Innholdsfortegnelse for 15-Sep-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

BASC has asked the Senedd Cymru to convene an inquiry into the contribution of shooting to the Welsh economy and environment. Natural Resources Wales, the Welsh government’s environment agency, has made a series of what have been seen as anti-shooting moves in recent years, including radically altering the conditions of the general licences and refusing to renew shooting leases on land it owns. These moves have come despite shooting adding £75 million to the Welsh economy and supporting the equivalent of 2,400 full-time jobs, many in remote areas. Earlier this year, the Welsh government refused to support shooting businesses that were struggling as a result of COVID-19, saying it does not “support activity that may lead to animal cruelty as a leisure activity”. Welsh game Shot Robert Lewis said: “The…

A team of North Yorkshire gamekeepers has defeated opponents from a local hunt in a charity cricket match. Gamekeepers from the North York Moors Moorland Organisation were first into bat and scored 170 all out. In reply, the Sinnington Hunt staff and members only managed 102 before their final wicket fell, handing the moorland men a convincing win. Last year, the gamekeepers spent several evenings each week revamping the cricket field where they held this charity match in Gillamoor as it had become overgrown, untidy and unloved. There had been no cricket team for five years and it was a sad sight for a village that had previously had a thriving cricket scene. Local keeper Sam Farrow, who instigated the clean-up, explained why he got involved. “Living near to Gillamoor,…

I think I’ve heard more arguments against early-season wildfowling than ever this year. “Young mallard and geese on inconsistent flightlines, that’s not my idea of good sport,” opined a fowler of many years’ experience by text in reply to my query as to whether he was heading out. “Wait until the weather gets proper rough; then at least you know you’ve earned the bag,” said another as we chatted at dusk in late August. “I can’t get out of bed early enough to make it down there at dawn in September,” explained a fellow Gun at the pre-season club meeting. “And there are too many people fishing or sailing in the evenings.” “Yep. I’d rather be after pigeons or bass in September,” answered another clubmate when I asked him his…

I have an app on my mobile phone that lets me time travel. It is a chronos-like gadget that delights, if apps can delight, in reminding me that the sands of time run with unseemly haste. It saves the photographs I have taken. Then, like a conjurer, it digs them out to reveal what I was up to on this day — be it last year, two years ago, three years ago or even over half a decade ago. Images recorded on 1 September are more plentiful than any other day of the year. Endless photos of me covered in mud, my dog covered in mud, my friends covered in mud and, of course, the birds that inhabit the dramatic far-flung wetlands of East Anglia. The opening day of the…

Since childhood I have been an unashamed gun enthusiast, but there is one type of shotgun that’s fascinated me more than any other. The semiautomatic, now entering its second century, is beloved by sportsmen, hunters, police and armies around the globe. This easy to use, cheap to make and, above all, practical gun has a plethora of uses. My semi-autos have accompanied me on wild excursions into forests, up moors and mountain, to tidal estuaries,along peaceful Cotswold hedges and from Argentina to Hebridean islands. Not much has changed over the years. The biggest differences are in materials used. Wooden stocks have been swapped for synthetics and steel actions for aluminium ones. The undisputed godfather of the semi-auto is John Moses Browning. His recoil-operated A5 semi-auto was destined for the Winchester…

Do you weigh your dog’s food before feeding it? I was recently asked how much I feed my dogs. My questioner wanted the answer in grams. I couldn’t answer, because I hadn’t got the faintest idea. I have never weighed my dogs’ dinners and have no intention of doing so. Good animal husbandry depends, I believe, on feeding by both eye and by instinct. With experience, you learn to know how much to feed an individual dog, appreciating that some need more to eat than others. You can look at a dog and see at a glance whether it’s getting too much to eat, or too little. You then adjust what you give it accordingly. In the summer, when it’s not working, a dog doesn’t need the same calories as…

My acquaintance with the hedgehog began at an early age. We lived in a big old house with a large garden entirely surrounded by a brick wall, so that harmless animals we wished to keep as pets could be safely given their freedom. As the fowl were kept in runs, my father always liked to have a hedgehog or two running loose to keep down slugs, snails and caterpillars, which they did so effectively that we often collected bags of snails elsewhere to add to their diet. They soon became quite tame and used to come to the back door at night to consume saucers of bread and milk that were placed there for them. The house had the best run of cellars of any in which I’ve lived. These,…

Rules on sharing firearms FIREARMS LAW Q I understand shotgun licence holders can lend each other a gun for up to 48 hours without telling the police, but is there any limit on how often this can be done? A The loan period is actually 72 hours (Section 33 (1) (b), Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997). After that, both borrower and lender must notify their local police of the transaction. There is no limit to the number of times that this loan can take place. In order to be bombproof, the start time of the loan should be recorded somehow, such as by a text at the time the gun is handed over to the borrower, plus a reminder of the time by which it must be returned. It is a…

Latin name: Tricholomopsis rutilans Common name: Plums and custard Other names: Strawberry mushroom, red-haired agaric How to spot it and where to find it: Varying in colour from bright red to purple, the caps of this enchantingly named mushroom conceal the underside in their young, domed state. As they flatten with age and spread, they reveal the ‘custard’ beneath. But while the gills are a glorious sunny yellow, the spore pattern is white. In very old specimens, or in very dry weather, the caps crackle into scales, revealing the bright yellow flesh underneath the cuticle. A saprophyte, it feeds on the decaying roots and trunks of conifers, though has been found in mixed woodland. Interesting facts: Despite the mouth-watering name, plums and custard mushrooms are bitter to the point where…

I sat comfortably on a grassy ledge, glassing the steep, wooded valley below as golden rays of evening sunlight gilded the high tops and crags. From my elevated perch, I could see endless blue mountains. There was not a breath of wind. The silence was absolute. Mist was starting to pool in the hollows. The temperature had barely cooled from its afternoon peak, while the humidity had increased as the sunlight waned. The setting could have been somewhere in southern Africa, on a plains game hunt. Yet I was in Scotland, in August, waiting for stags to emerge from the woodland. I have never before stalked red stags in midsummer — let alone in a heatwave. But my recent experience has me reassessing the way I see the shooting year.…

The anti-hunting activist who put an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 gun owners at risk has said they do not believe they have committed a crime (News, 8 September). Their comments came as cyber police launched a massive effort to find them and to have data stolen from the Guntrader website taken offline. The person, who uses the pseudonym Ernie Goldman, is believed to be the individual behind a file published online that allows users to zoom in on the locations of customers who used Guntrader. ‘Ernie’ told online technology paper The Register: “If a judge and jury of our peers finds us guilty of any offence, we will of course accept the punishment with good grace and apologise to anyone who can be defined as a victim. However, we don’t…

In a move that suggests it is looking to bring forward a ban on the use of lead ammunition, Defra has launched its online consultation on the substance and its alternatives. The UK appeared to have dodged a requirement to ban lead ammunition under the European Union Reach framework. Earlier this year, Defra said it would move towards a ban. Announcing the intention to phase out lead ammunition, environment minister Rebecca Pow said: “Addressing the impacts of lead ammunition will mark a significant step forward in helping to protect wildlife, people and the environment.” Now the consultation has been published online and its scope is far wider than anticipated. As well as covering game shooting and wildfowling, it will also try to capture information on “clay pigeons, paper targets, biathlon…

Three charged in Scottish dog thefts Three men aged 17, 22 and 40 have been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of two dogs from a property in Glen Prosen, near Kirriemuir, on 19 August. Shooting Times understands that the arrests were in connection with a theft that we highlighted and that a quick-acting gamekeeper was vital in obtaining information leading to the suspects’ detention (News, 1 September). The men were released from custody on an undertaking to appear at Forfar Sheriff Court later this month. Packham seeks to take Defra to task Chris Packham has launched an investigation into whether there is a ‘conspiracy’ at the heart of Defra. Bizarrely, one of the groups listed as a possible conspirator was the RSPB, the charity of which Packham…

As it approaches what may be its most challenging season yet, the British Game Alliance has rebranded itself as British Game Assurance (BGA). It hopes the new name will better reflect what it does and will mark out its place among the group of shooting organisations that make up Aim to Sustain. However, a name change alone will not address the serious challenges that remain in the game market. BGA was launched in 2018 to “increase the value of shot game by seeking new markets both in the UK and internationally, linking consumers with processors, promoting the health benefits of eating game, and challenging public perceptions of game meat”. Behind the well-worded press releases and glossy pictures of spiced spatchcock partridge was a relatively simple aim — shift more birds.…

Muscovites say if you ask one question of two Russians, you’ll get three answers. Wildfowlers are the same. Ask any group of fowlers, as I did at my club’s AGM, whether September wildfowling is the real deal and you’ll be greeted with moans and groans from the old hands at the mere suggestion, while others will excitedly regale you with tales of the duck and geese they’ve spotted during their August recces. Proper wildfowling, so it’s claimed, demands the intrepid fowler sets forth into the teeth of a winter gale, with the barometer needle on ‘Stormy’, the temperature in single digits and the shipping forecast issuing gale warnings for Fastnet, Lundy and the Irish Sea. The dawn must be fiery red with menacing clouds scuttling across the sky and white-topped…

I tested the gun with a number of cartridges and was impressed with its reliability. The Maxus II cycled a 24g 65mm cartridge with ease; no mean feat for a semi-auto with a 31/2in chamber and something most of its competitors would struggle to do. The gun operated most smoothly with a 28g 70mm load. Lock time was impressive and felt recoil was negligible. The gun shot with ease on a range of clay targets and gave confidence to approach harder and more distant targets as you got used to it. Due to the incredible lock-time speed and low recoil, fast follow-up shots could be taken without the gun jumping around and taking you away from the line of a target. Overall, the Maxus II is possibly the most advanced…

Greylag geese are on the rise. Every year brings more to the ponds and pools of the parish and they rarely fail to produce healthy, swaggering teams of youngsters. It would take a brave fox to confront a protective pair of adult geese and, once goslings are sufficiently well grown to survive a period of cold weather, they seem almost indestructible. Under these favourable conditions, it’s no surprise that their numbers should continue to rise. Greylags were fairly scarce 20 years ago, but they have started to spread their wings. Still branded as feral, greylags have a poor reputation in this part of the world. Many of these birds were reintroduced by wildfowlers across the UK after their numbers declined during the 20th century. Scientists make a distinction between the…

I was on my way home after shooting some rabbits when, driving through the village and turning a corner, my headlights swept across the green. It was like a scene from Peter Rabbit. Scurrying scuts scattered in all directions, zigzagging in the road to evade my truck. They scrambled over stone walls into gardens and peered out from behind the front wheels of the parked cars. How could I not smile? It was no surprise then when the couple from a nearby property sent me an SOS — or ‘save our sanity’ as they described it. They had just visited the local garden centre and, after planting a trolley full of flowers, it only took a few hours of darkness to turn the plants to stems. The thieves left a…

The Government is set to introduce a new criminal offence of pet abduction. The plans for the new offence, which could be used to target gundog thieves, came as a stolen spaniel was recovered in a police raid. Bonnie, a working gundog who was snatched from her home in Norfolk in January, was found by police in Wickford, Essex. Another dog taken at the same time remains missing. Police confirmed that when Bonnie was recovered, four men were arrested for a variety of offences, including burglary, criminal damage and criminal attempts. The decision to create a new offence has prompted both praise and criticism. The RSPCA welcomed the move, saying: “The new pet abduction offence will acknowledge the seriousness of this crime, and we hope this will encourage courts to…

Flour millers have appealed to sporting shooters and pest controllers to help tackle the problem of wheat becoming contaminated with shot. UK Flour Millers — the trade association for British flour producers — made the appeal after mills were forced to dispose of batches of flour as waste and to replace UK-grown wheat with imported grain when it was found to be contaminated with lead. Joe Brennan, UK Flour Millers’ senior technical adviser, told Shooting Times: “We would like to remind sporting shooters and pest controllers that they should not be shooting in grain stores as it can potentially contaminate flour and render it useless as a food product.” As it is small and dense, lead shot sinks to the bottom of grain piles and trailers and is missed by…

Of all the sounds guaranteed to raise the hairs on the back of your neck, the cackling ‘go back’ of the grouse is surely one of the most stirring. And while this refrain resounded across moors in Britain last month, on this side of the Irish Sea things were sadly much quieter. Though we do have a grouse season here in Ireland — which opens on 1 September and runs for that month only — the ‘heather hen’ has become a rare sight indeed in the Irish bogs and uplands that once held healthy numbers. The start of the bird’s decline on these shores can be traced back to the loss of the traditional ‘keepered’ estates in the 1920s. As land ownership changed and the grouse could no longer rely…

Over the past few years, there has been an ever-increasing use of thermal rifle scopes and observation units in the shooting world. An array of well-known and not-so-well-known manufacturers are dipping their toes into the market and releasing models. With more manufacturers and more options in the market, prices are increasingly competitive, therefore the use of thermal scopes and spotters has become quite commonplace among foxers and stalkers. While some professional pest controllers may be able to justify an outlay of more than £4,000 on the latest top-spec thermal scopes, many will not. If you are searching for your first thermal unit, it is important to weigh up price, performance and ease of use, but picking an affordable option can be a minefield, with numerous units costing about £2,500. If…

The Editor’s pick of the best wildfowling kit on the market 1 Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 semi-auto RRP £2,150 sportsmanguncentre.co.uk With a stylish new receiver, the latest Super Black Eagle is the ultimate tool for wildfowling. It features Benelli’s inertia-driven system, which delivers reliability and durability with minimum maintenance. The improved Comfort Tech 3 system reduces felt recoil. 2 Deerhunter Mallard trousers RRP £189.99 deerhunter.eu New from Deerhunter, these trousers feature detachable braces, two front pockets and an adjustable elastic waistband. Pre-shaped knees and a fleece lining offer extra comfort. 3 Härkila Heat waistcoat RRP £229.99 gb.harkila.com This lined waistcoat has built-in heating membranes that can be set to the temperature you require. It can also be packed away into the supplied dry bag, making it…

Nestling below the towering mass of Creag Dhubh, and mantled by the fragrant pine woods of the Rothiemurchus Forest, Loch an Eilein is a jewel set in the crown of the Cairngorms National Park. A shallow loch, with an average depth of only 10m, this secluded water has long drawn me to its sandy shores in search of large but capricious highland pike. Loch an Eilein, from the Gaelic ‘loch of the island’, has a tranquil beauty that belies its turbulent past. On an island close to shore sits a castle ruin that was once the stronghold of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan. Stewart, the son of King Robert II of Scotland — the man responsible for the sacking and burning of Elgin Cathedral — had such a reputation for…