Innholdsfortegnelse for 18-Sep-2019 i Shooting Times & Country

From the kitchen came an unusually foul-mouthed cry. It was clear something momentous had happened. Then out of the hallway window I spotted the cause of the shock — a large grey squirrel was loping across the garden. In many parts of the country, such an incident would be of no significance. But it was the first time any of us had spotted a grey in this rural part of south-west Scotland. As is rarely the case when such an opportunity presents itself, I had a gun in my hand because I was packing up to shoot ducks that evening. Dropping two cartridges into the chambers, I tore outside and chased the beast towards the log shed. As soon as I had a clear view, I fired and a blur…

NGO video lauded as ‘positive addition to grouse debate’ The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation has teamed up with YouTuber Johnny Carter of the Gun Shop to explore the issues around grouse shooting. The 27-minute video, which was filmed on the moors of northern England, explores questions such as “What is Grouse shooting”, “Is it bad for the environment”, “Is it just for the rich” and “Do gamekeepers care about biodiversity?” The video has racked up views and positive comments, with one viewer calling it a “really watchable, reasoned and an emotionally positive contribution to the debate over grouse shooting”. Game dealers vote not to endorse BGA Shooting Times understands that the National Game Dealers Association (NGDA ) has voted not to endorse the British Game Alliance. The NGDA was established more…

At least once a season, I end up in an exceptionally beautiful part of the country previously unknown to me. As I drove out of Longridge and started to climb into the Forest of Bowland, green fields rolled out into wild moorland. The sun by 8.30am was already casting warm autumnal colours over the Pennines and partridges were perched on the drystone walls. The only information I had was that I was heading to a shoot ‘somewhere near Preston’, which hardly conjures up an image of bucolic beauty. But it was fast becoming apparent I was going to have one of the most picturesque day’s sport I’ve ever known. The Guns met at the village shop-cum-post office in Chipping. It is thought to be the oldest continually trading shop in…

IN HIS ODE To Autumn , Tohn Keats wrote of “Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness” and this year has certainly lived up to it. In my previous article I wrote about the travails of stalking in the rolling mist. I’ve had similar days since, but with every day that passes the flies grow fewer and the rut comes closer and the stags become ever so slightly more obliging. I don’t know if this year could be any more different to the summer of 2018. On the mellow fruitfulness front, this year has been spectacular. I’m almost (but not really) fed up of chanterelles, I’ve had my fill of bramble crumble — picked from sprawling thorny tendrils drooping with berries. Apple pie is next on the menu, along with pheasant,…

Perhaps I am behind the times, but until recently I had never taken seriously the possibility of feeding dogs on a diet rich in insects rather than meat. However, Simon Doherty, the president of the British Veterinary Association, recently told the BBC that some insect-based foods may be better for dogs than steak. What my spaniels would think of it is another matter but I’m sure insect-based pet foods will appeal to vegetarian pet owners, though I’m not so sure about vegans. Earlier this year a British-based company, Yora, launched an insect-based kibble, claiming it was the world’s most sustainable dog food. Apart from insect grubs, the kibble also contains oats, potato, kale, seaweed and chicory. It looks and smells just like ordinary kibble. The grubs used in the kibble…

Fabulous bunny burgers RABBITING Q With a recent explosion of rabbits in my local area, I have been shooting a few extra with my air rifle. Instead of selling them on I am trying to get the family to eat more rabbit. Can you suggest any recipes that will entice them? A Rabbit meat is fantastic. It is high in protein, low in fat and good for you. Unfortunately, many people only remember having eaten a badly cooked rabbit meal in the past so are reluctant to try it again, or the thought of myxomatosis puts them off. To win back your family, you must be prepared to produce a dish that not only fits in with the modern way of thinking and eating but also removes the memory of…

RSPB scientists have learned a lot about the chough over the past 50 years, working with country agencies, farmers and landowners to try to protect the most attractive member of the crow family. There are still fewer than 500 pairs in the UK, with most found in Wales (55 per cent) and on the Isle of Man (31 per cent). Recent gains in Cornwall do not compensate for losses from inland Welsh sites and from Scotland. Adult choughs and newly fledged youngsters need to find lots of grubs and worms, many of which are dug out of fly-infested dung and closely cropped coastal grassland. They are dependent upon coastal grazing. The chemicals used to reduce gut parasites in cattle also kill the grubs that feed in cowpats. Choughs use stubble…

1 Highland Stalker coat RRP: £496 johnrigbyandco.com This coat is designed to battle against the elements to keep you warm and dry. It features four pockets — two in the front with a large interior one for your cartridges and two smaller fleece-lined side pockets to keep your hands warm. The detachable hood is wire reinforced and weighted to stop it blowing off in windy conditions. Available in sizes XS-XL. 2 AccuSharp game processing kit RRP: £53.62 edgarbrothers.com The kit includes a butcher’s knife, caping knife, gut-hook knife, bone saw, ribcage spreader, zip ties, game cleaning gloves. It features a hard-side carry case and an award-winning knife sharpener to keep your edge so is a great piece of kit. 3 Boot dryer RRP: £23.99 gb.seeland.com This electric…

WATCH Look out for migrant birds and consider changing feeding on flightponds. The arrival of wintering teal, wigeon and mallard will mean additional ducks on many ponds. While this may mean additional shooting opportunities, it also means extra mouths to feed. Keep an eye on your pond and, if numbers rise significantly, think about increasing feeding accordingly. Giving newly arrived birds a break until they have had a rest may be worth considering. CHECK As the weather gets colder, rats tend to congregate in and around buildings where shelter and food are more readily available. Precautionary poisoning is not recommended for controlling rats; however, legal traps properly set and monitored can give an early warning of new arrivals. If numbers start to build, a local terrier pack will be happy…

STEEL YOURSELF I was interested to read Alasdair Mitchell’s comments concerning steel shot (Sharpshooter, 4 September). I have thought for some time that the days of lead shot are numbered (News, 11 September) and it saddens me that my beloved 1911 Lancasters will not cope with steel and will have to be retired. I have shot duck with steel for some years and I want to try them on grouse before the season ends, but I do not want to use plastic wads on the moors. With this in mind I have been keen to try the new Eley VIP Steel Pro Eco Wad cartridges but these new cartridges seem rather hard to come by. I ordered them from my usual supplier ten days ago and I am told that…

With the first prickle of frost, the entire landscape seems to slump a little. That frost has turned the grass to mush and the cattle have suddenly gained the upper hand as they graze away into the autumn. Grass that had risen and flourished has suddenly lost the will to thrive and soon it will be time to begin the business of feeding beasts again. Now there are rowan berries and the first ripening haws; the brambles have gone into jam and the world waits for the sloes to ripen and swell. Woodpigeons clatter around in the low, dusty light and they help young peregrines to learn their trade in moments of ambush and excitement between the turning trees. For all the place seems to reek of decline, this is…

THE SZ4 STARTS AT £15,999 and the SZ5 £18,499, so not too eye-watering. In fact it’s pretty good value for its capabilities. Metallic paint is an extra £475 and there are various body-styling accessories available to jazz up your Jimny — chrome side-trims, a front bumper plate, even a camouflage decal strip. I can recommend using the online configurator; it’s lots of fun. In summary, this is a brilliant little 4x4. From a driving point of view my only criticism is that it could do with a sixth gear. But to be honest, you’re probably not going to buy one if you only do motorway miles. The only thing about the Jimny that stopped me smiling was when I had to hand it back.…

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, ke en 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…

I wrote about Rod Hazell and the syndicate where he was sole keeper last year (Working like a charm, 19 December 2018). I ran out of superlatives to describe the challenging sporting birds and exemplary biodiversity of flora and fauna that I found there. I visited Rod at his cottage, a few miles inland from Southwold, to learn more about the man responsible for what I described as the “best shoot in Suffolk”. How did his love of wildlife came about? “I come from a gamekeeping family so I suppose it’s in the blood,” he says. “Before I started keepering I spent a few years in the Grenadier Guards. When I left the Army I moved to Horsey Island. It was a wild place, cut off from the mainland except…

19 SEPTEMBER BASC SOUTH-EAST LADIES’ DAY Bedford Sporting Targets, Knotting Lane, Riseley 21-22 SEPT THE ROYAL BERKSHIRE SHOW Thatcham, Berkshire 28-29 SEPT SOUTH YORKSHIRE SHOOTING SHOW AND GAME FAIR Doncaster Racecourse, Leger Way, Doncaster, Yorkshire 1 OCTOBER IMPROVE YOUR GAME-SHOOTING DAY Barbury Shooting School, near Barbury Castle, Wiltshire 17 OCTOBER SHOTGUN AND CHELSEA BUN CLUB LADIES’ SIMULATED GAME DAY Chagford, Devon shotgunand chelseabunclub.co.uk 26 OCTOBER ANGLING TRUST FISHERIES ENFORCEMENT WORKSHOP The Vista Hall, St Nicholas Road, Spalding, Lincolnshire anglingtrust.net…

Wildfowlers trying to plan their shooting forays will be pleased to know that the peak period for migratory duck and goose arrivals has now arrived. Data collected on the BirdTrack app shows that over the past few years the number of migratory ducks and geese arriving in the UK has tended to rise sharply between the 38th and 41st weeks of the year. This year the 38th week began on 16 September and the 41st week ends on 13 October. Weather patterns have a significant effect on the timing of migratory birds’ arrival. Westerly and south-westerly winds have dominated the end of August and beginning of September. These winds do not favour birds trying to fly south from Iceland, Greenland and Scandinavia. They also discourage birds from attempting to migrate…

I would like to draw the attention of your readers to the excellent work being undertaken by a number of individuals and organisations to combat the broad and well-orchestrated anti-shooting campaigns under way in the media at large. It is easy to be cynical about the effectiveness of BASC and other shooting interest groups; indeed, social media chat is full of harsh, often bitter, criticism of them. However, few of us are following up with positive action. Armchair criticism is easy but action requires effort. We are often accused of preaching to the choir and creating a bunker mentality of victimhood and righteous indignation. To break into the mainstream debate and win hearts and minds, we need to engage in the world outside our shoots and village pubs and, indeed,…

My birds are now 16 weeks old and are spreading nicely into the drives. All that’s left for them to do is “put on their top hats and button up their waistcoats”, as my keeper friend Tom Masters says. There are only a few areas on the estate that I can dog-in due to the woodland that covers most of it. After feeding around 6.30am, I pick up my spaniels and head off to these areas to dog the birds back home. It is sunny and hot at the time of writing so by 10am most of the birds have stopped wandering, seeking shelter under the cover to dust bathe and enjoy the sun. By 4pm they start to head back to their roosting areas and feed before going to…

FOR SPORTS-CAR racing fans, 1988 was memorable for being the year when the Silk Cut Taguar team vanquished the Porsches to win the Le Mans 24-hour race. I was working then as a motoring correspondent and Taguar invited me to go to France to watch the race. Hugely tempting though it was, I refused: I had my own unwritten rule never to write about anything sponsored by a tobacco manufacturer. The woman from the Taguar public relations team was amazed when I explained why I was turning down the invitation. What, you might ask, has that got to do with gundogs? Not a lot, except for one thing — moral conscience. Over the years I’ve met a number of beaters and pickers-up who work their dogs on shoots which, for…

How hard can it be to cook a steak? Surely we do not need a whole recipe devoted to that simple task, even with the addition of one of the simplest dressings for steak. Most of us think the thing we do a lot of is quite simple; ask any home-loader and they will tell you that loading your own rounds is simple. What they take for granted is a base level of competence that many of us mere mortals lack and it is this ‘assumed’ knowledge that is the ruin of many a good meal. So this is a vital, basic skill that will improve at least to some extent your steak experience, whether it is venison, veal, mutton or beef. Of course, you know you must bring your…

Latin name: Rosa rubiginosa Common name: Sweet briar Other names: Eglantine, sweet brier How to spot it and where to find it: With its pleasingly simple pink flowers, sweet briar can often be mistaken for another native, the dog rose. The mid-green serrated leaves are similar too, but the major difference is that sweet briar gives off a delightful apple scent, particularly in wet or humid conditions. It flowers in June and July then produces orange-scarlet hips in the autumn. With dense stems covered in numerous short hooked prickles, sweet briar makes an excellent country garden hedge. Interesting facts: The seeds — or hips — of the sweet briar are edible, though care must be taken as a layer of hairs around the seeds can cause irritation if ingested. The…

Rewilding is highly controversial. But it may not be wise to oppose it on the assumption that it is invariably against our interests. After all, what’s so wrong with the concept of making more space for wildlife? That’s exactly what we shooters do on the land we use — making sure game and wildlife species thrive in a landscape otherwise dominated by food production. I see no reason why sensible rewilding should exclude sustainable hunting and fishing, any more than it should exclude sustainable foraging. “Wild land, wild harvest” should be the motto. The real problem with rewilding is that the debate has become polarised. The “leave it all to nature” people seem to be claiming exclusive ownership of the concept. Yet their hardcore idealism is hopelessly impractical and unrealistic…