Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-Dec-2020 i Shooting Times & Country

The British Deer Society (BDS) has made a ‘crisis appeal’ for funds as COVID-19 hits its funding streams hard. In a video appeal, BDS president Lord Andrew Hay said: “At the beginning of this year everything seemed fine.” However, the effects of the pandemic rapidly became apparent and Lord Hay explained: “We immediately approached the Government for some COVID-19 funding, but sadly this was not forthcoming.” The BDS lost income as training courses were stopped and events cancelled. While no figures were offered to illustrate the depth of the society’s problems, Lord Hay said: “A donation, however small, would be enormously powerful and helpful for us.” He encouraged anyone with an interest in deer to join the society. The BDS, which promotes best practice in deer management, and campaigns on…

Gundog owners have joined the chorus of outrage over a proposed BBC programme Will My Puppies Make Me Rich?Gundog owner Felicity McDonnel contacted Shooting Timesto express her concern. “It’s terrible. We are seeing a tsunami of dog thefts and irresponsible dog breeding driven by the lockdown puppy phenomenon,” she said. “Responsible owners and breeders have been doing their best to keep the whole thing under control and now a public service broadcaster is going to make a programme which can only encourage it.” The show has been criticised by the RSPCA and has become the subject of an online petition that attracted 187,000 signatures. However, the BBC defended the show, saying: “The title of the programme is a working title. It is not uncommon for programmes to have working titles…

LEAD SHOT BAN I read with interest your report (News, 2 December) that the Danes are about to prohibit the use of lead shot and Professor Tom Cameron’s comment that “there is nothing for European hunters to fear from a lead-free future”. Simon West, who is director of the Gun Trade Association, trialled steel 32g No 3 cartridges against lead 32g No 5 cartridges. While both pellet sizes retained enough energy out to 50 yards, the steel shot cartridges failed to give adequate pattern density much beyond 30 yards, providing only 60% of the pellets in a 30in circle compared with lead shot. The 32g steel shot cartridge therefore performed as a 20g lead shot cartridge; 20g of lead is a .410 load. It was not part of Simon’s remit…

The millpond-calm Alde reflects a streaked and smudged eastern sky. From these grenadine heavens a pair of teal wing, putting on a touch of right rudder. They are heading towards a splash on the saltings, confident and bold, clearly unaware that behind a tumbledown wooden jetty, a wildfowler and his spaniel crouch in the mud. He has just shown himself, his barrels are swinging on their way to the port position in preparation for a shot. As a viewer I am torn. The teal are so beautiful that to witness their end is almost saddening but conversely, as a sportsman, I will the fowler to shoot straight and bag his quarry — for these duck are hard won and tasty. This snapshot scene of a flight on the wild foreshore…

Dog theft is a hot topic at the moment; in particular of gundogs. They are stolen from cars, kennels, houses and gardens. One of the issues is the money these dogs are worth to potential thieves. Another big issue is that the breeds most commonly used as gundogs are inherently gentle and kind-tempered. This makes them easy to grab. Spaniels, due to their size, are very easy to grab and chuck into the back of a car. There are many things that can be done to keep your dogs more secure, such as using padlocks that cannot be cut off with a bolt cutter. If the dogs are kept indoors, lockable windows are a must, as is keeping the dogs out of sight. The same goes for kennels. Ideally you…

OUR VERDICT Don’t be put off by the name; we think ‘Mini Sniper’ is an allusion to the fact this CZ .22 LR rimfire rifle is highly accurate and precise, and perhaps got lost a bit in translation. What it does, though, is blend elements from the target world with those of hunting to produce the best of both. “This is a .22 rimfire capable of extreme accuracy for trickier shots at longer range” This is a mid-weight .22 rimfire bolt-action rifle with dependable action, detachable five- or 10-shot magazine with a one-piece scope base fitted and a solid, weather-proof, polymer-coated wood stock. Best of all is the fluted, blued barrel of varmint proportions that’s screw cut and shorter for hunting use. In essence, this is a .22 rimfire capable…

Baffled by bufflehead’s visit WILDFOWL Q Can you confirm the identity of the duck in my photograph? It turned up on a friend’s pond and was tame and approachable, suggesting that it had escaped from a collection. A The duck in your photograph is a drake bufflehead in eclipse (non-breeding) plumage. The bufflehead is a small diving duck, closely related to the goldeneye, and widespread in North America, breeding mainly in Canada and wintering in the southern states of the US. Though probable wild buffleheads have been recorded in western Europe (and Britain) on a number of occasions, the bird in your photograph is most likely an escapee from captivity. Buffleheads are active, entertaining little ducks and a drake in full plumage is a very handsome bird, making them popular…

Shoots must take a long, hard look at themselves and the way their approach affects all fieldsports, said Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, vice-president of BASC and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on shooting and conservation. “When you shoot a few birds per drive, you remember them all” “The numbers of gamebirds [shot] are enormous on some shoots and people have to think very, very carefully about that — as to what sort of image that is presenting of shooting,” Sir Geoffrey told industry bible Gun Trade News. “A 700- or 800-bird day — not that I’ve ever done it — is unnecessary. It detracts from the sport rather than adding to it. On a 150-bird day you can remember everything; you’re shooting two, three or four birds per drive and…

A survey of 23 Scottish grouse estates found that each brought in almost £400,000 worth of trade for local companies during and after lockdown. The survey also found that, despite average income losses of £73,000, only one junior gamekeeper was placed on the Government’s furlough scheme. The survey identified more than 1,300 businesses that gained work from the estates during lockdown — an average of 57 companies per estate. “The survey was an opportunity, following a very different grouse season, to get some indication of the financial effects COVID-19 has had,” said Lianne MacLennan of Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups. “The total losses, from cancelled shoot days, visitor accommodation and things like game sales amounted to £1.67million across the 23 respondents. That is not an insignificant dent. “The key message, though,…

I went on my first ever driven grouse day on 17 December 2019 in Cumbria with my father. Fairly recently I’ve taken up shooting after trying clay pigeon then accompanying my father on a pheasant shoot and to the duck ponds when I was home in Scotland — I currently live in London. How many 27-year-old women in London can say they single-handedly shot, retrieved — working the dog they trained — plucked, prepared, cooked and ate her first grouse (right)? I loved it and really hope to be lucky enough to get the chance to do more. Anna Stevenson, London IN ASSOCIATION WITH ALAN PAINE The winner of Letter of the Week will have the choice of a men’s or ladies’ Alan Paine Aylsham Fleece Waistcoat. Ideal to throw…

The Manchester Syndicate, as the name suggests, is by no means set in an English idyll. The rolling countryside of the latter is here swapped for the metropolitan skyline of central Manchester and the built-up expanse of Rochdale. The shoot’s setting can best be described as unique, made up of the few remaining blocks of green space that are surrounded by the endless housing developments, A roads, motorways and industrial parks of Greater Manchester. The syndicate is now in its seventh season, having come to fruition after the founding members — who had been Guns on various shoots, mostly in and around south Cumbria — decided that the logistics of managing a place nearly two hours away had become too difficult and it was time to find a suitable venue…

During my childhood spent getting in the way at shoots, there was always a race to be the first to jump into the Land Rover and secure the bumpiest ride to the lodge. We would eschew the comforts of the various Isuzus and Toyotas in favour of the rock-hard benches in the back of a Series III and be tossed around with the labradors like popcorn in a pan. The sight of endless dogs, Guns and children being disgorged from the back of a Land Rover is familiar to anyone, whether a seasoned gillie or a first-time up-from-Londoner. The vehicle’s bulldogish looks have captured the hearts of millions and it represents the British countryside. Yet ask any Land Rover owner how their car is getting on and you will likely…

During the summer months the small meadow beside the tiny brook at the bottom of the narrow valley is perfectly dry except for one or two damp patches where rushes grow and the grass is a lusher green. Along the meadowside edge of the brook the tall, pink-flowering, willow-herb grows, while a row of pollarded willows border the other bank. The brook itself is mainly spring-fed, being the amalgamation of two smaller brooklets a short distance upstream. For most of the year you could walk along this brook without seeing a duck of any description. What a transformation takes place, however, after a spell of prolonged rainfall during autumn or winter. As the soil of the fields on the slopes of the small valley becomes saturated, the water drains off…

Londoners will be unable to travel to shoot, as Tier 3 restrictions were introduced in London and the Home Counties last week. The emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus appears to have driven a rapid increase in infections in the south-east, which in turn has led the Government to introduce new restrictions in Greater London, the south and west of Essex and the south of Hertfordshire. While people cannot travel out of or into Tier 3 areas to shoot, for those who live in the affected areas shooting can go ahead. BASC advises that “in all tier areas, organised outdoor sport and physical activity can continue. This includes all recreational shooting activities such as target shooting, deerstalking, wildfowling, rough shooting and driven game shooting.” The move is likely…

Shooting groups are taking a lead in protecting the country’s birds of prey. Hen harriers in England are the subject of a plan to boost their numbers and to end the conflict between the raptors and grouse shooting interests in the uplands. BASC is putting £10,000 of its legacy fund into supporting Natural England field workers in their efforts to monitor hen harriers. Caroline Bedell, BASC executive director of conservation, said: “The funding is great news for the continued recovery of the hen harrier. This year 60 hen harriers successfully fledged in England, the highest number for decades, the majority of which were on moors managed for grouse shooting, which reflects great credit on the owners and keepers involved. “With continued partnerships, a favourable conservation status for hen harriers in…

Every cloud has a silver lining, even in COVID-19 lockdown. Saturday, 14 November was supposed to be our first main day and we were bitterly disappointed when Boris Johnson announced the new rules. However, it rained hard or very hard all day, with gales to boot. Even if we had gone out in pursuit of our wild pheasants, we would surely have drawn stumps at lunch time — and a sandwich in an open barn, rather than game casserole and a chance to dry out indoors, would not have been much fun either. “A newly shot bird with its muscles all still warm is easier to pluck than a cold, stiff one” Spotting what was in the forecast a couple of days earlier, Erik the estate manager suggested he and…

Trying to fit a quart into an pint pot is an adage, but worth remembering as we think about the practicalities of squeezing three months’ shooting into two. In most cases, as in that idiom, they simply won’t fit. We can try and shove the missing days into the weeks we have left, but unless we have huge acreages at our disposal and enough drives to spread the shooting — and, importantly, allow others to rest between days — it won’t work. Resting a drive is really important because it gives the birds time to draw back in. It won’t solely be the birds that were flushed out the last time it was driven, as they are constantly moving. It’s more a case of the birds that were driven out…

DREAMING OF A white Christmas? I doubt it will happen, as snow is increasingly rare in the southern half of the British Isles. In England, there’s rather more chance of snow at Easter than Christmas, though the difference is that if it does snow at Christmas, it stays around a lot longer than it does at Easter. I have always liked snow and still marvel at the magical way it changes a landscape. Shooting after a fresh fall of snow was always a special pleasure, as a snow-covered landscape tells you so much about the local wildlife. You can see where a fox has stalked a rabbit, follow the tracks of deer or note how many pheasants are coming to your feeders. Tracks in the snow reveal so much that…