Innholdsfortegnelse for 28-Jul-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

Two stolen spaniels have been recovered but two others remain missing after yet more dog thefts in the central Highlands. Last week, Shooting Timesreported the suspected theft of two spaniels from a gamekeeper near Kingussie (News, 21 July). The older of the two dogs, Maggie, was subsequently recovered in the town of Crieff 80 miles away. The day before Maggie was dumped in Crieff, two golden working cocker spaniels were snatched from a home in the nearby village of Amulree. One of these dogs was found six days later in Brinsley, Nottinghamshire. Iona McGregor, who owns the dogs, appealed for the help of Shooting Timesreaders. She said: “It is essential we make these dogs too hot to handle. Please share information about them on social media, and if you know…

This pandemic and all the restrictions that have followed have, I think, given people a better understanding of the countryside and a new-found respect for the wildlife that lives around them. But for every person who embraces the benefits of being outdoors you are also going to get selfish people who just don’t care, as described in your story (News, 14 July). But we can’t let their actions ruin it for everyone else. The countryside is a wonderful asset that everyone should be free to use, but we should call out the actions of those who cause problems. Owen Hollifield, Caerphilly IN ASSOCIATION WITH GMK Each week, the best letter wins a pair of Zamberlan Forest Socks, perfect for shooting in any conditions. Visit gmk.co.ukfor more details. If your letter…

It is estimated that there are more than two million wild deer in the UK, from the red deer of the high ground in Scotland to the fallow deer of lowland England. In broad terms, the deer population increases by 30% each year through their usual breeding cycles, swelling their numbers by more than 600,000 annually. With no natural predators, the deer population, if left unchecked, would grow exponentially, supported by the vast swathes of rich habitat we have in this country. Every year, however, a cap on numbers is maintained through the stalking and culling that happens up and down the country. Deer culling is an essential practice for the protection of vulnerable habitats, prevention of crop and tree damage, the reduction in road traffic accidents and the disruption…

I like to think I’m a reasonably tolerant individual, but one thing that is guaranteed to make my teeth itch is referring to pigeons as ‘the grey grouse’. I’m of the view that all quarry species deserve our respect and our best efforts to ensure their quick demise and, as a result, produce the best possible meal at the end of the process. The woodpigeon is one of the finest flyers that we have to test ourselves when protecting crops and should never, in my opinion, be relegated to the status of ‘practice bird’ for something else. To get the most out of our sport, we must be completely present in the moment to savour the all-round experience, not only the successful shot. It is for this reason that the…

Rural Britain is looking lush and green, though it feels like we are quite some way behind our usual schedule. It’s a complete contrast to this time last year, and the upcoming harvest will definitely be getting off to a later start in certain areas. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen laid winter barley like in the days of old. New shorter-stemmed strains, growth regulators and accurate nitrogen application has made shooting vast laid patches a thing of the past — or so I thought. I went weeks without shooting, as birds held on the buds. But, to my relief, the pigeons have recently come flooding back. Though it was less of a relief for the farmer. “Telephone wires start to warp under the weight of enthusiastic pigeons”…

THE HIGHLANDER is a high-end SUV with the technology to match. In theory, we should expect a much larger price tag. In the greater scheme of things, though, that’s not necessarily so — the Highlander Excel costs £50,610. The Excel Premium, which includes a rear kick sensor for opening the boot, 10-spoke alloys, heated outer rear seats, ventilated front seats and a few extra trims, is £52,590. While £50,000 isn’t cheap, with the level of trim and technology, it doesn’t seem as expensive as some competitors with lesser eco credentials. More than capable and comfy on the road, the Highlander performs surprisingly well off-road and the AWD-i system is impressive. If it had a bit more ground clearance or some height-adjusting suspension, the Highlander would be pretty much spot-on.…

Reality bites in ferret world FERRETING Q When my ferret had a litter for the first time, I went to check on her, but she bit me. Is this behaviour normal? A If you have never bred ferrets before, you may notice a sudden change in their demeanour. This is caused by a massive change in hormones when they reproduce. They may lash out, but they are instinctively protecting their offspring. Over the years, I have had the gentlest of ferrets turn into savages when their kits arrive. This behaviour wanes the older the kits get. By the time they are eight weeks old, they are ready to go to new homes and their mother will have become less aggressive. I’m a bit old school when it comes to breeding…

Latin name: Eriophorum angustifolium Common name: Bog cotton Other names: Cotton grass, cottonsedge, tall cottongrass, ghost grass How to spot it and where to find it: Trembling in the breeze, the wispy tufts of bog cotton do indeed look like cotton wool caught up in the grass. As its name suggests, it is found in peaty bogs across the UK and Ireland, leaving them looking like they’ve had a dusting of snow. Without its fluffy seeds it is rather unassuming, the leaves — found at the base of the plant — often tinged with red or brown and the flowers it produces in April and May tiny and brown. But it can be spectacular when the seeds appear in those fluffy heads, from June to September, aloft on stems of…

On 31 July, the BBC’s amnesty ends for people aged over 75 who are not exempt but have yet to pay for a TV licence. In theory, the Beeb can send investigators to visit pensioners’ homes. An estimated 260,000 elderly people have not yet stumped up. Lord Botham has characterised BBC policy as “threatening to send round the boys”. The BBC’s threat of enforcement action against recalcitrant senior citizens comes a few weeks after the corporation revealed the eye-watering amounts it was paying to some of its more recognisable stars. These people have, in the main, achieved their high profile precisely because the Beeb has given them a media platform. So a person becomes something of a ‘sleb’ because they are always on the box, then the BBC says it…

All the country’s major shooting organisations are joining a partnership to secure the future of shooting. BASC, the Countryside Alliance, the British Game Alliance (BGA), the CLA, the Game Farmers’ Association, the Moorland Association, the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation and Scottish Land & Estates will unite under the umbrella of Aim to Sustain. Aim to Sustain will not replace the existing organisations and won’t have members of its own; instead it will provide a single public and political voice for shooting. This role has been filled intermittently by the Shoot Liaison Committee; however, attacks on the general licences and a series of public and political challenges to shooting have made it clear that a more unified approach is needed to protect the sport’s future. Initially, the group will be jointly chaired…

I had to write to say how much I am enjoying your hunting column. It’s wonderful to be able to read about so many different country pursuits in one magazine — and weekly to boot. It must take an awful lot of work. I particularly liked Harry Beeby’s latest contribution (Kennel Diary, 14 July). His mention of ‘elephantear’ breeches took me right back; my grandfather used to wear them out hunting and he was always immaculately turned out. Harry’s comments about the puppy show, too, led to some warm reminiscences. Our puppy show was always the highlight of the summer calendar and the kennel staff would spend ages sprucing up the kennels. Lots of repairing and painting and, on one occasion, dashing to a garden centre to buy some ready-made…

This year has been exceptional for growth in my part of the world. A cold dry spring was replaced by steady rain through May. It’s led to a thick crop of barley. In places, the growth and the rain have been too much. Overnight deluges have flattened the spring-drilled crop almost entirely. They’ve smashed flattened patches into the autumn-sown fields. These puddles of laid barley are proving irresistible for Columba palumbus — the rapaciously hungry woodpigeon. Bird-scarers of all sorts are no deterrent for a determined woodie on a ‘flightpond’ of flattened barley. Like teal on a great evening flight, they drop in from all angles and I’ve recently enjoyed one such afternoon. Rise and fall I’d been watching numbers rise and fall over the preceding 10 days. Upwards of…

Rangefinding optics are becoming increasingly popular in the UK, which is likely a direct result of their widespread use in the US. Across the pond, where big men in drive big trucks, rangefinding optics have long been established as an essential item. The landscapes people hunt in, over there, are vast and Americans are also more willing to take ‘long shots’, requiring ballistic adjustment, which would likely be considered unethical or inappropriate by most UK deerstalkers. However, it would be wrong to say that rangefinding optics are of no value to the UK deerstalker. In fact, it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest that carrying a rangefinder actually improves the the ethics of deerstalking because their use excludes the possibility of misjudging distance, leading to a poorly executed shot. Rangefinding…

Rabbits have always had a reputation for being able to reproduce at a rapid rate, but there weren’t many signs of that happening on my patch last year. Thankfully, things are looking very different this summer and I am delighted to report that these resilient creatures are, once again, breeding like rabbits. Several factors appear to have contributed to last year’s dearth of bunnies where I live in the west of England. The finger is usually pointed at myxomatosis when rabbit numbers fall off a cliff, but I think the sudden and very dramatic decline is most likely to have been caused by rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD). This highly infectious disease kills extremely quickly, has a very high mortality rate and often leaves no obvious signs on its victims. This…

ANYONE WANT TO BUY a nice cockapoo puppy, 10 weeks old, going cheap? I’ve recently heard of a litter of six cockapoos, sired by a fine working cocker, that were originally advertised for £3,000 each, but have now been reduced to only £1,250. OK, they’re hardly a bargain even at this price, but the fact that they still haven’t sold is an indication that, after a crazy year, the puppy market might be slowly returning to something more normal. You hardly need a degree in economics to know that in a free market, prices are dictated by supply and demand. During the past 18 months, demand for puppies rocketed, leading to extraordinary inflation of prices. There was a quick buck to be made here and, not surprisingly, many people responded…

There is something special about going out early in the morning during the summer months. While the wake-up time to catch daybreak is earlier than during the other months, the reward always seems greater. There is a sweet smell in the air brought about by the awakening of life as the leaves find the heat of the sun. The woodland seems to be at the most lush time of its annual cycle and, without the carpet of leaves on the ground, you can move almost silently and become alive to every noise, especially the birdsong that seems louder and chirpier in the summer. While most deer species are out of season over the summer, muntjac remain on the cards due to their year-round breeding cycle. Stalking is not easy in…

Have you ever shot anyone? Let me rephrase that. Have you ever nearly shot anyone? More than two score years have passed, but when I think back to that May evening when I was allowed to carry a loaded gun for the first time, I can still feel the shock and horror at what I so very nearly did. Detailed to finish off a wounded crow, my eager thumb drew back the hammer on the old .410. The awful suddenness of the shot, the tragicomic leap of alarm of the man and the hole in the turf inches from where his foot had been, rammed home an unforgettable lesson in the most dramatic way imaginable. The privilege that shooting people have to carry and use lethal weapons in the name…

GAME CARRIERS Game carriers used between the wars came in a wide variety of styles, as this picture shows. Used by pickers-up to gather dead birds, the version on the left had a hand-made leather handle and cord slings; the one in the middle was “strong hand-sewn leather slings with steel rings”; while the example on the right had a nickel-plated spring hook and cord-spliced slings. Each could carry a dozen birds. The versions on the left and right had the virtue of easy storage and carriage when empty, while the middle one allowed the birds to hang nicely spaced to allow faster cooling. They cost between 4s and 9s each. DH…

Anti-shooting campaign group Wild Justice has launched another legal challenge intended to disrupt shooting. The group, which has a string of failed legal challenges behind it, has announced that it is contesting Defra’s new rules limiting the burning of vegetation in England and Wales. In a blog announcing the action, law firm Leigh Day claimed that the regulations “are not only unenforceable, but create a facade of effectiveness, preventing urgent and far-reaching legislation addressing climate change and biodiversity loss from being introduced”. BASC responded by pointing out the conservation risks involved in the action. “As a conservation organisation, we believe Wild Justice’s challenge will directly impact on the sustainable management of land in the uplands,” said Caroline Bedell, executive director of conservation at BASC. “BASC’s Fighting Fund allows us to…

One of the UK’s top gun-selling websites has suffered a serious data breach. Names and addresses of buyers and sellers who used Guntrader appear to have been stolen by hackers, before being offered for a small fee via an open online forum. The data was also made available on the dark web. The list contained details of more than 100,000 individuals, including names, postal and email addresses and a latitude and longitude for accounts. Website users were horrified at the news that their data had been stolen and distributed in this way. YouTube channel English Shooting broke the news of the hack on its Facebook page. A representative told Shooting Times: “I was contacted late on Tuesday [20 July] regarding the breach. It was quickly confirmed as being real after…

When the Editor posed the question “Does everybody hate us?” to me on the phone, I laughed. At the time, I was visiting a friend called Angus who attends the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester. His digs weren’t quite your typical student house. There were pigeon decoys on the lamp shades. Barbour jackets and wellies cluttered the hallway. Old copies of The Field were being used to get the barbecue going in the garden. Everyone I met came from the countryside and seemed to understand it. Angus’s friends loved fieldsports and talked about them. Entire flats in halls of residence would go beating in the winter to earn themselves a free roast dinner. They went pheasant shooting on each other’s farms in the winter and decoyed pigeons in the summer.…

It’s 60 years since Ernest Hemingway, one of America’s greatest writers and novelists, died. It’s an anniversary that has reminded many of his skills as an essayist, for his prose was short and punchy, his stories interesting and always eminently readable. While Hemingway’s life may have been celebrated by numerous tributes to his literary skills, less has been written about his passion for fishing and shooting — or what Hemingway would have called hunting — pursuits that remained an obsession throughout his eventful life. Hemingway was born in Illinois, Chicago, in July 1899. His father was a keen outdoorsman and took young Ernest camping every summer in Northern Michigan, teaching his son how to hunt and fish, and instilling in him a love of adventure in wild places. Hemingway’s first…

A friend’s elderly cavalier spaniel has been staying with us. She’s a very easy guest except for one thing — she’s stone deaf and has been since birth. Her deafness causes obvious problems, such as not responding to verbal commands, but she will also suddenly start barking for no apparent reason, as she did one day at 5.30am. As she can’t hear herself bark, she is clearly unaware of the noise she is making. Veterinary science defines hereditary deafness with two tongue-twisters: cochleosaccular or neuroepithelial. Cochleosaccular is the most common cause of deafness and is associated with coat colour patterns, as it most often occurs in dogs with the piebald colour gene or merle colour gene. It can cause deafness in either one or both ears. In contrast, neuroepithelial deafness…

Iwasn’t sure what to expect as I waited for the latest addition to the Toyota family. The Highlander is new to the UK, though it’s been in Japan under the guise of the Kluger since 2000. The Highlander is Toyota’s largest SUV. It has seven seats and some pretty high-tech eco-wizardry. It also uses a fourth generation full hybrid electric powertrain, with AWD-i intelligent all-wheel drive. It is a bit of a mouthful, but it sounds promising. The Highlander Excel looked sleek as it came down the driveway, an executive look with a dash of ruggedness. The grey metallic paint and 20in alloys are rather pleasing and there’s some interesting lines. The Highlander takes some of its styling from its younger sibling, the RAV4. There’s definitely a ‘RAV4 on steroids’…

The gnarled veteran oaks that jut from Suffolk hedges or stand in outlandish mid-field isolation are invariably not there through mere luck or happenstance. These were boundary trees, planted to mark the division between parishes or, more often, the ‘hundred’. The hundred came into being in the late Anglo-Saxon period and indicated an area of land sufficient to sustain approximately 100 households. This means of county division continued until the mid-19th century. While this practice is long gone, the oaks remain and are cherished by farmers fortunate enough to have such trees on their land. The National Farmers’ Union’s Tree Strategy seeks from the Government increased recognition and funding incentives for veteran and ancient trees outside of woodlands. These trees are not merely of historical importance; one mature oak can…