Innholdsfortegnelse for 08-Jan-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

As I stood on the edge of my flightpond last week, watching a woodcock fl it across the frozen water’s edge, I was reminded that as far as shooting goes, Tanuary is my favourite month of the year. It’s become fashionable in some circles to tell anybody who’ll listen that you’ve given up shooting the bonny waders but it’s a bandwagon I don’t much like the look of. As the bird appeared again, silhouetted against the sky, I fired and watched it flare upwards before disappearing, unharmed, among the trees. It would be dumb to suggest it’s OK to shoot migratory waders on a busy, two-days-a-week syndicate in November. But that’s very different from harvesting a brace towards the end of the season when the migratory birds have arrived. In…

Anger as Apprentice star backs hunting Apprentice contestant Lottie Lion has faced a social media backlash after publicly supporting hunting. The 19-year-old posted a photograph of riders and hounds with the caption: “Very proud to be a part of this community. Sad I am not on horseback this year.” Ms Lion had hoped to win Lord Sugar’s investment to set up a social club for rural women that would have included regular shooting events, but she was fired from the show before the final week. Tom Adams to step down from BGA Tom Adams, managing director of the British Game Alliance (BGA), has announced he will be leaving the organisation. Tom helped to found the BGA, but some in the shooting world criticised his lack of practical game-management experience. A…

I am starting to worry that I am addicted to owls. Everybody loves a barn owl and the eerie hoot of a tawny can always make you smile, but for me it goes a little further. I’m lucky to be farming in a place where four owl species converge and it’s easily possible to see them all in one evening. The first owl came at 3pm, which amounts to evening in these brief winter days. I was out to feed cattle on the moss and a short-eared owl coasted towards me across the long, rippling grass like a ghost. I’m forever thrilled by these birds, which balance beauty and style with a strange vulnerability. I was involved in ringing a brood of short-eared owls on moorland near Thornhill a few…

SHOOT With the end of the game season only a few weeks away there’s no need to put your gun away yet. With young crops in the ground, pigeon shooting can provide a valuable service to farmers as well as excellent sport. Wildfowling below the high tideline also continues until 29 April. Now is a good time to investigate those opportunities. WINTER With the leaves off the trees and hungry squirrels active, late winter is a good time for grey squirrel control. Pheasant feeders often attract rodents and present excellent ambush opportunities, but a quiet sit in a broadleaved woodland may present more chances. Shotguns and air rifles are excellent tools for squirrel control.…

Only 29 individuals were prosecuted for wildlife crimes in Scotland last year. The annual wildlife crime report from the Scottish Government shows that, despite police officers investigating more than 200 offences, only 25 suspects ended up being convicted. Fish-poaching offences were the most commonly reported wildlife crime, with police receiving 45 reports. They were also the most frequently prosecuted offences, with a total of five fish poachers facing court. Two criminals were sent to prison for wildlife offences. Among those imprisoned was prolific hare poacher Angus McPhee, who received 175 days in prison after being convicted for illegally coursing the animals for the 11th time. There was an increase in crimes against birds of prey, with 24 crimes against raptors recorded in 2017-2018, the latest figures available. Among those convicted…

For the first drive on our previous shoot day I conjured up the courage to shoot a new pheasant cover that I had reshaped from the previous season. I had watched the drive, noting that the birds fed during the morning then began to wander across the nearby fields during the day, so we planned to shoot it first thing. The game cover is on the edge of the estate and is bordered by some stubble fields that were directly drilled with grass. The weather was glorious so I had hoped the birds were making use of the stubbles and game cover. Its prior position didn’t enable me to shoot it last year, though plenty of birds resided within it. Its main problem was that the cover was on our…

It always amazes me when people are surprised that I go for lessons myself. Gundog training is like any other discipline — you never stop learning. Sometimes when clients come for lessons they almost seem ashamed, as if it were an admission that they have failed. What they don’t realise is that the best trainers in the world continue to seek help from other experts. Anyone who competes in a sport involving dogs — field trials, agility, flyball or even heelwork to music — will know that dogs keep you humble. You can never profess to know it all nor be the perfect trainer. All we can do is strive to be better and continue to improve our dogs. With this in mind I enlisted the help and guidance of…

NEVER BE PUT OFF BY a name. I was reminded of this last month, when I joined members of the Norfolk & Suffolk HPR Field Trial Club for one of its monthly training days. Contrary to what the name might suggest, only a minority of the club’s members aspire to trial their dogs. What all the handlers I spoke to had in common was a determination to train their dogs to the best of their ability, and to discover their full potential as dogs that hunt, point and retrieve. All the continental HPR breeds are, without exception, good-looking dogs. This leads to many unsuspecting people buying them as pets, unaware of their new puppy’s potential, not to mention its drive and determination. Though the Norfolk & Suffolk is a true…

Bottom-line time. Mostly, no matter how much we enjoy our varied sport, we will find ourselves in the thick of it with pheasants. It’s not a bad thing, there is lots of tasty meat to keep us all fed in the weeks ahead, but keeping things interesting can be a bit tricky. I have dedicated my next three Shooting Times recipes to the pheasant breast — there is nothing wrong with the thigh meat and I will come to that later, but for now it’s breasts all the way. Most of us eat rather a lot of it and it is always a challenge to come up with new, different ways of cooking it. More often than not, I will have skinned the birds and removed the useful breast and…

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 TONY BUCKWELL Veterinary surgeon with a special interest in gundogs 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 CIC international trophy judge Contact the team Email: stanswers@ti-media.com By post: Shooting Times, Pinehurst 2, Farnborough Business Park, Hants GU14 7BF…

16 JANUARY LADIES’ INTRODUCTION TO DUCK FLIGHTING Main Road, Chelmsford Essex events.basc.org.uk 26 JANUARY BUTCHERY COURSE — BIRDS AND DEER Englefield Estate Danitylands, Common Hill, Englefield RG7 5JP po.st/butchery 31 JANUARY REALLY WILD DINNER & AUCTION Thornbridge Hall, Longstone Lane, Bakewell gwct.org.uk/events/ calendar/2020/january/really-wild-dinner/ 31 JANUARY END OF SEASON (NI) For snipe, woodcock, golden plover, inland water fowl, pheasant and partridge (Northern Ireland only) 01 FEBRUARY END OF SEASON For partridge and pheasant in England, Wales and Scotland 19 FEBRUARY PREDATION CONTROL LAW AND BEST PRACTICE COURSE Near Fakenham, Norfolk gwct.org.uk/events…

I am starting to notice a theme within our sport. Across all media it is implied that those of us in the countryside — shooters, farmers and all who live and work here — have ruined it and do not know what we are doing. While wrapping Christmas presents with offcuts of wallpaper from work, I watched a family of local blue tits, which nests in an old work boot I put up on the telephone mast, eat the seed and fat balls I put out for them. They had to wait their turn after the spotted woodpecker that comes by, the robins, sparrows and coal tits all had their fill. They all waited in line on the shrubs I’ve planted, the lavender and flowering plants I put in specifically…

ARE YOU REALLY FIT TO FERRET? Ferreting is like every other country pursuit. It gets you out, exercising, making decisions, multi-tasking and improving your life skills along the way. The main bulk of this activity is practised in the colder months of the year. There is one common denominator — be it shooting, fishing or ferreting — that will always make the difference between success and failure, a good day or a bad one. It doesn’t cost you anything to learn nor possess, unlike the clothing that we need to keep us warm and dry. This is your fitness. We don’t function at our best if we are wet and cold, and I am always talking and writing about how to prevent this. We mustn’t forget that when we are…

As I popped my head over the wall to have a look at one of my new DoC traps the other day a little owl flew off right under my nose. It it struck me that, while many other animals and birds are considered alien, the little owl is one of the introduced species that we seem to have adopted as one of our own. There hasn’t been much said about this diminutive owl since Athene noctua was introduced into the British Isles in 1879 at Stonewall Park, Edenbridge in Kent. This release was followed by others as landowners brought more of the little birds over from Europe. It is what was done then. We moved plants, animals, fish, birds — you name it, we moved them. Not all releases…

I’ve always been fascinated by antlers. I acquired my first set of red deer antlers during a family holiday in Austria. They were bought from a shop in Salzburg and were a fairly modest 10-pointer. But transporting the antlers home to England in my father’s Ford Zephyr was a challenge. I ended up sitting on the back seat with the antlers on my lap, facing towards me. It was before the days of seat belts, so I might well have been impaled if we had made a sudden stop. Fortunately we didn’t. Though I’ve shot roe and muntjac, I’ve never shot a red deer, so the antlers I have acquired subsequently have come from a variety of sources. My favourite set, a handsome 14-pointer, came from Somerset and were given…

The perfect snipe on toast GAME COOKING Q Some people say I should remove the guts from snipe and others say I shouldn’t. How should I prepare snipe for cooking? A Though they are small, snipe are absolutely delicious to eat and should be regarded as a real delicacy. Removing the guts is entirely down to personal preference, but I never gut a snipe. It’s simply not necessary. My procedure is to pluck the bird completely, removing the lower legs and the top wing joint with a pair of kitchen scissors. I pluck out the head and neck, leaving the head on. Then I twist the head round and pierce through the abdomen with the long bill, pushing it right through like a skewer just forward of the legs. This…

Latin name: Oxalis acetosella Common name: Wood sorrel Other names: Cuckoo bread, fairy bells, gowk meat, lady’s clover, hallelujah, sleeping beauty, sow trefoil, stabwort How to spot it and where to find it: You will find this low, creeping perennial herb in woodland, on hedgerows, banks and any moist, usually shaded, habitats. It has long-stalked, light green leaves that are divided into three leaflets and white flowers, veined in lilac or purple. Wood sorrel is one of very few plants able to thrive in the deep shade of conifer plantations. Interesting facts: Despite the name, wood sorrel is not the same plant as common, wild or sheep’s sorrel (When sorrel seems to be the hardest word, 11 December). It is, however, equally edible, though its generic name means ‘sour’. It…

1 Chapman Leg o’ Mutton gun slip RRP: £225 Chapmanbags.com This innovative gun slip enables a shotgun to be broken down and carried in two pieces, thus saving space, so is perfect for travelling. It is designed for barrel lengths up to 32in and is made with heavy-duty waterproof canvas. Available in leather and different colours on request. 2 Female wigeon decoy RRP: £2.99 Decathlon.co.uk This is a great decoy that costs next to nothing. You’ll be giving yourself the best possible odds when you place this very realistic decoy in front of you. The colours make it an essential piece for your duck and goose pattern. 3 Bisley long-net RRP: From £34 Sportsmanguncentre.co.uk This long-net comes in three different lengths – 25, 50 or 100 yards…

I am attempting to shoot this season without using lead ammunition. The first setback concerned my non-lead rifle ammo: I haven’t got any. At least, not yet. It has been promised, but has yet to show up. I live in hope. I did manage to get non-lead shotgun cartridges, however. It took about five weeks from ordering to get some Eley VIP Steel with 32g of steel No5 shot with the new Pro-Eco wads. I am using them in an English side-by-side bored improved cylinder and quarter-choke, with 2¾in chambers. Missed shots So how have I got on with steel shot? Well, I haven’t noticed any increased recoil. Nor have my gun’s barrels split apart like a peeled banana. I cannot see any bulges or marks on the inside of…