Innholdsfortegnelse for 02-Sep-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

Good but could do better. That was the takeaway from a paper published recently by Natural England on the ecological consequences of releasing gamebirds. Pleasingly, the sentiment echoes what most of our readers have been saying for a long while. The report makes it clear that if reared pheasant and partridge shoots were to go, benefits such as habitat management and the food provided for songbirds would be lost. It ain’t rocket science but it’s important that it’s said at a time when people are making hay out of attacking our sport. But it is also important we look at the report as a whole. Overstocking birds, for example, is highlighted as problematic. The essential question is could we be doing more? I am very conscious that I’ve just cleared…

3–4 SEPTEMBER SUSTAINABLE AMMUNITION DAY Mickley Hall Shooting School, Cheshire CW5 8AJ basc.org.uk/events 6 SEPTEMBER NGO (ONLINE) AGM 2020 nationalgame keepers.org.uk 9 SEPTEMBER EAST ANGLIAN GREY PARTRIDGE FARM WALK Red House Farm near Stowmarket bit.ly/eafarmwalk 25 SEPTEMBER ANNUAL CLAY PIGEON SHOOT (GWCT) Cefn Tilla Court, Llandenn, NP15 1DG roger.thomas@ coark.com 26 SEPTEMBER SHOTGUN & CHELSEA BUN (LADIES) CLAY SHOOT Barbury Shooting School, Swindon, Wiltshire shotgunand chelseabunclub. co.uk/events 2 OCTOBER GAME 2020 CONFERENCE Shropshire Conference Centre, SY3 8XQ lherring@gwct.org.uk.…

Marketing boost for wild venison sales Shooting Times understands that a new marketing drive for English and Welsh wild venison will be launched in the next few weeks. Sources have said that shooting organisations and the Forestry Commission have been working together to develop a certification programme in order to help drive the price of the meat up after months of poor and declining prices. Watch out for speeding duck! A duck has been clocked at 60mph on a motorway. A viral video shot from a van cab shows the mallard drake hurtling down the fast lane of the M23 holding pace with the traffic on the approach to the Gatwick exit. The van’s driver and passengers can be heard encouraging the bird as it passes a sign warning of…

The 687 is a master of many requirements in game shooting and jack of a couple. This is repeating the exceptionally successful 687 formula of yesteryear. This is a subtly upgraded Silver Pigeon, with pleasing aesthetics, that will deliver results in a range of game shooting situations. Available with 28in or 30in barrels in both left- and right-handed versions, it performs as you would expect — it handles well, shoots well, looks great, is reliable and will hold its value. This formula works well on formal days, informal days, walked-up, grouse, pigeon, duck, simulated days and the odd clay shoot. It would make an exceptional ‘first gun’ gift that would last a lifetime. The Silver Pigeon is the go-to gun for many game shooters and the 687 Silver Pigeon III…

The percussion cap revolutionised small arms development. It is hard to think that this tiny capsule of pressure-sensitive explosive should have had such a far-reaching effect. Originally conceived as an improved ignition system, the percussion cap made repeating firearms a reality and was an integral part of the self-contained metallic cartridge that enabled automatic fire to be developed. By the 1840s, percussion cap ignition had become well established, with the flintlock being relegated to the annals of history. A Frenchman called Louis-Nicolas Flobert started experimenting with percussion caps in an effort to develop a self-contained cartridge. He took the copper capsule and compressed the closed end so that it formed a hollow rim. When the explosive compound — mercury fulminate and ground glass — was added, it flowed into the…

I’d only been working for the Daily Express for a month back in 1998 when an editor called asking me to go on a wild boar hunt. Not a shoot, mind. The only shot would be that by a photographer. I set off in my car from London for woods near Powderham in Devon at 1am to meet a stalker and the photographer with what we hoped would not be an impossible task. “Get the picture” was ringing in my ears. There was a report that escapees from a few new wild boar farms in the south had naturalised nicely in woodlands and farmers were complaining that they were digging up their crops by night. “Wild boar meat is rare. It is clearly a meat that in cooking terms has…

Latin name: Tilia platyphyllos Common name: Large-leaved lime Other names: Bigleaf linden How to spot it and where to find it: The handsome, dense pyramid shape of the large-leaved lime is easy to pick out — but it is our rarest native tree. Unlike the small-leaved lime (Native Britain, 28 November 2018), its bark is dark and smooth, only developing scaly patches with age. Its flowers are heart-shaped, with a pointed tip and hairy underside, which is rough to touch. It produces clusters of greeny-yellow flowers in spring, followed by grey ‘nutlets’ in late summer to early autumn. Interesting facts: Limes are associated with victory. In France and Switzerland, they represent liberty and were planted to celebrate different battles. It’s considered a sacred tree in Slavic mythology and German folklore,…

Boris Johnson allegedly aroused the ire of a farmer in Scotland by setting up a tent without permission. I am surprised that George Monbiot, a columnist for the Guardian, didn’t ride to Boris’s rescue. Mr Monbiot is a passionate advocate of public access to private land. He recently promoted a campaign for an extension to the right to roam south of the border. He said the campaign was “calling for this right in England to be extended to rivers, woodland, downland and uncultivated land in the green belt, and to include camping, kayaking, swimming and climbing. This is less comprehensive than the rights in Scotland, which, despite the dire predictions of the landowners, have caused little friction and a massive improvement in public enjoyment”. This last is a consistent theme…

With cereal stubbles now plentiful and geese in season your shooting skills can be put to good use in helping to protect crops and grassland against the UK’s booming non-native Canada goose population. While decoying native wintering geese raises ethical issues for some, few people object to the use of the method against these feral birds. Late summer and early autumn are the best time to collect a few wild foods. Unless you are skilled in identification, fungi might be best left alone, but few people will misidentify seasonal delights such as blackberries, hazelnuts and sloes. On the coast, September is a good month for collecting shellfish too.…

NOT SO SAFE Something worried me about Mr Bartlett’s comments about the safety catch being on (Letters, 19 August). I’ve never heard of a team of Guns being sent home because one of them didn’t walk with his safety catch engaged. Nor have I ever heard of looking at another Gun’s safety catch, except perhaps when teaching my son to shoot. Yes, it is good practice to keep the safety catch on at all times except when about to pull the trigger, but something still niggled. Then I realised what it was; it appeared to imply that the safety catch was some miraculous safety device that could be relied upon to stop a gun going off when not pointed at quarry. Well, it isn’t. At best it is an extra…

In January 2020, when the year was still young, our shooting season was in full swing and any dark clouds on the horizon were nothing more portentous than a brisk passing rain shower, I found myself on a peg with a towering, shaven-headed continental gentleman who had never fired a shot on a driven shoot in his lifetime. Theor, my responsibility for that day, is the Dutch brother-in-law of Giles, the avuncular and eccentric shoot captain of the often random little village shoot that I helped to form out on the wild eastern reaches of the estate. My charge has been fully trained on a handful of clays and been issued with an old side-by-side that doesn’t seem to eject readily. It was raining and, though normally cool as the…

Establishing game cover in 2020 has been no easier than it was in 2019, but for very different reasons. Last year, the main problems were cold, wet soil and too few warm, dry growing days to get the crops moving in May and Tune when spring crops get their roots down and really push on. This year the weather has been the exact opposite. For many of us it was too dry when we were drilling, with very little moisture to get the seeds started. Here, we decided to hold off as long as we could in the vain hope that we would get some rain. But it never really amounted to much and when it did arrive, the ground was so dry that it didn’t really soak in or…

6 JUNIPER BERRIES 1TBSP FRESH THYME LEAVES, FINELY CHOPPED 4TBSP RED WINE OR PORT 400G MINCED WILD BOAR OR FREE RANGE/ORGANIC PORK SHOULDER, MINCED 200G VENISON SHOULDER OR LEG, MINCED 150G PORK BELLY, MINCED 100G FRESH BREADCRUMBS, PREFERABLY CIABATTA OR SOURDOUGH 2TBSP FRESH MINT, LEAVES ONLY, ROUGHLY CHOPPED 4TBSP FRESH FLAT-LEAF PARSLEY, FRESHLY CHOPPED 1TBSP FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER 1TSP SALT TO SERVE 300G PEARLED SPELT, BOILED UNTIL JUST TENDER, DRAINED AND COOLED 100G/3TBSP POMEGRANATE PIPS 3TBSP FRESH DILL LEAVES 4TBSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL A FEW DROPS OF SHERRY OR RICH BALSAMIC VINEGAR JUICE OF HALF A LEMON SEA SALT…

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…

1 Woodbridge fleece RRP: £119.95 beretta.london This is a versatile jacket featuring fully detachable arms via hidden zips, which converts it into a gilet. It is designed with technical fleece fabric that delivers a high degree of warmth without weight. It is also very breathable and dries quickly. 2 Parcours 2 Outlast RRP: £200 aigle.com Utilising innovative technology, these boots allow you to walk further without getting foot fatigue. The boot lining regulates the temperature of your feet and it has shock absorbers to limit the impact from the ground. The boots are waterproof, comfortable, flexible and resistant. 3 Woodcock Advance jacket RRP: £199.99 gb.seeland.com A classic shooting jacket with a twist, this is designed in the traditional English style, but in stretch material, so you can…

A gamekeeper has died in a quad bike accident. David Taylor was at work on the Muckrach estate on Speyside when the accident took place. The alarm was raised by his fiancée Christie McInnes, and police, fire service and ambulance personnel all attended the scene, along with an air ambulance. However, they were unable to save David, who was declared dead at the scene. The 27-year-old, who was a third-generation keeper, leaves an 11-month-old son, also called David. Alex Hogg, chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said: “This awful news has shaken the gamekeeping community. The whole family is held in such high regard. “To lose young lives in this way is just beyond words. It is almost impossible to imagine the pain being felt just now by everyone connected…

This is where the Anschütz really shone for me. The manufacturer is revered by other makers for its outstanding accuracy and the 1761 proved itself on paper and against the local rabbit population. I primarily tested .22LR subsonic ammunition and a couple of high-velocity (HV) loads. RUAG supplies RWS and Norma ammunition and first up were the new Norma .22 subsonic loads. These are actually RWS subsonic rimfire loads in a Norma box. Regardless, at 30 yards and 50 yards I had tiny five-shot groups of 0.35in and 0.55in respectively. Velocities were very subsonic at 1,021fps, so exceptionally quiet with a moderator fitted, and yielding 93ft/lb energy. Eley subsonics and Winchester 42-gr Max subsonics shot 1,034fps and 1,073fps each with identical 0.45in and 0.65in 30- and 50-yard groups. The RWS…

I guess that most gundog owners are sensitive to the immediate mood and condition of their dogs. I certainly am and there’s always a little concern if a dinner bowl isn’t licked clean, or if one of the dogs doesn’t want to come for a walk or even greet me in the morning. On 12 August I wasn’t, alas, on a grouse moor, but at home in Suffolk with my spaniels. It was one of those scorching hot summer days when the temperature peaked at 34°C. After her early morning walk, my old springer Rowan wore her cool coat all day, most of which she spent snoozing happily. Emma, the two-year-old sprocker, was fine first thing, but during the day she started to behave very strangely. She became reluctant to…

THE METHOD Serves 4 1 To make the koftas, put the juniper berries, thyme leaves, wine and minced meats and fat into a bowl and leave for 20 minutes. Add the breadcrumbs, herbs and seasoning, then shape the mixture into eight lozenge-shaped patties. Set the patties to one side and prepare the salad that will be served with them. 2 Put the cooked spelt, pomegranate pips, dill leaves and olive oil in a bowl. Mix the ingredients lightly and then set aside. 3 Heat a grill pan or light a barbecue. Fry the koftas over a medium heat, turning every three minutes or so, until pink droplets appear on the surface. This means that the meat is hot all the way through, but will not be dry. The…

ELEY’S ‘EJECTOR’ In the late 19th century, ejector mechanisms were still somewhat troublesome. Clean, regular ejection of spent cases was a concern for many sportsmen. Paper cases were prone to deformation and swelling, which impeded ejection, because the swollen or ruptured case would not slip freely out of the chamber. To counter this problem, Eley created a paper case with a full brass outer. These were loaded with smokeless powders. There was a plethora of brand name powders available, such as Ballistite, Cannonite, Rifleite, EC, Schultze and Amberite. One hundred cartridges of this type, loaded with Ballistite, cost 14 shillings and sixpence, two shillings more than the standard paper case Eley cartridge.…

The 12th of August every year brings back a flood of memories to many sportsmen and women up and down the country. I am no exception to this and one special memory in particular is revisited every time anyone asks about ‘first time’ grouse. I had been a keeper for a couple of years and witnessed my boss shooting many a walked-up grouse, but driven grouse shooting was something of a rarity in my neck of the woods. It wasn’t until the Buccleuch Moors at Langholm engaged Brian Mitchell as headkeeper and began to manage the moors with driven shooting in mind that I got my first opportunity to have a shot at a red grouse. Brian, who came from the Leadhills moors near Abington where he had been under…