Innholdsfortegnelse for 13-Jan-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

It was all a bit predictable. A few days after Christmas, I posted a picture online of a plucked wild mallard I’d shot. It was a lovely looking bird with a good amount of fat on it. The caption I posted alongside noted that over the festive period, I’d been offered all sorts of things, from chipolatas, to turkey, to a few slices of salmon. The only animal, the caption admitted, that I could be sure had led a happy life and had been sustainably harvested was the duck I’d shot myself. The responses were almost all positive with the exception of a man in Lincoln, one of my favourite small cities, who suggested there would be no duck left if everyone did what I’d done. I couldn’t be bothered…

SWEET SOUND OF GEESE Living inland in the Midlands barley belt, we only see a few Canada geese moving around from the ponds and lakes where they reside. On a foggy night in mid-December I was about to lock the kennels, when a skein of geese swept overhead. Having heard the sound of thrashing pinions among the birds’ eerie calls as they passed low and directly overhead, there’s no wonder our superstitious forebears called them ‘the hounds of heaven’. I’m not an expert so I can’t say if they were greylags or pinkfeet but it was a lot more exciting than hearing the honk of Canadas. It did leave me wondering why they were suddenly around. I know the grey geese migration is often prompted by an upcoming spell of…

The 2020-21 season will possibly go down as one of the strangest game shooting seasons we will ever remember. The likelihood is that there will be very little time in the field for many of us in the remaining weeks of the feathered game season. One pursuit that can still be carried out, albeit locally, is that of the wildfowler — a pastime that is not for the faint-hearted. Out before dawn, traipsing through wet marshes and saltwater creeks, hunkering down well before the break of dawn and only ever when the wind is of a level that cuts through you. Many of our wintering wildfowl are in peak numbers in late December and January. Close to half a million wigeon grace our shores through the winter months, having travelled…

IN A YEAR LIKE 2020 nothing has been straightforward. Deer management has certainly not avoided the grief afforded to every other sector. A lack of clients, a dwindling venison market and furlough schemes the length and breadth of the country have all ensured taking this year’s cull has been one of the most challenging many of us have seen. The stag season went smoothly and the boys were all in good shape; a mild winter and pleasant summer have been good to them. However, the lack of clients was surreal. We had a few up from the south, when lockdown restrictions were at their most relaxed, but even then, the carefully avoided handshakes, masking up before getting in the truck, or even wearing a mask when lying next to someone…

GAUGE ADAPTOR This 6in-long tube fitted into the chamber of a 12-bore shotgun and was inserted as you would insert a cartridge. Once in place, it would sit in the chamber and the last 3in extended down the barrel. The insert allowed a .410 cartridge to be used in a 12-bore gun. The maker, Parker-Hale, claimed ‘OK’ pattern and penetration at 25 yards. However, it was really intended to allow for the shooting of vermin in farmyards and orchards at ranges of 10 or 15 yards, where a 12-bore shot load would be damaging or dangerous. For close-range work, the maker recommended a 2in cartridge. It worked best in a non-ejector gun, because the ejectors would try to throw the adaptor out after firing. In the 1950s, these cost £2…

1 Westley Richards Redford cap RRP: £90 westleyrichards.com Made exclusively for Westley Richards in the Scottish Borders, the Redford cap in herringbone tweed is just the thing for a blustery day on the hills. But it would work equally well with a jumper when you’re going for a beer in that fashionable new local gastro pub. 2 Wüsthof chef knife (23cm) RRP: £117.99 nisbets.co.uk Wüsthof Trident knives, forged from a solid piece of carbon steel, are considered the best in the world by those in the know. Readers often tell us they love our game recipe pages and cooking is much more enjoyable when you’ve got the right kit. 3 Snowbee classic bootfoot waders RRP: £109.99 farlows.co.uk With the news that fishing is back on the table…

STAY AT HOME Stay at home, save lives and protect the NHS. With a more infectious variant of the coronavirus rapidly spreading, the Government advice is to stay at home. Why not bring out the old game books and sporting diaries and enjoy some reading? Or dust off the fly-tying vice and prepare some mayfly patterns for the end of lockdown in the spring. DOG CARE Cold weather often needs a change in kennel routine. Feeding dogs hot, wet food will reduce the need for water and help to keep dogs warm. Ensuring kennels are thoroughly brushed dry after cleaning will help prevent ice build-up.…

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into focus just how much we need to be with other people, to socialise, share experiences and simply converse. The restrictions on face-to-face interaction create strains and stress. So it was with huge relief that at the COVID-19 review on 30 December, West Yorkshire remained in Tier 3. It meant our syndicate’s 1 January shoot could go ahead. It’s a small syndicate, but we still had 25 locals, including the six Guns, join the New Year’s Day shoot. It was perfect. Grandfathers and grandchildren, toddlers and seven-year-olds, teenagers, boyfriends, girlfriends, mums and dads, labradors and spaniels. One of the Guns made a game casserole for lunch with a couple of dozen birds the syndicate had shot. Another made every variety of fruit gin known to…

Where have all the geese gone? For centuries the New Grounds, an area of reclaimed salt marsh on the east bank of the river Severn, were renowned for the thousands of white-fronted geese that wintered there. It was the presence of these geese, long-distance migrants from arctic Russia, that convinced Peter Scott that he should establish his collection of wildfowl at Slimbridge, overlooking the New Grounds, in 1946. The geese had been traditionally preserved for shooting by the Berkeley family, owners of the land for 800 years. Shooting was, however, strictly controlled. At least three keepers were employed during the season to look after them, while there were strict shooting rules that ensured that the geese were never driven off. With the establishment of the Wildfowl Trust in 1947, the…

Unless you are reading this as a resident of the idyllic yet remote Federated States of Micronesia, you will be, by now, fed up to the back teeth with COVID-19. Island states such as this are the only places on earth that have succeeded in staying virus-free. To date, more than 76,300 Britons have died showing COVID-19 symptoms. Financially, the virus is ruinous. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates our Government borrowing will top £394billion for the current financial year — that is a whopping £339billion over pre-Covid expected borrowing requirements. In the future, countless tomes will be written on the economic disaster that this virus has piled upon nation after nation. Our niche rural bubble of shooting and conservation has, of course, not been immune to nor removed from…

OK, I ADMIT IT. I HAVE always been a fan of big, old-fashioned springers, chunky cockers and labradors with substance, but I’m beginning to think that size doesn’t really matter after all. Dogs aren’t like cars, where a good big ’un will invariably beat a great little ’un. When it comes to performance, small dogs can perform as well as, and sometimes better than, bigger, more powerful animals. I have a friend, Peter, who has owned and worked English springers for more than 50 years. Ask him which was his best dog and he will say Polly. Now, Polly was an English springer he bred himself, but she was the runt of the litter. She was sold to what should have been a good working home, but was returned after…

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…

What a difference a year makes. I doubt there is a single keeper anywhere in the UK who could have predicted a season like the one we have had. I know we have another fortnight of uncertainty to go, but it will fly by and, for all of us, the season is already set. At the time of writing — with Christmas deadlines brought forward due to holidays and printing schedules — I am at a loss to say what the final few weeks of the season might bring. More lockdowns, even a countrywide cessation of driven shooting, perhaps. Only time will tell, but I really feel for those who are struggling to balance the books. I sincerely hope they can keep their heads above water and that they will…

A black fox spotted wandering the byways of Somerset has turned out to be a serial escapee called Wilf. Initially, the animal was believed to be an extremely unusual melanistic wild fox and the sighting caused a minor traffic jam outside the village of Brean. However, as word spread across social media, Wilf’s owners realised he had gone on the run and he was soon caught and returned to his home at Animal Farm Adventure Park in Burnham-on-Sea. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @SHOOTINGTIMESUK…

NOW I’M SURE we’ll probably see more of these being used as the Chelsea tractor around town, but under the slightly bling exterior lies a competent country vehicle. It is more than capable of a day in the field; my only real criticism is the suspension could be a little bit harder. The Wrangler is one of those niche legends and comes with a niche price tag. The Night Eagle starts off at £49,850; with the technology pack and towing kit fitted, this one comes out at £50,500. A good level of kit, heavy duty enough for rural fun and everyday life, but a bit pricey.…

In a little over six months, many of us will, hopefully, be making plans to go to the Game Fair. The event is scheduled to be held at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, from 23 to 25 July. Gundog competitions have always played a major role at the fair and this year, at long last, there’s a fresh competition to attract handlers and spectators. The Game Fair Gundog Working Test Championship is a competition aimed at amateur handlers and will have one section for spaniels and another for retrievers. Significantly, dogs don’t have to be Kennel Club-registered. This allows sprockers to compete in the spaniel class, but whether springadors run in the spaniel or retriever classes is debatable. The event is offering serious prize money, with the spaniel and retriever champions receiving…

Latin name: Ulmus procera Common name: English elm Other names: Common elm, horse may How to spot it and where to find it: A once common sight in our woodlands, the English elm, which can grow to 30m high and live for more than 100 years, is now more common in hedgerows. The bark is grey brown, rough and cracked, often with suckers growing from the bottom of the trunk. In winter, it can be identified by the sparse reddish hairs on buds and twigs. Interesting facts: Some consider the elm not to be English at all, having been introduced by our Bronze Age ancestors, while others believe it to be native to the south of England. There is no doubt, however, that this majestic tree epitomises the idea of…

The drive had just begun when the joggers materialised in front of us. Two of them, with a dog on a lead. We were too astonished to say anything at first. Desperately grasping at a non-confrontational way to halt the trespassers, I remarked that their dog seemed unbothered by gunfire. “Oh yes, he’s pretty good with fireworks as well,” said one jogger. “What are you shooting, clay pigeon?” And so began a good-natured chat. The joggers were very apologetic when they discovered the nature of their error. They showed us a route marked on a map on an iPhone. Quite what it was, we never worked out as the area is a former gravel pit and normally kept locked up. On this occasion, we had left the entrance gate unlocked…