUNE LITTLE HAVENS HOSPICE CHARITY SHOOT Fennes Shooting School, Essex Mandy Beglan tel 01702 221656 19-23 JUNE JACK PYKE ENGLISH OPEN Sporting Targets, Bedfordshire tel 01234 708893 27 JUNE SINGLES CLAY SHOOT Pittodrie House, Inverurie Mhairi Morriss tel 07841 393155…

Antibiotics down by more than half Antibiotic use for game birds has been reduced by an impressive 51 per cent in the past few years. However, the GWCT is urging game farmers and gamekeepers to do more as the sector still remains as one of the highest users of antibiotics. NGO chairman Liam Bell said: “Keepers are aware of the need to reduce antibiotic use, and of the vital part biosecurity, stock selection, good husbandry and the management of the habitat within release pens will play in helping them achieve it.” The GWCT urges all those involved in fieldsports to behave responsibly, reporting those who do not follow the rules with antibiotics and game birds. Visit po.st/reportAB. Will shooting be Brexit-proof? Sporting agents say bookings to the UK are business…

“I should never have sold it.” Such clichés are commonplace because they hold inherent truths. Buying your first gun is a genuinely exciting feeling, one of the great pleasures of taking up shooting as a new hobby; trawling the internet to find the right model in the right price range. There is a special sentimentality to a first gun because for many of us it is the start of a passionate affair that will last a lifetime — a love of shooting. I have owned dozens of guns over the years but I still have my first. A first gun is almost always bought at the budget end of the market, which is now dominated by guns made in Turkey. It is a shift of power that has taken place,…

The first thing you notice about this gun is its similarity to the Beretta 68 series. However, those who tell you it is a clone of the Beretta are mistaken. Internally it is different. The early ones had a few issues with the trigger mechanism but these have been ironed out and the gun’s popularity increases. This is a classic of the problem you face when buying your first gun. If your budget is £600 do you opt for a secondhand model of a Beretta 686, or do you go for a new ATA Sporter? The answer depends on the vendor of the secondhand gun. Buying it privately — which is probably where you’re most likely to find 686s at this money — means there is no after-sales backup. If…

Jeremy Hunt’s article on breeding a litter of puppies (The best start in life, 20 March) made fascinating reading. It’s almost 13 years since the last litter of puppies I was responsible for was born, so it was interesting to see how the technology of breeding has moved on in the past decade. I don’t think that blood tests to check on a bitch’s progesterone level before mating were available a decade ago, or if they were I was unaware of them. All three bitches I have bred from conceived after only one meeting with the stud dog — perhaps I was lucky. There’s a lot that can go wrong when breeding puppies but if you follow the right advice, as outlined in Jeremy’s article, you can reduce the risks.…

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…

Wildlife reintroductions are a popular tool for conserving threatened species across the globe and they’re on the rise here. In my lifetime, white-tailed eagles have been successfully reintroduced to the west coast of Scotland, beavers are back at Knapdale and beyond, pine martens now scurry around mid-Wales, great bustards stroll on Salisbury Plain, the large blue butterfly flits around Devon and Somerset, and the list goes on. Then there are the once “lost” species that have re-established themselves, such as wild boar that escaped from farms, and the common cranes and spoonbills that returned to breed in the marshes of East Anglia of their own accord. With more high-profile conservationists and wildlife groups getting behind the concept of rewilding, this popular movement is gathering pace. According to the website of…

GAME CROPS It’s time to think about plantings and get your seed and fertilizer ordered. “Talk to your contractor about game crops and discuss any concerns you may have about last year’s season,” advises Liam Bell, chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation. Many specialist providers, such as Bright Seeds, are happy to make visits and look around before making a recommendation. EASTER It might be a popular choice for Easter Sunday lunch but lamb isn’t traditionally in season at that time in the UK, and most has to be imported. This Easter, support local produce and eat venison or wild game, beef, turkey or pork, all of which are available from British farmers. Shooting UK.com has a delicious recipe for venison, which is perfect for a get-together on Easter Sunday,…

1 Shooterking Digitex softshell RRP £119.95 www.shooterking.co.uk An innovative softshell shooting jacket designed with a Digitex camouflage reversible brown lining and a Shoottex windproof membrane for warmth and freedom of movement. This jacket is highly breathable, lightweight and suitable for all seasons. 2 Four-legged shooting stick RRP £94.99 www.seeland.com The four-point construction of this stick provides excellent stability and unbeatable rifle support in hilly and rough terrain. The cradle is rubberised and soft moveable foam handles prevent the stick clanking together. Set-up is surprisingly quick. 3 HME Scent Slammer RRP £29.99 www.bushwear.co.uk Remove odours from your hunting clothing to avoid detection while out stalking. The device has a run time of 18 hours of continuous use, keeping you undetected for a full day’s hunting, working to eliminate…

Simon Reinhold wrote an interesting piece about the effect that chokes have on shotgun patterns (Does choke matter, 27 March). My great-uncle was a freelance warrener until myxomatosis virtually ended his career in 1954. His main gun was “Long Tom”, a full-choked 36in single-barrel 3in Magnum 12-bore that threw an incredibly tight pattern at 40 yards with a standard game cartridge. Uncle used this gun to kill thousands of bolting rabbits on ferreting trips and thereafter it was mainly used for rough shooting. On the annual beaters’ shoot, Uncle always drew gasps of admiration as he wiped the eye of the younger Shots. He considered the gun’s full-choke pattern to be as important as his own skill at making consistent kills at 45 yards. In later life Uncle bought a…

Ingredients 250G UNSALTED BUTTER 4 CLOVES OF GARLIC, CRUSHED IN THEIR SKIN 1 SMALL BUNCH OF THYME 1KG MARIS PIPER POTATOES, PEELED 12 ASPARAGUS SPEARS 1 MUNTJAC HAUNCH; SEAM BUTCHERED INTO FOUR PORTIONS 100G WILD GARLIC 500ML RED WINE SAUCE THE METHOD Serves 4 1 melt 180g of the butter with half the thyme and two of the garlic cloves, and leave to infuse. Finely slice the potatoes and layer in a small baking tin, adding the infused butter and some seasoning as you go. Bake at 180C for 45 minutes, until golden brown. 2 For the asparagus, snap off the woody stem and blanch in salted boiling water for one to two minutes until tender. Place in cold water. 3 heat a pan until very hot, season the muntjac…

At first glance this looks to be a copy of a highly regarded Italian thoroughbred Perazzi MX8 — but not quite. The Perazzi is a trigger-plate action and this is not. At under £2,000 it represents incredible value for money. The quality of the wood-to-metal fit, the finish overall and the highly figured woodwork on upgraded models are all impressive. It is only when you get inside that you find the differences. Coil springs rather than leaf springs are one example. Some may see it as cutting corners but I believe it is sensible budgeting during manufacture with one eye always on the primary selling point of this gun — the price in relation to others in the market. With out-and-out clay-busting guns such as this, the proof will be…

On the estate predator control begins to take on a more urgent pace. Hedgerow cover seems to be slow in developing and I’m starting to worry that some of the early nests will be more vulnerable to predation. It’s time to be well prepared and organised to enable speedy responses to problems as they become apparent. All too often I’ve seen spring predator control that has fallen into disrepair. Corvid control, so vital at this time of the year, is delayed because works to maintain traps has been ignored during a busy season. Traps that have been put away with a fault can delay deployment when, as you arrive at the first carrion crow nest of the season, you discover the trap is not going to work properly. It will…

Latin name: Agrostis capillaris Common name: Common bent grass Other names: Brown top, Rhode Island bent How to spot it and where to find it: You have almost certainly seen this grass as it is found throughout the UK; you perhaps don’t notice it because it’s so common. It grows on lowland pastures, hay meadows, heaths, open woodland, scrub and sand dunes, as well as suburban back gardens, though it prefers lightly acidic soils. While it can grow up to 60cm tall, it is a relatively short grass with fine, flat leaves that can form a dense sward, making it suitable for putting and bowling greens. Its delicate flower and seed heads are loose and open. Interesting facts: Common bent is a useful plant within the context of a green…

DUCK AND FLIGHTPONDS I have a lifetime’s experience of all forms of duck shooting, both inland and on the foreshore. We constantly read about the need to protect our sport but if ever an article played into the opposition’s hands, it was that by Richard Negus (Sporting or greedy?, 6 March), condemning the less-hardy souls who shoot barley-fed ducks at an inland flightpond. This is in comparison with Richard’s manly pursuit of ducks on the treacherous foreshore or marsh, where he hopes to “shoot one, preferably two”. It sounds rather pompous, particularly when he reveals that he has created at least on flightpond; I wonder if he fed it with barley. He condemns the flightpond shooting of “a multitude of reared pets”, particularly early in the season. This can, however,…

Venison has been one of my favourite ingredients for more than a decade. The estate, with its own vineyard, has three species of deer living on it, so it makes perfect sense to serve our wild venison year round — making sure that the menu connects to the local area and the seasons is what the restaurant is all about. More and more, customers want to know the provenance of the food they are eating. Learning about how important deer management is to the ecosystem, and having the chance to experience stalking for myself, was fascinating. Chefs rarely get to have such a direct connection with ingredients. Hunting your own food is as close as you can get. I hope to head out with Sam again very soon.…

Often it is claimed, a little too blithely, that wild meat will have more flavour than farmed. Yet since there are few meats we can sample to prove the point either way, the argument is never won. Nor is it a simple one. The rabbits bred for farming purposes are so different to the wild species that you may as well compare eating a cat to a lion. I have never eaten a wild chicken, unless you count one caught wandering on a beach in the Caribbean, nor an undomesticated cow. “Surely a wild deer roaming moor and forest, helping itself to pasture, lichens and fruits, must be the most flavourful?” Human interaction must also be factored in. My mother kept a flock of rare-breed sheep, not unlike the ancient…

I am not a fan of teaching youngsters with ill-fitting .410s. If they can’t handle a 28-bore, you should question whether they have started too soon. It used to be that good-value 28-bores were almost impossible to find, compared with the ubiquitous bolt-action .410, which is one of the reasons why the myth of the .410 perpetuated. Guns like this Kofs Sceptre have changed that utterly. It is an attractive gun with foliate acanthus leaves laser-engraved, properly finished grain on the woodwork and well-struck barrels. It also comes with multichokes so you can make the chances of success as high as possible. Part of my dislike of .410s for children is that they are quite difficult to shoot and can therefore be demoralising. At £500 for a starter gun, this…

Shopping for birthday presents fills me with abject terror, particularly for those friends who, like me, are well into grumpy middle age. We probably have everything we need in the world, we will snap up the new trinkets we fancy when we see them and are trying to reduce the amount of stuff cluttering up our lives. So what to buy for my sporting friend Richard MacNair on his significant birthday? He is all about hounds and angling, a foodie and superb cook, handy game Shot and regular co-conspirator on my Shooting Times adventures. A modicum of prodding produced a sporting bucket list, including both a first grouse and salmon, but how about a maiden deer stalk? The offer was made and I now understand the meaning of “bite your…

EARLIER THIS YEAR, I wrote about the dangers of working dogs on flinty fields and the potential for them to cut their paws (David’s Viewpoint, 20 February). I also mentioned I had never seen a dog working in boots and invited comments from readers who had experience of dogs booted up for work or exercise. I received several helpful replies. Kerryn Humphreys lives near Whitby, in the North York Moors National Park, and she wrote to say that her Labradors encounter a variety of rugged North Yorkshire terrain. One of her dogs, Dido, is particularly prone to foot injuries. Her problems started as a puppy, with a shredded toe and claw. After much trial and error, Kerryn found boots that work for her — the Trixie Walker Active. They have…

Elementary, my dear Watson FIREARMS HISTORY Q In the Sherlock Holmes tale The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Holmes says: “I should be very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley’s No.2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots.” What was an Eley No.2? A During the 19th century gun makers often gave their revolvers numbers, particularly when there was a series that only differed in size and calibre. For example, when Colt marketed the Paterson revolver in 1836, he gave the different models numbers. The largest, designated No.5 was a .36 holster pistol. The smallest, the No.1, was a .280 pocket pistol. The same was also the case with cartridges makers. As Eley did not make revolvers,…

The earliest eider ducks will soon be incubating clutches. Their barred brown plumage provides excellent camouflage as they remain motionless, only flushing at the last moment if approached. The striking males have nothing to do once they have fertilised the eggs. Commercial eider farmers have discovered that they can take half of the down from an eider’s nest without causing desertion and that females will use the same nest sites in consecutive years. They encourage ducks to nest by painting up cutouts of males and staking them out around the colonies in which they work. Once the eggs hatch, females will lead their ducklings to the sea, meeting up with other ducks and gathering their ducklings together in crèches to reduce predation by large gulls and skuas.…

Just how prevalent is illegal raptor persecution (News, 27 March)? To read certain websites and blogs, you’d think the countryside was littered with the festering corpses of birds of prey. If it were, of course, that would imply that there must be vast number of these birds flying around, yet we keep being told that they are rare and endangered. So which is it? The activists should get their story straight. But they don’t really need to, do they? The cold, hard facts of nature management in a synthetic landscape don’t get much traction with the general public. The plight of charismatic birds of prey, on the other hand, most certainly does — especially when it is turbocharged by what is portrayed as arrogant criminality instigated at the behest of…