Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-Jun-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

Enclosed gamebirds are to get more legal protection from out-of-control dogs under changes to the law on livestock worrying. The Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill will add enclosed gamebirds to the list of livestock that can legally be protected from worrying. It is also intended to give police more powers to deal with out-of-control dogs. Enclosed gamebirds are already protected in Scotland under new laws that were successfully enacted last month. The legal changes, which also give greater protection to ostriches, llamas and alpacas, were welcomed by a range of animal welfare groups and by BASC. Glynn Evans, BASC’s head of game and gundogs, said: “Expanding the scope of the legislation and introducing new powers to tackle livestock worrying is welcome news for the farming and gamekeeping community. The issue…

I read the rather snide comments by Francesco Carnevali(Letters, 2 June), criticising an article by Alasdair Mitchell (Steel shot vs lead — why I switched a while ago, 28 April). I don’t know Mr Mitchell but from what I do know about him, and judging by the good he does for our sport and our way of life, I rather doubt if he spends much time in the “comfort of his chair”. Similarly, I think it is unlikely that he spends much time on “pegged tracks eating rolls with rich friends”. I don’t like the idea of lead being banned, partly because I won’t be able to put steel down my wonderful pair of 1911 Lancaster shotguns and partly because I have friends who don’t wish to shoot with steel…

Jeremy Clarkson is launching a new show in which viewers will see the challenges he faces while running his own farm. It promises eight episodes which, according to an interview with the BBC, will show that farming is ‘extraordinarily hard work’. In the interview, Mr Clarkson talks frankly about his uneasy relationship with slaughtering livestock. “You can’t say, ‘I enjoy killing animals’ — you’d have to be deranged or a sociopath — so you don’t enjoy it. But it is the business.” That phrase, “you can’t say, ‘I enjoy killing animals’ but it is the business” gave me pause for thought. “The rabbit was able to generate remarkable speed” It’s the sort of sentiment used by television presenters being paid seven-figure salaries. It’s also the sort of sentiment used by…

“If what you’re buying is shooting focused and the law changes, your asset has changed considerably” Some 200 years ago, the moorlands of northern England and Scotland were most likely much as they are now. Local farmers would use the inhospitable landscape to graze their sheep and cattle in order to draw a living out of a landscape that would not accept crops and was largely disconnected from the riches of metropolis. Then, of course, two things changed: the advent of the railways and the invention of the breechloading shotgun. Suddenly, the whistling low-flying grouse became less of a curiosity to passing farmers and transformed into the second most exciting form of shooting after drey poking, as this author has opined before (An ecstasy of fumbling, 27 March 2019). A…

“Water must be fun; keeping it shallow enough that the dogs do not have to swim will help to give them confidence” The most obvious training that dogs will enjoy during hotter spells is swimming. It is also a great time of year to introduce younger dogs to water and get their confidence up in it. This does not have to be started elsewhere but can easily be introduced at home. Like many, my dogs have a small paddling pool that I encourage puppies to explore and play in as much as possible. I use toys and even treats to help lure them in, then allow them to play with other puppies and dogs. It is important that water is fun. Keeping it shallow enough that they…

I should start making an effort to keep my big mouth shut. Or do I mean that I should try to impose some sort of control over my fingers whenever I sit in front of my laptop and start tapping away at another piece for Shooting Times. Whatever I mean, there have been one or two occasions over the past year or so when I have come to regret what I said, or rather wrote, in my efforts to entertain and occasionally even instruct readers. Most recently this happened when, in the concluding paragraph of my most recent article (The gift of spring, 19 May), I hoped that the last fortnight of May would bring warm and sunny weather with just the occasional shower to freshen things up and provide…

From one of the coldest months on record to the wettest. It seems that every evening I have thought about venturing out in search of a trout, I have been scuppered by monsoon-like rain or Amazon-like raging brown rivers. Nonetheless there have been moments among the downpours when I have seen great hatches of sedges, olives and duns.But in the month of May there is only really one hatch that a trout fisherman is waiting for — the mayfly. The mayfly arrival can be huge and hectic. The short season, and the urgency in which they must mate, provides a mesmeric riverside dance of life and death. The trout become hypnotised by the endless delivery of food overhead and accordingly the allegedly educated fish can be fooled by even the…

Over the gloriously sunny bank holiday at the end of last month, I went to my local car show. I wasn’t merely a spectator – I had travelled with a friend who was exhibiting his Caterham Seven two-seater sports car. He had never shown it before, but we both decided that travelling to and from the show was far more fun than sitting in a deckchair talking to people about the car. Any journey in a Caterham is an exhilarating experience, especially when the doors have been removed and the roof is down. A Caterham isn’t suitable for transporting dogs, but I’m sure most would love it. However, I’m digressing. What struck me about the event was its similarity to dog shows. People with classic cars tend to show the…

Best load for 6.5mm calibre RIFLES Q Can you give me an idea for the best load in my new Sako S20 6.5 Creedmoor? I will be using it for deer and foxes. A Being a short case and mid-bore diameter, the 6.5 Creedmoor favours powders in the medium to medium-slow burn rate, such as RL17, Swiss RS50 and RS62, Norma URP or Vit N140. Because it is 6.5mm calibre and has a 1:8 twist rifling rate you can use bullets as light as 85-gr Sierra all the way up to 160-gr Hornady if you like, but it is best at home with 120-gr, 129-gr or 140-gr bullet weights. These offer a good blend of velocity, energy and downrange ballistics with regard to retained energy and wind-bucking abilities — one…

I barely felt the chainsaw touch my leg. I thought the blade had merely brushed the rumpled folds in my trousers, just below the knee. But when I examined the ragged cut in the cloth, I could see the edge was turning red. Gulp. I was wearing a helmet, ear defenders, eye protection, armoured gloves and special chainsaw boots. But my chainsaw leggings, which have a layer of fibres designed to clog up a spinning saw blade instantly, were where I had left them — on the back of a chair at home. And here I was, at the far end of the farm, without a mobile signal or a first-aid kit. I am an idiot. If I didn’t collapse from blood loss, I might die of embarrassment. I jumped…

Gundog breeders have hit out at the Kennel Club (KC) after experiencing long delays and other problems trying to register puppies. Among them is cocker spaniel breeder Diane Brown, who told Shooting Times: “We don’t breed a lot and we only sell to good-quality working homes, but we have been waiting since March to receive papers for puppies we sold,”she said. The problems have stemmed from a new web-based registration system called myKC. Industry insiders have described the system as a ‘disaster’ and ‘totally botched’. While some breeders have been unable to get registration documents for their litters, others have been inundated. One said the postman had delivered more than 40 registration letters, none of which were litters she had bred. “No contact has been attempted on their part whatsoever”…

The very late spring seems to have set wild game back but not hit numbers in the way snowfall or heavy rain has in previous years. “There is plenty of wild game about,” Cambridgeshire gamekeeper Ed Coles told Shooting Times. “Ducks were off and running by mid-April. English [grey] partridge pairs are about the same as last season, at least 21 pairs. In some places I’m not seeing partridges, so hopefully they are sitting on their nests; in others I’m seeing them quite a bit but not with any young yet. Fingers crossed, by harvest, I’ll have a mix of early and late broods. “I haven’t seen any pheasant broods yet, but they’ve been laying like mad since April. I’ve never found so many predated eggs — I have picked…

Shoots rally round for stricken teen Local keepers have encouraged the shooting community to help a young beater with the costs of travelling to hospital for cancer treatment. Fourteen-year-old James Rendall is undergoing treatment for a brain tumour at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, and his family have struggled with the cost of travel and accommodation. Craig Jones, headkeeper at Horseupcleugh Estate told Shooting Times: “The whole team here at Horseupcleugh were shocked to hear of James’s illness. The estate will be helping James’s family throughout this traumatic time.” You can donate to James’s appeal at bit.ly/jamesrendall Eggscellent work by quick keeper Quick-acting gamekeepers have rescued a grey partridge brood in Yorkshire. A member of the public approached a keeper after their dog killed a bird sitting…

The Guash is a small limestone stream running from Braunston-in-Rutland to its confluence with the Welland downstream of Stamford, Lincolnshire. Its meandering course winds gently through classic English farmland, passing through stone villages, going largely unnoticed by many. It is a stunning little stream, bursting with life and is, most notably, home to a wonderful population of brown trout. For a large part of its course the river runs through the Burghley Estate and in 1921, the Marquess of Exeter and the then land agent to the estate, Major Bailey, formed a small fishing club to breathe life into and rejuvenate the river. In its inaugural year, 56 members paid three guineas to join the Guash Fishing Club. A riverkeeper was employed and some stocking commenced, with a programme of…

do not have to swim will help to give them confidence until they are ready. I have two puppies of my own — one is four-and-a-half months old and the other is nearly eight months. Neither has swum before and they have spent the past week playing in the paddling pool. To build on this, I am going to take them both to a nice pond with a gentle sloping entry. I start by throwing a ball or water dummy into the shallow part so they can run in and get it. I will not stretch Hela, the youngest, much further than this. If she shows masses of confidence it is fine to throw the dummy a little deeper, but it is easy to put a young dog off. It…

With the rising cost of brand spanking new vehicles, and the prospect of big bills from handing back a leased truck, the second-hand market could be the sensible option for acquiring a 4x4 pickup. We’re going to take a theoretical £12,000 and see what’s on offer. If anyone would like to send me an actual £12k for a truck, that would be smashing. Before we embark on what is more than likely the second largest purchase any of us will make, there’s a few things we can do to avoid buying a nightmare. Important points to remember: most pickups are classed as commercial vehicles so they have become popular with builders and other tradespeople, which can lead to them holding their price, even with quite a few miles on the…

Of all the members of the crow family, the jay is the one that is heard far more than it is seen. Its raucous call is heard almost always from within dense cover, where what is — in my opinion — the best-looking corvid we have in this country likes to stay. For good reason too, as gamekeepers have, since their inception, waged war on this serious predator of eggs and chicks. I recall them from my childhood days in an Angus glen, flitting silently through the silver birch trees where they plundered a whole raft of small birds that nested there, as well as the odd woodcock, pheasant and woodpigeon. From what we saw as very amateur ornithologists aged just into double figures, they did home in on the…

Recently, I was asked to a hare shoot near my home. And though I am not too keen on shooting hares, I duly presented myself to the keeper in charge. On these occasions, all the Guns stand around like sheep, not knowing what to do or say. And when they do get on speaking terms with their fellow Guns, the first thing they do is to examine the other fellow’s firearm. “A man had an eye eliminator for use with his weak eye” True to type, I did the self same thing, and was shown a motley collection of guns, ranging from the typical farmer’s firearm bound up with binder twine and tape — and looking as though it would certainly give its owner not only his last day’s shooting,…

This fly was originally designed for Rutland Water and will work its magic on most waters that have vast weed beds. It’s made to fool big fish and tricky resident ones that need persuading to make a mistake. Employing the Cul de Canard feather with its remarkable floating capabilities, this one is definitely for fishing on the top, to rising fish whenever buzzers are hatching. Either cast out on a floating line and just wait, or try a jerky retrieve and watch the fly resurface to dramatic effect.…

Capercaillie may be at risk of disappearing from the UK as new data shows steep declines. Capercaillie are counted at leks — the sites where males compete for females — and lek counts in their heartland in the Cairngorms National Park in the spring of 2021 found 130 male birds, down from 250 birds in 2015. The reduction of 35% represents one of the steepest declines of any British bird species. The birds are being put under pressure by a lack of habitat, low productivity, predation, collisions with unmarked fences, disturbance and climate change. Commenting on the situation, Scottish Gamekeepers Association chairman Alex Hogg said: “Present approaches are killing the capercaillie, shortchanging the taxpayer and rewarding failure. Millions of pounds of public money have been spent on missed targets. The…

SHOOTING’S ASSET Like your correspondent Francesco Carnevali, I do not normally write to magazines ornewspapers(Letters, 2 June). But having read his letter, I thought I would make an exception. I have known Alasdair Mitchell for the best part of 50 years and have found his Shooting Timesarticles to be informative, well researched and amusing, covering a vast range of rural subjects. Alasdair is a great asset to the shooting community at all levels and his defence of our shared interest must not go unrecognised. Martin Selby-Lowndes, by email WATER TREATMENT Our three spaniels love swimming, as do many others, but can I please remind dog owners that many skin-applied tick and flea treatments contain Fipronil. This can have devastating impacts on invertebrates living in watercourses. Always check before administration and…

Conventional wisdom holds that, of the six species of deer encountered wild in Britain today, only two — the roe and red — are native to these islands. While true on the face of it, that represents only part of the full picture. A considerable proportion of the roe deer emerging at dawn on to a forest ride, or sunning themselves among the drifts of bluebells, bear little or no connection to the roe that roamed the broadleaved forests of Britain 5,000 years ago. When the ice sheets of the last glaciation retreated and waves of temperate plants and animals moved northwards across the land bridge that then connected Britain and continental Europe, roe were among them. During the ice age, they, along with other deer species, had been confined…

Stalking is never all about the kill. For me, it is being out in wild, often unspoilt places. It’s about solitude, immersing myself in the landscape and pitting my wits against a quarry that is constantly on the alert and whose very existence is wholly reliant on instinct and finely tuned senses — senses we have long since lost. Returning home empty-handed takes nothing away from a few hours of peace where I am moving slowly and blending in, mostly just watching and listening. If I am ever joined on a stalk, there becomes an expectation of success. If it is no longer just me and the hound, a sort of self-induced pressure begins to build. Extra company changes the dynamic of a stalk, and you feel it is almost…

With a phased relaxation of the COVID-19 restrictions, hunts up and down the country have been able to make a return to their more normal summer calendar of events. A couple of weeks ago on a fine May morning, we enjoyed a wonderful hound exercise and were joined by some very enthusiastic supporters, but admittedly, after four miles at ‘hound pace’, I think most were glad to return to the kennels for a hearty breakfast. As I write, the first hound show since summer 2019 is due to take place at Ardingly in West Sussex, and by the time you read this, I do hope that, albeit with a bit of social distancing, a truly brilliant event will have come off. Hounds can still be shown individually by their staff,…

ON A RECENT DOG walk, I came across a smart and feisty terrier. I don’t encounter many terriers, so I stopped to chat to the dog’s owner, who told me that her dog wasn’t, as I had surmised, a Jack Russell terrier, but a Parson Russell terrier. If you thought the two were one and the same, you’d be wrong. The Jack Russell evaded Kennel Club registration until 1990, when the KC brought it under its wing as the Parson Jack Russell terrier. Nine years later, it lost the Jack to differentiate it from the Jack Russell terrier, but retained parson as a reminder of the breed’s founder, the Rev John Russell. He was a West Country vicar with a passion for hunting, and was responsible for developing a terrier…

This device from the 1930s made use of battery power to create light for night shooting. Manufactured by Winchester and sold in the UK through gunshops, it was made from metal and painted black. A securing ring with wing-nut tightener held the torch to the rifle barrel, enabling the shooter to tackle quarry by torchlight at close range — the power of these early torches was not what we have come to expect from modern LED-powered versions. A spare bulb was in the butt section. Flashlights were still quite new technology, having only been made tolerably reliable in the 1920s. They cost 21s, which was about a third of the cost of a BSA air rifle.…

I recently loaned 618 — one of the best bulls from our local Boran breed that I’ve ever had in our Kenya cattle stud — to a friend on a nearby ranch. Within days, two lions ambushed and killed him. A remarkable thing about lions is how they carefully select top-quality cattle. On my farm, I marvel at the way they will stroll past our bomas, or night enclosures, full of old cows and heifers — then launch a precision assault against a herd of fat steers. They do this by standing upwind and urinating, the scent of which causes the cattle to break out of the boma and stampede in all directions, after which the lions chase down their prey. When we farmed in West Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, my…