Innholdsfortegnelse for 15-Apr-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

In association with Orvis For all things dog, Shooting Times recommends Orvis.co.uk Outdoor outfitters, instructors and apparel makers since 1856. Remy Remy is used as a pointer on walked-up rough days, as well as picking-up with the other dogs. She is in her element on September partridge days; when spaniels and labradors are panting in the heat, she works all day without breaking a sweat. At four and a half she is the eldest on the team, but is the most puppy-like of them all.…

Wales has issued its vital general licence for stoats two days late. The licence was due to be released on 1 April; however, it was delayed, with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) blaming the COVID-19 outbreak. The licence, which was issued on 3 April, has been praised as being clearer than its English equivalent, despite being based on the same legislation. Notably, the Welsh licence does not include any restrictions on its use on protected sites, allowing keepers and farmers to protect birds nesting in these areas. Liam Bell, chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, said: “We must give credit where it’s due and NRW has issued new stoat licences which are easy to understand, simple and lawful. Many of our concerns have been taken on board and appear to have…

Boost for RDA as hunts take in horses Horses belonging to the Riding for the Disabled (RDA) programme at the Vauxhall City Farm have been temporarily rehomed by the hunting community. On hearing the charity faced a substantial livery bill, the Countryside Alliance used its network of hunts and hunt supporters to find temporary accommodation for the animals. Five horses and ponies will now be spending the coronavirus outbreak at the home of a member of the Hursley Hambledon Hunt. Bill Bishop, huntsman of the Crawley and Horsham, is going to transport some of the ponies to their temporary home. The Alliance said: “The Countryside Alliance has since offered similar support to Riding for the Disabled and other charities that may be enduring similar difficulties throughout these unprecedented times.” Summer…

The birdlife is becoming “comfortable” in my garden as during this necessary lockdown I have taken a 20in table and placed fat balls and fresh water in a clear plastic tub to give them some provisions. I usually do this every year when it is particularly cold and wildlife struggles. I had to pulverise the fat balls so the smaller birds such as robins, wrens, blue tits and coal tits (pictured) could get a chance to feed. The magpies, of course, never miss a trick and scoffed the seeds before the crumbed fat balls. But the carrion crows were hilarious. After a couple of tentative pecks, the greedy blighter pushed it, got an idea of its weight and, just as another bird — its juvenile offspring I later discovered —…

In England there is an industry code of practice for using fox snares, with a ministerial foreword that was put together by our gamekeeping and farming organisations. In Wales, the government has published the same words as its code. In Scotland there is a very similar legally binding code. In all cases, they have been written based on real user experience, with a view to improving success rates while at the same time making fox snaring publicly acceptable. Anyone who fails to follow the code relevant to their country is letting the side down very badly.…

The Tikka T1X is the perfect companion for pest control and every part does its job perfectly. The barrel is accurate, the stock is tough and practical, and the handling is excellent and will be familiar to T3X users. Add to this the price and the fact that there are a lot of customisable options to personalise the T1X and you have an absolute winner. 19 /20 Accuracy Spot on, loved the NTX loads 18 /20 Handling No worries about scratching it and it balances very well 18 /20 Trigger Dependable and adjustable too 18 /20 Stock Light, tough and durable 19 /20 Value Excellent value for money 92 /100 Overall Score Every part of the Tikka T1X does its job perfectly…

The recent tragic death of Debbie Zurick, honorary secretary of the Working Clumber Spaniel Society (WCSS) for 20 years, has shaken the organisation, and the wider gundog community, to its core. Debbie was apparently shot by her husband, John, who then turned the gun on himself; he died later in hospital. I knew both John and Debbie well,as I had shot over their spaniels, stayed with them at their home on Exmoor, and covered WCSS events that they organised. It was an article I wrote on working Clumbers for Country Life 29 years ago that triggered Debbie’s interest in the breed. Her father, a keen shooting man, was ill in hospital and she had bought the magazine for him to read, but ended up reading it herself. Not long afterwards…

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country DIGGORY HADOKE Vintage gun expert, firearms dealer, author and journalist 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:…

The countryside is eerily quiet at the moment. Well, that’s not strictly accurate — wild animals are busy, given that it is spring. So are hill farmers, who are still in the throes of lambing. I live in the least inhabited part of England, Northumberland National Park, but even so the lack of walkers this year is noticeable. So is the absence of their cars, which usually pack certain car parks and the verges of country lanes, often causing an obstruction to local agricultural vehicles. Are we seeing what the countryside used to be like? The population of the UK is more than 67million, compared with 50million in 1950. By some estimates, England is now the most densely populated country in Europe, having overtaken the Netherlands. But given that about…

It all started so happily and ended three weeks later in huge quantities of maggots. When I was 15, there was nothing I enjoyed more than cycling to the other side of the village with my air rifle to try to pot a few rabbits. One evening, after turning my haul into a casserole, I decided it was a pity to bin the soft fur so I set to work pinning one of the pelts out, scraping off the fat, and salting it with my mother’s expensive sea salt. Then, inevitably, it was forgotten about until someone noticed a foul smell in the hall. I was reminded of the incident this week while reading Barry Stoffell’s guide to turning a piece of antler into a hunting knife and Patrick Laurie’s…

SEASONAL CRAFT Would Richard Negus explain to this ignoramus why hedge laying is seasonal please(Rural crafts, 25 March)? J Mclusky, by email Richard Negus responds: The season runs from September to March. After this there is a risk of disturbance for nesting birds. There is, however, no law relating to this under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, therefore it is feasible to lay, coppice or trim hedges out of those times. Best practice would demand a hedgerow assessment be made to ensure no bird may be endangered. Personally my billhook is laid up until next autumn because all of my hedge laying is for conservation purposes. LONG-TERM FOX DUMPING Many years ago a friend and shooter who worked as an AA man told me of a call he took…

The fabulously named Punxsutawney in Pennsylvania is host to the famous Groundhog Day celebration and is, less famously, where one of my US clients is based. I’ve visited a couple of times, but never managed to be in town on 2 February when the close relative of our squirrels takes to the stage in a ceremony that is beamed to TV screens across the world. Groundhog Day has become more associated with the popular film of the same name and slipped into general language as a metaphor for a calendar full of never-ending repetition, something I’m sure we can all associate with under the current restrictions. With our freezers hopefully well stocked with game and vegetable patches ready to enter the most productive period of the year, we’ll have fewer…

If your passion is wild bird keepering then you, like me, will simply love this time of the year. For those who do not need to rely on a wild stock of birds to create your season, you are definitely missing out on the true nature of the term “gamekeeper”. Things are moving at pace now as the countryside starts to wake up for spring, helped along by the relatively fine spell of weather we’ve enjoyed recently. I found my first lapwing nest six days ago, and my daily rounds at the moment are full of territorial cock pheasants holding their positions, especially when challenged by another in their territory. For the past 10 days or so, I’ve begun to see hens first thing in the morning and at the…

Iate satay for the first time in the late 1980s, in a Malaysian cafe in London’s Soho, and fell for it instantly. The secret ingredient in the meat marinade is sugar, which caramelises with the coconut milk, lending an irresistible stickiness to the dish. “I ate satay for the first time in the late 1980s in Soho and fell for it instantly” Ideally, the meat should be very tender, so turning to rabbit as an alternative to the usual chicken, pork or beef can be something of a challenge. For this recipe you can, if you wish, remove all the meat from the bone, place it between two sheets of greaseproof paper and tenderise it with a meat hammer. This guarantees tenderness if the rabbit is to go on the…

Latin name: Adoxa moschatellina Common name: Townhall clock Other names: Hollowroot, muskroot, tuberous crowfoot, moschatel, five-faced bishop How to spot it and where to find it: A rhizomatous perennial of shady, moist habitats, the townhall clock should be in flower this month. It loves woodland edges — particularly deciduous woods — grassy areas beside paths, tree-lined steams and ditches and occasionally hedges. Its leaves are in three lobes and light green. Those delicate flowers form on slender stems and face out in four directions at 90° to each other, like the four faces of a town clock, plus one on top. Even in full bloom, they remain yellowish-green in colour, which makes this little wildflower difficult to spot. Interesting facts: The name Moschatellina comes from the Italian moscato, meaning musk.…

1 Swazi Kagoule anorak RRP: £399  swazi.co.nz Protect yourself from those April showers with this anorak. Made from Swazi’s three-layer Aegis knit fabric, it is soft, light, quiet and, of course, waterproof, which makes it ideal for many sporting situations. Whether you are stalking or going to walk the dogs, this anorak will become a go-to favourite. 2 Galway boot RRP: £329  dubarry.com Made from breathable leather, this knee-high country boot for men and women is waterproof and stylish enough for the shooting field. The Galway range includes the ExtraFit version that caters for wider calf muscles by allowing extra width on the fitting, offering increased comfort. 3 Snipe dummy RRP: £4.94  sportingsaint.co.uk This dummy is great for challenging your dogs in their retrieve exercises. Due to…

QUIZ Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives and tackle the Shooting Times online lockdown pub quiz. The quiz will take place tomorrow, 16 April at 7pm via Facebook live. CHALLENGE Test your dog’s steadiness with the six-ball challenge. The BASC #6ballchallenge has taken social media by storm and you can try it out in your garden. Ask your dog to sit and see if it can watch six balls or dummies land around it without trying to retrieve them. If it manages to wait to be sent for its retrieve, you have completed the six-ball challenge.…

When I was a child in the 1970s and 1980s there was a lot of emphasis on the countryside on local television. The BBC regularly featured Ted Ellis, who established his own nature reserve, Wheatfen, in the middle of the Norfolk Broads. He wasn’t a shooting man but was great friends with the local marsh men and wildfowlers, all of whom he respected because they shared his passion for Broadland’s flora and fauna. I’m told he was also happy to purchase locally trapped coypu for his family’s consumption in the 1950s. Similarly, ITV/ Anglia TV featured the films of Ted Eales, the warden of Blakeney Point, who was invariably accompanied by his spaniel Sally — even into the Anglia studios. Anglia’s Survival shows were often produced by Town Gun Colin…

It feels like a very long time ago that I shot my first roebuck using a Mauser 98k service rifle, rebarrelled for .308 Winchester hunting ammunition, to commit the deed. It was already an old gun, bearing a stamp declaring it the property of the Republic of Peru over the chamber housing. Nevertheless, it still shot well, despite the wide “V” open rearsight designed for battlefield shooting. It was certainly good enough to pass the test required by my deer stalking group, one similar to the British Deer Society’s DSC1 standard that was to appear many years later. I was on my own when I located, stalked and shot the roebuck after my mentor had got bored with guiding me and went off on his own. Back then there was…

As a shooter who has an interest in guns, especially English shotguns, I was always aware that some of the best were made in London. I have to admit that there was, and I think still is within the trade, a certain amount of snobbery around any provincial English names that weren’t immediately recognisable. It wasn’t until I learned a whole lot more about this industry, and talked to some of the great gunmakers, that I realised how the English gunmaking trade was built by each individual engineer, stocker, actioner, finisher, inventor and retailer, many of whom originated in Birmingham. Prosperous A recent visit to the Gun Quarter, or what is left of it, hit home for me that gunmaking is not glamorous. To build a gun from scratch is…

GMK sent a new Burris Four Xe 3-12x56mm scope and I fitted the Stalon RC sound moderator, which worked surprisingly well for its small size of just 5x1.25in. The best 17-gr load suitable for rabbits and crows were the 17-gr Winchester Supreme, which produced a healthy 2,511fps for 238ft/lb energy and 0.5in 50-yard groups. The non-lead Hornady 15.5gr NTX loads always surprised and again sub-½in groups with velocities of 2,543fps and 223ft/lb energy. For foxes, the CCI GamePoint 20-gr never disappoints and it is my favourite with its stronger and more controllable expansion, with 2,408fps for 258ft/lb and tiny bug hole groupings. Sighting in at 0.55in high at 50 yards gives a good 100-yard aim on scenario and I was after some troublesome crows. I lay in wait, well camouflaged,…

How to avoid a soggy bottom GAME COOKING Q I want to make a venison Wellington with the loin of a deer I shot recently. Can you suggest a foolproof way to make this work? Last time I tried, the meat was overcooked and the pastry soggy on the bottom. A This is tricky to answer because you have not said which species of deer the loin was taken from. This makes cooking time advice nigh on impossible to provide, because different species of deer need to cook for different amounts of time. However, the only really foolproof way would be to cook the venison separately along with some rounds of pastry and cobble it all together at the end, but this is sort of beyond the point. Here’s some…

Eley loaded these with a metal-based conical bullet of 750-gr, in their 2½in brass Ejector cases. Round ball was also available. The conical bullet was intended for guns with a rifled barrel, while the round ball could be used in a smooth-bore gun. While bore rifles gave way to nitro express rifles in the last quarter of the 19th century, some orders persisted for guns with one rifled and one smooth barrel, especially for Africa. These cartridges with big, slow bullets served a purpose when compromise was necessary.…

From 1792 onwards, war with Revolutionary France created a deep-seated fear of French invasion in Britain. While the prospect of an enemy invader on home soil was bad enough, there was an additional political dimension at play here. The French were also godless revolutionaries who had not only guillotined their own king, but who also sought to attack the existing social order by the liberal application of liberté, égalité, fraternité. This galvanised anyone with any sort of stake in society into action. Volunteer military units, often known as armed associations, sprung up like wildfire, ready to defend the nation if the dastardly French made it across the Channel. These units were officered by the aristocracy and professional men, while their rank and file was drawn from tradesmen, craftsmen, shopkeepers, lawyers’…