Innholdsfortegnelse for 29-Jan-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

A countryside group has called for a change in the law after police refused to prosecute a hunt saboteur who allegedly fitted a GPS tracking device to a hunt supporter’s vehicle. The saboteur was observed by the vehicle’s owner interfering with a Land Rover and trailer shortly before Christmas. When the owner, 68-year-old Mary Wynne-Jones from Market Drayton, checked her vehicle she found what she claimed was a tracking device. However, the police have decided to take no action – even though they confirmed the saboteur had admitted planting something. The letter to Mrs Wynne-Jones stated: “As the female made it quite clear the alleged tracker was NOT placed there to commit theft, no crime has been committed.” Chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, Tim Bonner, said: “The repercussions go…

AS OF 2 FEBRUARY, my dogs will be dropping the gundog training for a few weeks and turning their paws to other tasks. Lots of gentle walks will keep up their exercise but start to slow it down. Walks can involve plenty of play and downtime, which can be a big benefit for bonding and getting the dog to switch off. To help them to change from working to ‘holiday brain’, only walk them in areas where they are able to switch off, such as a field with little or no game or even somewhere like a park. If you are lucky enough to live near a dog-friendly beach, this can be a lovely switch-off for both handler and dog. Occasionally I will even take them for a walk around…

LAURENCE CATLOW, A PASSIONATE SHOOTER AND ANGLER FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, HAS WRITTEN FIVE BOOKS ABOUT SPORT WITH ROD AND GUN. HIS NOTEBOOK RUNS IN THE FIRST ISSUE OF EVERY MONTH. Searching through my shooting journal, I have concluded that I was much more useful with a shotgun 10 and 20 years ago than I am now. I do not believe this is the inevitable result of growing old — one of my friends, who is five years or so older, has been shooting better in the past two seasons than at any time in the dozen or so years we have shot together. Several other friends who are well into their 70s are still pretty handy performers. I have told myself there is still hope of improvement and…

Being a dog man I always enjoy the after-Christmas shoots rather more than those earlier in the season. The hunting down of the cunning cock pheasant has a peculiar attraction all of its own. It tends to be more akin to foxhunting than any other form of shooting, particularly where the ‘hounds’ used are springers. In fact, having hunted a pack of beagles, I would venture to suggest that hunting cock birds is infinitely more difficult, requiring a greater degree of hound knowledge and physical fitness, plus imagination. In the final week of the season it is sometimes hard to get around your own bit of ground to make the last effort to shoot those that have outwitted you earlier on. However, I saw my chance one afternoon and took…

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With the game season ending, we asked three of the UK’s shooting organisations to look back and tell us what the big issues were and what to expect this year. Liam Bell, chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, said it had been a challenging season, citing issues such as the Welsh general licences and firearms licensing, which remained “at the top of the priority list”. He also highlighted conservation work as a key factor. “We need to ensure gamekeepers can continue to do the best possible job for shooting and conservation,” he added. “The results of our recent wildlife and conservation survey will be published shortly. We look forward to working with any new team at Defra, whose review of game bird releases on protected sites will keep us busy.…

The Suffolk and Norfolk Rat Pack has won plaudits from the national press after cleaning up 730 rats in a day from a single farm. The squad of terriers and their handlers killed the rodents on a badly infested pig farm near Eye in Suffolk. The feat won praise from a range of newspapers that often oppose hunting, including the Sun, the Daily Star and the Daily Mail, as well as website Unilad. People reacting on the story were also overwhelmingly positive, with one comment on the Daily Mail website saying it was “nature at it’s best. No pollution, no chemicals.” A spokesman for the Tweed Valley Rat Pack, which operates in southern Scotland, explained the value of terriers in controlling rats. “Environmental impact is negligible due to the reduction…

The tap, tap of sticks reached my ears from the seemingly impenetrable undergrowth ahead. A hen pheasant took to the wing and made directly for me in a passable impression of the lark ascending, such was her lift. She set her wings and soared in the washed-out Tanuary sky, the frosted sparkling light turning her mottled plumage the colour of a Rich Tea biscuit. “The birds are wily and experienced; they are strong on the wing and completely aware that men with guns spell danger” I mounted my lumpy Lincoln, trying to get on the line, when my concentration was broken by Paul ‘Hardy’ Hardcastle’s East Anglian twang: “Catweazle, that’s yours.” I duly missed her with both barrels. I heard him again, muttering this time: “Bloody useless b*gger.” Such are…

Everyone seemed to love this woodcock dish. As I said fond farewells to the lucky ones who were staying behind for a pigeon flighting session, I began to wonder about woodcock. As Guns we often take for granted that the birds’ popularity as a quarry is down to their reputation as hard targets and their wild mystique. When the first woodcocks were hunted, it would have been for the simple and honest reason of survival, and what a happy survival that must have been, because the flavour of woodcock is among the finest in the world. As I headed for Devon in the teeth of a gale I had one final thought about woodcock. Despite my desire to be very selective and only to take a few birds, I would…

Single-barrel, single-shot shotguns are not popular these days. They are looked down upon as somehow ‘less than’. When I began my shooting life under my father’s instruction, I was as excited as any 14-year-old could be. I had completed my three-year apprenticeship of various gun-, dog-and bird-related tasks and my chance had come on the last drive of one of his small syndicate days. I was confused and crestfallen when I was given only one 16-bore cartridge for my grandfather’s Belgian non-ejector. Without wishing to seem ungrateful, I felt I had to ask the question: “Why can’t I load both barrels?” My father’s response has stuck with me ever since: “Get it right with the first barrel and you won’t need the second.” I still go back to this now…

“The dogs all had a fantastic final few days out bouncing around, still doing their jobs” WHILE MY PACK IS winding down and having some holiday time, it gives me the chance to reflect on the season and make plans for the future. Sika, the fabulous cocker spaniel, has had a fantastic first season. She is steady to fallen game, heels well and ignores all the excitement that a shoot day brings. She has picked partridge really well and has started to get more confident picking bigger game such as pheasant and duck. She has yet to pick wounded game but there is plenty of time to work on this next season. She has basic handling skills in place and will stop and recall on the whistle. After her break…

LAST WEEK I WROTE an entire article about choosing between an English springer and a cocker spaniel without mentioning the ‘S’ word (We’re all cocker hoop, 22 Tanuary). The sprocker is the interloper on the working spaniel scene and has fast established a reputation as a dog that that offers the best of both worlds — or more accurately, a great blend of the best attributes of its springer and cocker parents. However, though the snappy name might be relatively new, the concept of crossing a springer with a cocker isn’t; it has no doubt happened ever since the two breeds were established at the start of the last century. It may seem hard to believe now, but 60 years ago the working cocker was in trouble, falling in popularity…

When British hunter Harald Swayne set off inland from the coast of Somaliland on the Horn of Africa in 1887, he swiftly found herds of elephants. Within sight of the sea he shot his first tuskers. Everywhere he trekked, Swayne found an extraordinary abundance of wildlife, from lion and rhino to oryx and kudu — antelope species endemic to this part of Africa. On the endless grasslands he encountered a new tawny-coloured hartebeest that moved in immense herds of several thousand animals. “When we shot one, the plain was covered with a line of swiftly galloping animals, a mile or two in length, half obscured in clouds of red dust and flying turf,” he wrote. By the turn of the century, the new hartebeest species named for Swayne had dwindled…

Anti-shooting campaign group Wild Justice has launched another legal challenge to shooting. The move had been expected after the organisation, spearheaded by Chris Packham, made a fresh appeal for funds on social media. The new attack builds on a challenge to game bird releases launched in 2019. It is focused on the release of non-native game birds in 2020 in and around Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation. Lawyers for Wild Justice have argued that because an assessment of the possible impact of game bird releases has not been conducted for every protected site, the secretary of state should use a Special Nature Conservation Order to block releases. Caroline Bedell, BASC’s executive director of conservation, said: “The shooting community should not be panicked by this latest cynical action…

The Government’s new agriculture bill has met with mixed reactions from the shooting and conservation communities. The new bill, which only applies to England, sets out the proposed scheme of subsidies that will replace subsidies under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy after Brexit. “Game initiatives will play a full part in the rural economy” The new system will be introduced over a period of seven years from 2021. Crucially, ministers plan to remove the need for land to be farmed for it to qualify for subsidies and dismantle the system that favours large land holdings over smaller ones. Instead of paying farmers to farm, money will be paid for delivering ‘public goods’ such as carbon storage, clean air and water, healthy soils, public access and biodiversity. Richard Leach, UK sales…

A quick fact check by Shooting Times has found serious problems with a story in the Daily Telegraph that claimed hunting trophies of buzzards and cranes had been exported from the UK. The story reported that “data from the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) shows that hunters are exporting the bodies of rare birds as trophies from Britain to the US, including buzzards and cranes”. A review of the CITES export database by Shooting Times revealed that no wild cranes have ever been exported as hunting trophies from the UK. A similar search for the genus Buteo, which includes all British buzzard species, showed that three buzzards listed as trophies were exported from the UK to the USA, one in 2009, one in 2006 and one in…

I love eating woodcock but in recent years I have, like most Guns, reined in my enthusiasm for this wonderfully tasty bird. I have my own set of rules that work in terms of aiming to be sustainable and very careful with woodcock. I never shoot the inspiring waders on driven pheasant days, with the exception of one shoot where I am told there are no resident birds and the migrants have yet to offer me a shot in six years of shooting there. I will shoot woodcock in the far north if rough shooting and I will shoot one rough shooting in the counties in which I most often find myself — Devon, Dorset and Somerset — but only one per year from each. With these thoughts chasing around…

I consider myself a traditionalist and will always believe that fieldcraft is the most important tool I possess when it comes to filling the bag. But I will concede that modern digital night-vision gear has made a big difference to my success rate when targeting nocturnal pests. But it’s not just about after-dark forays; some of this equipment has a role to play during daylight sessions. I use an ATN X-Sight 4K Pro scope for most of my night-vision shooting, pursuing either rabbits or rats. Apart from producing a very sharp monochrome picture after dark, it also offers full-colour viewing by day. While checking zero during a practice session on my backyard range, it occurred to me that this scope’s daytime image quality is more than good enough for tackling…

KEEPA HAS DONE WELL THIS SEASON gaining his first field trial award and receiving his stud book number. He has gained some much-needed experience in the field when out working, learning how to follow the line of a wounded bird. He is getting more consistent and reliable at holding lines and understanding handling at distance. As I’ve said before (When the penny drops, 2 January), Keepa can struggle holding an area when hunting. This is something we will continue to work on, always looking for different and varied exercises we can do to help. His season has been exciting and full on, meaning going back to train on dummies can seem a little dull. So a holiday will help him to wind down from all that excitement and then I…

As someone who has admired Elon Musk’s Tesla cars from afar, I was delighted and a little excited to be offered the use of a fully electric quad for a week to field test for Shooting Times. Things are moving on as far as the use and development of electric vehicles are concerned. I feel that as things progress and new ideas and technology come to the fore, electric vehicles will become the norm. It might not happen for another 25 or 30 years, but it is most definitely coming. The all-electric Eco Charger is the brainchild of Devon farmer Fred Chugg, who was looking for a more economical and environmentally friendly way to run his quad trekking centre in the West Country. He was spending upwards of £300 a…