Innholdsfortegnelse for 30-Sep-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

Last Saturday, after a day of partridges in Hampshire, I did something I’ve wanted to do for years. I plucked and breasted a brace of birds and made Kievs. I appreciate it was a modest ambition but, oozing home-made garlic and parsley butter, they were everything I’d hoped they would be. The chicken Kiev, I read recently, has been an important part of European cuisine for centuries but was first introduced to this country by Marks & Spencer, with ground-up, reconstituted breast meat, in 1979. Since then, the dish has become synonymous with culinary laziness and an appetite for cheap food, whatever the environmental impact. We’re all familiar with the idea that game is hard to cook and is only enjoyed by those with refined palates, but my Kievs were…

A hunt saboteur has been given a suspended sentence after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice. David Graham was charged with the offence after he submitted a video that he claimed showed him being assaulted by a supporter of the Atherstone Hunt. However, police were able to determine that the video had been edited into a loop. After being told the video had been edited, Graham made a complaint against the police. In the course of investigating the complaint, a constable who was involved with the case had his home address leaked and a number of windows at the officer’s home were smashed. Graham was unanimously found guilty by a jury at Leicester Crown Court. Judge Ebraham Mooncey told him: “You submitted to the police video recorded…

2 OCTOBER GAME 2020 CONFERENCE Online only; for more information telephone Lizzie Herring on 01425 651013 or email lherring@gwct.org.uk 3 OCTOBER TRY SUSTAINABLE AMMUNITION DAY Yeaveley Estate, Derbyshire bit.ly/sustammoDerby 7 OCTOBER SCOTTISH SUSTAINABLE AMMUNITION DAY Cluny Shooting Ground, Kirkcaldy 07857 972619 16 OCTOBER GWCT SUSSEX ANNUAL CLAY DAY Northall Clay Pigeon Club, Fletching bit.ly/Sussexclay 20 OCTOBER NGO LOADERS COURSE Online: bit.ly/ loaderscourse 6 NOVEMBER SHOTGUN AND CHELSEA BUN CLUB (LADIES) CLAY SHOOT West Kent Shooting School, Paddock Wood, Kent bit.ly/ladyclayKent…

Police seize dogs used in crimes A £500 donation from the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation has allowed Wiltshire Police to seize dogs suspected of use in poaching. PC Marc Jackson of the force’s rural crime team said: “The donation enables our team to retain dogs used in coursing and poaching until court trials. We hope to improve the chance of getting the dogs removed and disrupting the hare coursers. This will be the first time that Wiltshire will be seizing dogs full-time.” Petition calls for end of out-of-season cull A petition against a policy of culling female deer months before the start of the season has gained 5,000 signatures. The petition was started by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association after contractors were told by Forestry and Land Scotland to go ahead with…

Sparrowhawks. Every time I see one I cuss. Whether it is a big female in relation to my precious grey partridges, or a musket (male) with designs on the house martins under my eaves — and the blue tits and other small birds at my garden feeder — they are a threat to things I love. But the cuss is not without its measure of admiration; sparrowhawks are supreme stealth and ambush predators. Picture this: a good friend was parked on his farm drive, along a narrow and dead straight lane with neatly trimmed hedges alongside. He was beside a gap, looking out across the fields to his left. When he looked back he spotted a musket powering towards him down the middle of the lane, a foot or so…

Four o’clock on a September morning. I’m not sure why I’m awake, then I realise that a growling spaniel has roused me. Semi-conscious, I listen to the growls for a couple of seconds, though they soon give way to frenetic barking. By this time I’m wide awake. I get up and stumble in the dark towards the front door to find out what all the fuss is about. The dog barking is my sprocker, Emma. In more than two years she has never barked in the night before, so presumably she has heard something unusual. At this stage, if I were in the US, I would have probably taken a shotgun down from the wall rack and loaded it with heavy shot. Of course, all my guns are locked up…

Latin name: Rubus caesius Common name: Dewberry Other names: Blue bramble, European dewberry, theve thorn How to spot it and where to find it: This rather unassuming little shrub grows in damp habitats, scrubby waste ground, hedgerows and grassland, often on limestone. The leaves are formed of three or five-toothed leaflets, on prickly stems. The five-petalled flowers are white and, at this time of year, will be giving way to the fruits, which are a dark purple or black, with a matt blue-black bloom. A trailing plant, the dewberry often throws out roots at its tips, allowing it to spread above ground. Interesting facts: The dewberry is closely related to the blackberry – and other members of the rose family – but its fruit are very distinctive. It is not…

One of my early recollections as a young fledgling keeper was having a conversation with my employers while taking a moment, during an early October walked-up shoot day on the estate. Most of the days shooting were undertaken with only three people: my employers — two brothers, Raymond and Brian — and me as beater. We had paused at a particularly beautiful spot that had a vista over the landscape and I asked: “What have been the biggest changes in this landscape in your lifetimes?” This evoked some poignant answers that have connotations for today’s land managers. Raymond’s greatest recollection was the reduction of birdlife in the landscape, emphasised by the absence of the corncrake calls that kept him awake on summer evenings in his youth. Brian was more specific…

Do those final pre-season checks. The days before the pheasant season starts can be frantic, but it is important to take a moment and stand back. Walk your shoot, stand on each peg, drive each track and check parking and turning spaces. Take a moment to run each drive through in your head considering where beaters will go and where best to position your pickers-up. Take what may be your last chance to shoot pigeon on the stubbles. Farmers are expected to sow cereals early this year while the ground is dry enough for heavy equipment, after a run of wet winters prevented them from sowing later. You may find the stubbles you expected to shoot on are ploughed and sown sooner than you expected.…

A vulture that spent the summer on the grouse moors of the Peak District has headed south. The lammergeier, or bearded vulture, arrived in the area in mid-July after defecting from a reintroduction scheme in the Alps. The bird, which delighted grouse shooters, gamekeepers and twitchers alike, was seen heading away from the area in a southerly direction, perhaps in response to dropping temperatures. The vulture is not the only giant bird to abandon a reintroduction scheme and to head to the moorland of northern England. Earlier in the year, two white-tailed eagles from the Isle of Wight reintroduction programme chose to ditch Hampshire and instead take up residence on the North York Moors. Smaller birds of prey have also enjoyed the summer and spring in grouse shooting country. In…

TRAGEDY OF HS2 I wholeheartedly agree with S Salmon’s concerns regarding the progression of HS2 and the wanton destruction of the environment and wildlife (Letters, 2 September). I conduct pest-predator control at Bourne Farm (Richbourne Labradors) adjacent to the Holland & Holland Shooting Grounds and I am dismayed to say the surrounding area has been completely destroyed by HS2. Situated only 15 miles from central London, Harefield is still farmed and a surprising quantity of wildlife and a variety of species are still present. Kestrels, hobbies, barn owls, short-eared owls, lesser-spotted woodpeckers, lapwings and English partridges are but a few of the birds I have encountered. Grass snakes, frogs, toads and the great-crested newt are also to be found. Harefield is indeed a very precious area of Greater London. The…

I keep meeting a shaggy labradoodle when I’m pondering my tiny chalkstream. It’s a glorious thing — the labradoodle that is — relaxed in attitude to her owner’s constantly repeated instructions. Such interruption to my thinking time, and hundreds of yards adrift from the nearest footpath, ought to raise my ire, but it’s one of those dogs whose naughty streak engenders affection and doubly so because its breathless, apologetic owner provides me with a reliably fascinating and often challenging alternative viewpoint on my rural world. One day it will be, “I’m not sure about grouse shooting but you’ve told me all about deerstalking and that made sense”. Next could be, “I was reading an article about rewilding”. Then, possibly in response to my amateurish coppicing efforts, “remind me why it’s…

17 /20 Accuracy Consistent with factory loads and improved with reloads 17 /20 Handling Very lightweight, living up to its name 18 /20 Trigger Precise and safe AccuTrigger as usual 16 /20 Stock Lightweight and many adjustments, but a bit plasticky 17 /20 Value Carbon wrap technology costs 85 /100 Overall score Savage has another hit…

As sure as day follows night, hare coursing and the poaching of gamebirds and deer become more prevalent after harvest. The seasonal increase in poaching and rural crime generally isn’t for any noble reason or observation of a season of any sort, it is simply due to the fact that until the corn is cut most things have somewhere to hide and are relatively safe. People who poach things have no respect for property nor the law, never mind the breeding and growing seasons of what they kill. My first bit of advice when dealing with these people is to make sure you stay safe. We have all heard stories of keepers single-handedly taking on gangs of poachers and not only getting away with it, but putting the fear of…

The quest to produce the most effective slug for use in a smooth-bored gun resulted in scores of options laid before the Victorian sportsman. They were especially relevant for those heading to India, where encounters with leopard and tiger were entirely possible during a hunt. Rodda, based in Calcutta, used local knowledge to devise a bullet to be encased in a shotgun cartridge and fired through a gun with or without choked muzzles. It was available in 12-, 16- or 20-bore options and it was claimed to be “absolutely the best bullet available”. Ads of the time said it had “flat trajectory”, “absolute accuracy” and “great smashing power”, which were just what the India-based sportsman would have wanted. The bullets cost 35 shillings per 100 in the 1920s.…

Heather burning is a hot topic. The green blob is aligned against it, and takes every opportunity to portray it as the destructive action of an arrogant elite. In the other corner are people who actually live on the moors and those who manage or own them. Unfortunately, this group are seldom allowed to get a word in among the fiery debate. All too often, the views of gamekeepers and shepherds are ignored, being dismissed as ill-informed yokels, or cap-doffing minions. So I was interested to read a heartfelt defence of the use of controlled burning in the Guardian, of all places. You wouldn’t expect the lefties’ house journal to devote space to the authentic voice of traditional rural cultural practices of any sort, let alone burning. But it all…

I read the article on your website [shootinguk.co.uk] about the positive effects of shooting on people’s well-being. I am the evidence of that truth. I moved to the countryside not knowing anyone and felt lonely. When I joined my first shoot as a beater, this opened up friendship groups that have stood me in good stead. I have loads of friends now. Plus I am being invited on other shoots, having raised my profile in the area. I didn’t like the idea of shooting before, but understand the sport much more now and it’s given me a season to enjoy, as previously I didn’t do anything sports related in the autumn and winter months.…

A few years ago, I wrote a piece about my American Hall rifle, which was the first breechloader to be issued in any quantity to the army of a major power. Recently, I learned that a rare carbine version of the Hall was coming up for auction in Nantwich, right on my doorstep. To cut a long story short, I was the successful bidder and this fantastic piece of historic Americana now resides in my collection. To recap: in 1811, machinist John Hancock Hall was granted a patent for a breechloading rifle. Hall’s design consisted of a pivoting breechblock that hinged up for loading. It was locked in place by a spring-loaded spur and fired by a flintlock. Essentially, it was like a short pistol hinged to the back of…

IT’S HARDLY THE sort of change that’s going to rock the gundog world, but I was interested to note that the Kennel Club has recently approved a change to the T-regulations for those dogs that have been awarded the Show Gundog Working Certificate (SGWC). The SGWC is similar to the Working Gundog Certificate (WGC) that I wrote about last week (See what they’re made of, 23 September) in that it is a practical test of a gundog’s ability to do what it was originally bred for. The rule change is simple. Until the update in the rules, it was strictly forbidden to use the letters SGWC as part of a dog’s name. Now, however, in a move that will hopefully encourage more owners of show gundogs to try for a…

A chef friend, anxious to put gamebirds on his menu in a London restaurant, phoned in despair shortly after the first attempt. He’d offered wild duck, roasted whole as a single helping and served with all sorts of good seasonal bits and pieces. Back in the kitchen at the beginning of the evening’s service, he had been chuffed as waiters dashed in with a flood of orders. Out went the duck, beautifully cooked — pinkish breast meat, skin crisped after a brushing of maple syrup in the later stages — yet half an hour later, he stood, utterly bewildered as plates came back, the birds almost uneaten. “Gamebirds can be a fiend to get to grips with — it has nothing to do with tenderness” The customers, it transpired, loved…

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 Sordin Pro IV hearing protectors RRP: £175 furfeatherandfin.co.uk These digital hearing protectors filter out all loud bangs and sounds harmful to your hearing while allowing you to hear duck on the wing, a covey of partridges or your loader. There is no need for shooting to adversely affect your hearing . Helpfully, they include a low battery signal. 2 NM1 SL long-range hunting light RRP: £149.95 nightmaster.co.uk Thanks to a combination of the latest LED technology and ultra-clear 50mm convex lens, this hunting light will detect eye-shine out to 900m. It offers the perfect beam balance — tight enough to reach a long distance yet wide enough to cover a good area while you are carrying out pest control. 3 Extrelle Active EVO jacket RRP: £238…