Innholdsfortegnelse for 23-Jun-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

Stalkers have reacted angrily to the description of deer as a ‘pest species’ by Defra. The department’s new guidance on how to plant trees to extend existing woodland includes advice on dealing with “pest species like field voles, rabbits and deer” and refers to deer again when describing the types of fencing and guards required to protect trees from ‘pests’. The British Deer Society said: “We are concerned by the repeated use of the term ‘pest’ in reference to deer, which in our opinion is an unacceptable and insensitive term to describe iconic mammals that demand intelligent and humane management, and which not only enhance our countryside, but also boost the rural economy.” The guidance did not mention the need to observe close seasons when managing deer. Deerstalker Kenny Bradt…

A newly published scientific paper has claimed that the illegal use of lead ammunition to shoot ducks remains a serious problem in England, despite efforts to persuade shooters to use non-toxic alternatives. The paper, which was published in the Conservation Evidence Journal, estimated that “about 13 million ducks have been shot illegally using lead shotgun ammunition in England since 1 September 1999 — an annual average of approximately 586,000 and representing approximately 70% of the total [number of] ducks shot”. The study also claimed that efforts by shooting and countryside organisations to encourage compliance with the law had largely failed to change shooters’ choice of cartridges. Responding to the study, BASC’s Dr Conor O’Gorman told Shooting Times: “Noncompliance with the lead shot regulations continues to be a thorn in our…

SIMPLY SAFETY It was distressing to read about the game farmer injured in a fire (News, 9 June), especially as local information now reports that he suffered 65% burns and is currently in an induced coma. Gas safety in game rearing is under the radar when it comes to statutory workplace competency training. This is surprising when such certification is required for such tasks as spraying, ATV driving, use of poisons and other similarly risky tasks. As a Gas Safe Registered engineer I try to spread the safety message. Each year, I visit a major game farm to train their contract farmers, and until this year I was a guest lecturer at Newton Rigg College in Penrith, training the gamekeeping students. Sadly, Newton Rigg is now closed. I have a…

Sometimes, when I go to the bank in the local town, I see a much-coiffeured white West Highland terrier being taken for his constitutional along the lane by the church. The extraordinary thing about this portly little dog is that he expresses disapproval of passing bicyclists, but completely ignores the rabbits crossing the lane from the warren in the graveyard. It is a sad reflection that one of the oldest terrier breeds in Scotland, bred hard enough to tackle fox, badger, polecat, otter and any other Highland vermin, should have become so emasculated. However, the breed — once so highly thought of that James VI of Scotland sent six dogs and bitches from Argyllshire to France as a gift for Henry III — is not alone. Its close cousin, the…

In honour of the humble fox, without whom I would be warm and in bed. It’s 2am. I lay waiting for the dog fox to show, but there’s no sign yet. I know he is out there, a lone ptarmigan is telling me that. I am sitting at around 2,700ft, on a rocky ledge in a bivvy bag, overlooking a steep, fluted gully having watched the sunset over Ben Nevis’s snowy plateau. I am constantly scanning with a thermal imager. There is nothing glamorous about sitting in a den, I can assure you, but this is a rare, beautiful night. My tired thoughts wander… I can hear an old shepherd’s voice in my head chuckling that I have gone to such lengths to get the dog fox. I must confess…

There can be few sportsmen who do not owe much of their enthusiasm and knowledge to receiving sound guidance from a mentor when they were young. Many of us must have a clear memory of such a hero — often a grandfather, father or uncle — who, recognising a kindred spirit, was able to recapture his own youth by guiding a youngster on the paths he should follow. Gunstocks were eagerly, and often recklessly, shortened to fit the novice, small rods and spare tackle hunted out, ill-fitting oilskins provided and Christmas and birthday presents carefully chosen to foster the interest. More important than the kitting out was the store of long-accumulated knowledge, wisdom and golden rules which was also handed down. Boys who were thus prepared for fieldsports graduated slowly…

OUR VERDICT The Blaser F3 is an exceptional example of German engineering, design and technology coming together to create a contemporary over-and-under competition shotgun. Its whole design is about maximising the key shooting characteristics required to give competitors the edge. From an aesthetic standpoint, the F3 has a traditional style. The action depth measures 6cm, giving it an exceptionally low profile. To put this into perspective, it is the same depth as the Beretta 680 family. The barrels are monobloc, with a defined join or step in the barrel profile where the tubes meet the monobloc. The barrel has a single bite lump that protrudes through the bottom of the action, with a tapered bolt locking the gun on close. The barrels are then hinged on large stud pins mounted…

Père David’s deer is a curious-looking beast. The stag’s antlers have no forward-pointing tine, but an extremely long back tine, while the cow-like hooves, horse-like head and a tail that resembles that of a donkey give it an ungainly appearance. By the middle of the 19th century, they were hunted to extinction in the wild in their native China. At this time, the only surviving milu were in the Imperial Hunting Park in Beijing, where the first Westerner to see them was Père Armand David, a French missionary with a passion for zoology and botany, hence their common name. Several were imported to Europe. Herbrand Russell, the 11th Duke of Bedford, acquired several animals from Berlin Zoo for Woburn Park. These animals became the last survivors, for the remaining deer…

Controversial beer company BrewDog has been criticised following claims it has begun selling off the former homes of staff members, including gamekeepers, on its newly purchased estate. The 9,000-acre Kinrara Estate, near Aviemore, was previously owned by the McLaren family. It boasts a grouse moor with a 10-year average of 476 brace, deerstalking, fishing and a pheasant shoot, as well as an ‘in hand’ farm. It is believed to have previously employed six keepers, as well as farming and domestic staff and gardeners. BrewDog’s ‘Equity for Punks’ fund purchased the estate earlier this year with the intention of planting trees to offset the beer company’s carbon emissions. “Why would a millionaire put his vanity project above local people if not for greed?” BrewDog was already under fire before claims of…

LET IT GROW With summer vegetation roaring along, it can be tempting to hit it hard with the strimmer and the herbicide. But rough patches, weedy corners, brambles and nettles can all be valuable habitats for native wildlife. From butterflies to hedgehogs and even grey partridges, there are many species that benefit if you hold back your instinct to tidy up. STUDY MOTHS Warm dry summer evenings are great for moth trapping. Proprietary moth traps are easy to set up and, combined with a field guide, can give a fascinating insight into the nocturnal wildlife on your shoot. The traps are designed to lure in the insects, then allow them to be released unharmed.…

The importance of active management in conserving vital habitats has been emphasised by the disappearance of one of the UK’s largest tern colonies. The Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast have been home to a colony of Arctic terns for many decades. However, this year the birds have abandoned the islands. Terns favour bare nesting sites and vegetation on the islands is usually managed to stop them becoming badly overgrown. The National Trust, which manages the islands, has withdrawn its seasonal wardens for two years. It says the birds may have moved to another island. Boat operator Billy Shiel, whose father first took people to the islands in 1918, said: “It’s devastating to see decades of conservation efforts wasted. The damage to the islands is now at a level that…

I bought two spaniels, a trained three-year-old and a one-year-old ‘semi trained’ that was described as ‘difficult’ by the trainer. I wanted him because he was the son of the older dog. My wife commented after I had bought him that the trainer’s wife had said he was ‘hard’ on his dogs, which I was not aware of. When I began to train the young one, I initially had great difficulty in getting him to recall and come in close to me. If going away from me even at a short distance, he did not respond to call or whistle. I persevered because the dog had a great nose and worked well picking-up in his first year. But I did notice he occasionally appeared to get lost when I moved…

On 11 May, a media storm flared following the publication of photographs showing what was claimed to be a group of Scandinavian stalkers posing with muntjac deer they had shot in the grounds of Wrest Park, Bedfordshire, a property managed by English Heritage. The images were published by a group called Bedfordshire Against Trophy Hunting (BATH), which describes itself as “a group formed in opposition to the unethical and cruel hunting of animals for ‘sport’, in particular the trophy hunting of the iconic deer at Woburn Abbey”. The photos were subsequently posted by wildlife campaigner Dominic Dyer on Twitter and his 30,000-odd followers did the rest. Mr Dyer branded the photos an exposé of an international trophy hunting racket. Like a rabbit, or possibly a muntjac, dazzled by headlights, English…

Letting yourself go can be damn good fun. Some of the best summers of my life have been spent drowing in Pimm’s, pizza and fancy pastries, and I don’t regret a minute of it. Not the ones I can remember anyway. But the cruel truth is, however enjoyable the process of getting out of condition, everything else in life becomes that little bit harder, which, it turns out, is no fun at all. So if you want to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment out of the forthcoming season, then invest time in getting back into shape. We’re not suggesting you don Lycra or buy a suite of expensive gym equipment. Instead, we’re going to take you through some basic yoga-inspired exercises that require nothing more than an old T-shirt,…

Many years ago, in the Christmas vacations of my student days, with the flared bottoms of my jeans tastefully concealed inside a pair of wellies and with my long and unruly mop of hair kept in some sort of containment by a deerstalker hat of which I was inordinately proud, I would spend the day beating on local shoots as often as possible. I was in search of beer money in the vain hope of being able to satisfy an almost insatiable undergraduate thirst. Yes, I went beating for the money, but I also went beating because I enjoyed it. The reason why I mention those distant days is that I can remember how, sometimes, looking at the Guns, I would wonder how the stiff-limbed, pot-bellied old buffers lined out…

Being born and bred on Teesside in the industrial north-east, I have an understanding of what it takes to graft for a living. A sense of gratitude, coupled with a deep appreciation of how valuable it was for these hard-working men and women to enjoy their downtime. Ferreting and working lurchers was to many as much about escape — the sense of freedom they felt from the pits, shifts and factories — as it was about bringing food and a bit of money back home. As I drove down the A19, A1 and M1, the heritage of the north was hard to ignore, even more so when I circumnavigated Sheffield. I was visiting my old friend and rabbiting guru Ian ‘Torchie’ Clayton. I had broken nets to fix. Torchie earned…

At more than 8lb, the F3 is a much heavier gun than I would usually shoot. It has an overwhelming mechanical feel that is very different from most other European-made guns. The top-lever shape gives exceptional purchase to the thumb and is operated with very little resistance over a short cam to its hold-over. The barrels fall open easily under their own weight to a full gape, allowing the cartridges to be loaded into the chamber with ease. The balance of the gun was slightly back from the hinge pin, making the gun stock-heavy. The balancing system fitted in the stock and under the fore-end on the barrel gives the shooter unlimited options when setting up the balance of the gun. The pull and feel of the trigger when firing…

The way some lead-shot campaigners seem to miss the underlying issue reminds me of a conversation I had with an elderly lady who wanted a rescue kitten. After making enquiries, I had to explain that the local rescue centre had a policy of not placing animals with people of her age. This was because of the likelihood of having to rehome the animal, as I delicately put it. The wonderful old lady nodded wistfully. Then she looked up, bright-eyed, and said: “So, how are we going to get round that?” There is an inevitability about the future of lead ammunition. To safeguard the future of shooting, we need to uncouple the two. Given this, the notion that the voluntary move away from lead is being driven by unworthy financial concerns…

Gamekeepers from the Tayside and Central Scotland Moorland Group (TCSMG) will be working with Scotland’s largest land owner, rewilding enthusiast Anders Hoch Povlsen, to tackle raptor persecution in the central Highlands. The keepers and the billionaire clothing magnate will be working together to tag a young golden eagle then will allow the bird to be tracked by the public on the Animal Tracker smartphone app. Alice Bugden, coordinator of the TCSMG, said: “This unique collaboration will hopefully allow us to get beyond some of the polarisation of recent times. There has been a lot of negative attention in recent years about alleged persecution of eagles. We are focused on positive action. “It has been refreshing to liaise with Wildland, who have years of experience of tagging and recording raptor movements…

One of the UK’s leading gamebird vets has warned of the effect on shoot operators’ mental health if and when Mycoplasma gallisepticum (Mg/bulgy eye) hits. Dr Kenny Nutting of Saint David’s Game Bird Services told Shooting Times that the disease carried a stigma that made keepers reluctant to admit they had a problem and are therefore less willing to seek help for their birds and themselves. “As it is one of the most prevalent diseases in the sector, we strongly feel that it should not be a stigma for those it affects,” said Dr Nutting. “Instead, it should be talked about more openly and tackled head on, so that biosecurity protocols can be reviewed and revised where needed, and lessons can be learned in order to aid the reduction in…

A new England grant to plant Shoots in England considering planting trees may be able to benefit from the new England Woodland Creation Offer. The scheme, which is being led by the Forestry Commission, provides funding to create and maintain new woodlands, with additional payments where there are wider public benefits. Proposed woodlands need to be a minimum of one hectare and must deliver environmental benefits such as climate change resilience, nature recovery, improved water quality and flood risk prevention. Game Fair gets the green light for July Next month’s Game Fair is ‘good to go’. In reaction to the Government’s announcement last week regarding the COVID-19 restrictions, the Game Fair team has confirmed the event will be going ahead safely as planned, from Friday, 23 to Sunday, 25 July…

I attended a fantastic curlew safari arranged by the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group on 12 and 13 June, working with gamekeepers from Bolton Abbey and adjoining estates. We had sightings of curlew, green and golden plover, ring ouzel, wheatear, stonechat and meadow pipit as well as grouse and their young. The safari was accompanied by a knowledgeable commentary to explain how high-quality upland management supports birds at risk. There was a good turnout from the public, too — the tour was fully booked. Well done to all involved. Dr M W Charlton, North Yorkshire…

In the Free State province of South Africa, there is a very dense population of pigeons and doves, so dense that it can cost farmers one-third of their possible harvest. “The shoot is sustainable on several levels” The area is called Matjhabeng, which means ‘where nations meet’ in Zulu. The name originates from the 1930s when miners from all over southern Africa settled here to dig for gold, creating a cultural melting pot. Presently, Matjhabeng stretches over miles of yellowy-brown sunflower fields. Where these fields end, Welkom begins, a metropolis that expanded in line with increasing mining activity in the middle of the last century. Before Welkom was founded, there was virtually no agriculture in the area and therefore very few pigeons. Since then, huge agricultural plains were planted with…

Onwards, upwards and more remote we went. The hum of Sarajevo was behind us and the Bosnian mountains rose ahead. Eventually, we arrived at a wooden house on a grassy plain — the local hunting office. Three smiling men, in wildlife ranger uniforms, emerged to greet us. They ushered us into the main room, where every inch of the wall was covered with taxidermy: bears, lynx, capercaillie, chamois and more roebuck than you could count. Nick chatted merrily with them in Bosnian. Itwas clear that not much English would be spoken on this trip. Nick lives and works in Bosnia and had organised this trip for his nephew, James, who in turn invited me. Bojan, the head ranger, poured moonshine from an unlabelled bottle into shot glasses. Our paperwork was…

Foraging for elderflowers is a familiar pursuit, but foraging for roses seems a little odd. Roses are for show, not for consumption, so why collect them? All will be revealed, but first I will tackle the questions of ‘when’, ‘what’, ‘where’ and ‘how’. When to find roses is known to everyone — most of our native roses appear in summer, with a few, such as the Burnet rose, first appearing in May. However, a great many exotic species are grown in Britain and, with early and late flowering species, the rose season has been lengthened considerably. ‘What’ has a straightforward answer: any rose that smells pleasant. I am often asked if garden roses are safe and the answer is that no rose is poisonous. In fact, the entire and enormous…

In 1935, Country Life published a book by 26-year-old Peter Scott, son of the Antarctic explorer Captain Scott. Entitled Morning Flight: A Book of Wildfowl, it proved extraordinarily popular, running through no fewer than 11 editions over the next 15 years, making it the most successful book on wildfowling ever published. In his foreword Scott described it as “a book of pictures”, and its appeal is greatly enhanced by his evocative paintings. He captured the atmosphere of the marsh with his brush, not his pen, but his simple accounts of days on the foreshore are as readable today as when he wrote them. Morning Flight was about Scott’s passion for wild places, wildfowl and wild geese. Wildfowling was clearly a sport he excelled at, as he did with almost everything…

What’s a Grand Prix medal? TROPHIES Q I recently saw a Grand Prix trophy medal from a World Exhibition advertised for sale on a well-known online auction site. I thought that there were only three medals — gold, silver and bronze — so what was this one? A Grand Prix medals were awarded at several continental trophy exhibitions and shows. They were given at some national, international and world exhibitions too. Probably the best-known World Exhibition was the one held in Budapest in 1971 and I suspect the medal you saw advertised came from there. Using the scores set by the CIC in what is known as the Blue Book, trophies were scored by panels of experts and classified as being class I, II or III. Medals were issued in…