Innholdsfortegnelse for 20-Oct-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

Despite warm and rather damp weather, Scotland’s red deer rut has reached its peak and stags are roaring from Galloway to Caithness. Alan Boyd, who had just returned from Perthshire, reported: “It is all go up there with plenty of roaring and fighting. It may be the most expensive time to be stalking, but it is also the best.” On the island of Arran, stalkers on the BASC scheme reported plenty of roaring, and stags were photographed holding hinds on the isles of Mull and Skye and right across the mainland. The much-studied Rum deer population was having its rut reported live by NatureScot staff, with the days’ winners and losers quickly reported and attentively followed. In their report, a large stag called Wisdom 11 appears to be this year’s…

Anglers and wild fish campaigners have given a broad welcome to the news that a new aquaculture company intends to trial a ‘semi-closed’ system for farming salmon. Loch Long Salmon will surround the widely used net enclosure with an outer enclosure of a marine-grade impermeable fabric. This outer layer will catch most excess food and excrement, prevent sea lice getting to the fish inside and will stop seals seeing them. Fresh water from below the depth at which sea lice are found will be pumped into the top of the enclosure, with waste pumped out at the bottom and transported for processing and disposal. News that planning permission for a trial site had been sought follows a scathing report from a Scottish government agency. It concluded that sea lice from…

While I was living in Cirencester a few years ago, I shared a house with one of my great friends from university. Among the inevitable shenanigans that two early twenty-somethings get up to, we would religiously go to extreme lengths to try to be the first person to pinch and punch the other to mark the first day of each month. William now lives in Singapore, so pinching and punching in person is somewhat tricky, but we still exchange messages on the first of each month to honour the occasion. He has the significant advantage of being eight hours ahead. On 1 October, I received the message while I was still resolutely in September. The first of October is a special date in many a sportsperson’s calendar, of course, being…

The radical move to put the €2.5 billion currently paid annually to UK farmers into a new agri-environment scheme can be seen as an affirmation of the environmental benefits of game shooting. The proposed Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS), on which the Government is pinning its hopes for a reversal of biodiversity decline, are in no small measure due to decades of research and policy work by the GWCT. “All the vast experience of shoot managers will play an important role” For example, 30 of the 37 arable stewardship options available to farmers were influenced by GWCT science. And many of these, such as cover crops and supplementary feeding, are based on techniques originally developed by gamekeepers to sustain wildlife in a working countryside. The increasingly urgent need to do…

During my nightly routine of letting the dogs out into the garden before bed, I found myself standing and enjoying the cooler temperatures that we have all been craving. As the wind howled and the moon shone through the gaps in the clouds, it was starting to feel like autumn was upon us. Due to different factors, it has been a relatively slow start to the season for me, but there truly has been a lack of proper fowling weather. As I stood in the garden, longing for those cold days I could hear the first sign of winter in the distance. There was a distinctive ‘wink, wink’ of pinks, though somewhat distorted by the wind. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the calls…

Pennine pointer. It’s not a breed recognised by the Kennel Club and it’s not really a breed at all, but it is a tough, all-round gundog that has been produced by gamekeepers working on the grouse moors of the Pennines. They wanted a dog that was happy to work in the most challenging of conditions and one that could hunt, point and retrieve. There were plenty of existing options open to them — why not a Hungarian wirehaired vizsla, for example? However, they were after something different and that’s what they have achieved. As far as I can gather, the one essential for a Pennine pointer is German wirehaired pointer (GWP) blood. The GWP is the most popular breed of working gundog in its native Germany but, perhaps surprisingly, it…

THE SORENTO IMPRESSED me quite a bit. The performance and eco credentials are good and the level of styling and substance ticks many boxes. It’s an ideal family vehicle that is capable of day-to-day life, with the odd country escapade thrown in. My only criticisms are the ground clearance and the lane departure on country roads. I like the quirk of it being a hi-tech hybrid, but still using a conventional key to start it. The ultimate question is, as always, how much is it? Well, it’s not cheap. This version comes out at £39,460 on the road. Given that it’s a seven-seater hybrid with an impressive amount of kit, I don’t think that is too bad. It’s a four out of five in my opinion and, like me, merely…

Of all our domestic livestock, there’s nothing like sheep for tempting dogs to misbehave. When I lived in Kent, I used to walk my dogs daily through a field with a flock of sheep and my puppies grew up so familiar with the woollies that they ignored them. However, one of my puppies, walking on Exmoor for the first time at the age of nine months, decided that a spot of sheep chasing would be good sport. Fortunately, I managed to stop her very quickly and no damage was done, but it was a sharp reminder that hill sheep are a great deal more exciting than their boring lowland counterparts. Some years ago, after moving to Suffolk, I considered getting my own small flock of sheep. I had a three-acre…

Perhaps readers will remember my strange yet totally true tale of the hardy and ambitious wildfowler, who set out on 1 September 1977 in pursuit of wild duck armed with a portable platform and a new and expensive gundog. I hope so. This might have been an unlikely tale, but it was by no means the first excursion into the world of the bizarre. In the days when the wildfowler was saving hard for the new gundog, which was destined to set new heights in disaster for him, his old and ailing spaniel committed untold war crimes, though very ably aided and abetted by her master. This is another true story in which a dog plays a leading role; on this occasion, however, the real star of the piece is…

More than two partridges makes a covey and goldfinches gather in a charm. Both are reasonably well-known group terms; however, how about a desert of lapwings or a covert of coots? Group names for wildlife are a rich vein for pub quiz masters. Many are descriptive — a labour of moles nods to the creatures’ endless tunnelling, and a chattering of choughs needs no explanation for anyone who has heard them. Others owe their titles to antiquity — a sword of mallard, a nye of pheasants and a sounder of boar are all Anglo-Saxon words long fallen into disuse. Domesticated animals are given group names — a pack of hounds, a mess of ferrets or a herd of cows are all commonplace. However, the most apt group term I know…

What seems likely to be Scotland’s final unlicensed muirburn season has got under way. The season officially opens on 1 October, but wet weather delayed the start of burning on many estates. Now a brief window without rain has allowed gamekeepers and farmers to start the burn. The start date of 1 October is intended to limit the risk of wildfire, protect peat and ensure that ground-nesting birds are not harmed. Scotland’s Green/SNP government has pledged to license the practice and to ban any burning on peat soils except under exceptional circumstances. This ban is expected to be in place before the start of the 2022-23 burning season. “The technique burns the heather but not the peat below” For many grouse moors this will severely limit their ability to carry…

WRITE Start a shooting journal. The best time to have started a shooting journal was 30 years ago, the second-best time is now. A few simple lines recording the day’s exploits can build up over the years into a treasured possession and time will turn a grim wet day of misses into an amusing memory. CHILDREN Get some youngsters in the beating line. Beating was always a part of a child’s shooting education and it can give invaluable insight into how a shoot day really works. Of course, safety is top priority but a long day on a windy ridge occasionally flapping a flag is unlikely to be an incentive for a youngster to come back. Keep them active and remember they will get hungrier and colder than the adults.…

Aim to Sustain has launched two ‘zero tolerance’ toolkits to help tackle raptor persecution. The kits consist of model clauses that can be put into employment contracts and leases to demonstrate a commitment to stamping out the persecution of birds of prey. The model employment contract contains a suggested zero-tolerance policy that states: “The employer has zero tolerance for and condemns all forms of wildlife crime including raptor persecution. The employer does not permit, tolerate or condone any form of wildlife crime including raptor persecution and takes any allegation or suggestion of raptor persecution very seriously.” The suggested clauses for sporting leases state: “The owner (or landlord/ licensor) has zero tolerance towards illegal raptor persecution and wildlife crime.” The toolkit was released as British raptor populations hit record levels, with…

I was impressed with the article by Mat Manning (Can’t buy fieldcraft, 22 September). When I was 15 — some 54 years ago — my father got a large water barrel with a bunghole in its side. We had attended the rimfire target shooting club and I had asked to keep my spent cases. These were used as targets placed into the bunghole of that barrel. Our garden was 22 yards long and I was able to practise safely on these tiny brass targets at about 20 yards. “When you can hit nine out of 10 shots we will go hunting for a pigeon,” said my father. It took me a long time to be able to do that with a .177 Diana 25 air rifle and Milbro Caledonian pellets.…

Ten years ago, just before the shooting season began, my father was given a bag of cartridges by an old friend. The bag contained an assortment of random squibs that this pal had fallen out of love with over the past decade. No two cartridges were the same; there was a range of manufacturers, shot sizes and weights. The only common denominator was that the pellets were made from lead. That season turned out to be Dad’s best in terms of shooting ability. He regularly averaged one in two, even on woodcock (he claims), despite the rogue collection of cartridges being fired. As a result, I have never paid much attention to the technical details of my ammunition; it rather proved the point, lead works. “There had been local reports…

A few years ago I was on a shoot when a distinguished older gentleman was telling us about a greedy individual he had met on a let day. “He wanted to shoot anything that moved, regardless of whether the birds were sporting or not,” he said. “And he religiously recorded his tally for the day, including how many cartridges he had fired so he could calculate and finally boast about his 60% kill rate back at the lodge.” My friend nudged me in the ribs and said, “I know another bloke like that”, his tongue-in-cheek remark being aimed at yours truly. Thankfully, the fine old gent didn’t overhear. I shot with him often and always enjoyed his company. There are various schools of thought about keeping record of your performance.…

The boy lined up on the target and steadied his breathing. His finger curled around the trigger, cheek cushioned on the stock, left eye softly closed, exactly as I had taught him. Halfway through his out breath, he paused briefly then, with fluidity, completed the trigger pull. Whack. The Nerf bullet caught me squarely between the eyes. “Right in the noggin,” Charlie shouted with glee as he reloaded his gaudy blue-and-white plastic instrument of, if not death, certainly brief, stinging pain. As I rubbed the emerging red weal on my brow and ducked behind his bedroom curtains to avoid a second volley, I mused on how his marksmanship had improved. On an almost daily basis I receive a smarting reminder that, with a Nerf gun, he is capable of shooting…

Alexander Forsyth is no longer a name familiar to gun buyers, but his contribution to gunmaking was significant. He helped to make the change from flintlock ignition to percussion cap. Forsyth’s work in 1807 led to the introduction of the ‘scent bottle’, containing detonating powder. In turn, this led to the pill, tube, disc and, eventually, caplock by the 1820s. Forsyth was a vicar who started a gunmaking company in 1808 after his experiments with detonating powders. It became Forsyth & Co in 1809, with premises at 10 Piccadilly, London. This paper and ink label gives his address as 8 Leicester Street, Leicester Square, the premises he moved to in 1816.…

Yesterday evening, with a stiff nor’wester and high tide due an hour before dark, Tom and I were lurking at the marsh edge, spying for ducks and hoping for a clue about where to go when we followed the tide back out. We stood no chance of hiding out there in daylight, and the marsh seemed deserted, but as the tide spilled out over the saltings, birds started flighting west for shelter. Suddenly, we realised that they were crossing a causeway where we could hide; a quick move was needed. When we got there, a last low pack of pintail passed by tantalisingly close, but out of range nevertheless. Silly boys; we had missed a chance, assuming that they would only cross up high, as they do later in the…

The presence of beaver dams in a river system may help fish, according to the latest study of the subject. Scientists from the University of Southampton looked at the trout in two Scottish burns feeding the same loch. One had several beaver dams, the other had none. The study found trout in the beaver-modified river were more common and larger than trout in the one without beavers. Invertebrates were also more abundant. While the study appears to show that trout benefit from the dam-building activities of beavers, their effect on salmon and sea-trout remains much more difficult to ascertain. Beaver advocates claim that salmon and beavers coexisted in rivers for thousands of years before the beavers were made extinct. The GWCT’s Dylan Roberts urged caution: “The fact that numbers of…

With the November full moon four weeks away the thoughts of game shooters are turning to woodcock and hopes are high for strong early falls. A few birds have begun to drift in with odd examples reported by shooters and birdwatchers. However, no substantial falls have yet been observed. On Mull, birdwatcher Robbie Steen gave a short answer when we asked if he had seen any woodcock yet: “No.” There was also not much evidence of woodcock on the east coast where fox shooters contacted by Shooting Timeswere not seeing any significant numbers when lamping. While many shooters use temperatures in the UK as their guide to how the woodcock shooting will be, it is the weather on their breeding grounds that is more important. The GWCT’s tracked woodcock Holkham,…

Wildfowler rescued from the Channel A French hunter and his dog have been rescued after they were carried out into the English Channel by a rip tide. The unnamed wildfowler was hunting in the Baie des Veys, near the D-Day beach code-named Utah, when he was cut off by the tide. Numerous recreational and rescue craft joined the search for the man, who was rescued by a French navy helicopter and taken to Le Havre, where he was treated for severe hypothermia. Police prevent trap tampering Police in Gloucestershire have won praise from gamekeepers and conservationists after intervening to protect legal traps from interference. Officers from Gloucestershire Constabulary removed two men from land near Cirencester and gave them “strong words of advice” after they were suspected of tampering with the…

The move to phase out lead ammunition is one of the most divisive and inflammatory issues in modern fieldsports. Yet, despite the wealth of coverage and the emotion the topic evokes in many quarters, the open-minded hunter looking for sufficient information to form their own opinion can nonetheless run into trouble. Online forums are littered with the views of instant experts and conspiracy theories abound, but what is the truth about lead and our health? Many of us are peripherally aware that data exists, but much of it is mired in unhelpful jargon or based on unrealistic assumptions and, in many cases, tucked away in research journals hidden behind a paywall. When it comes to our health, everyone deserves a fair chance to make up their own mind. So, when…

It was just a routine reconnaissance trip; I wasn’t expecting to see too much and simply hoped to find an outing for the next day. As I bounced down the farm track, the latte in my cup holder flying everywhere, I was looking for birds on an old, cultivated bean stubble. Looking through the hedge as I passed, I could see birds just breaking the skyline across the field. They were busily working away, picking up the old beans left behind — beans that had softened into a perfectly palatable condition after a few days of rain. As I got to the larger second field, there were feeding birds all over it. In fact, there were birds everywhere, in reasonably big gangs — the sort of gangs you see as…

Kia has taken a fair chunk of the SUV market with its ever-popular Sportage range. But if you’re looking for something with a bit more space, then its bigger sibling, the Sorento, may be right up your country lane. Surprisingly, the Sorento has been on our roads since 2002 and the shape and style has changed immensely, not to mention the way in which it is powered. This month, we’re having a play with the Sorento 2. It’s a 1.6 turbo hybrid all-wheel drive. The 2 is the entry-level model, but still comes equipped with more goodies than you can wave a beater’s flag at. On first impressions, it looks like a smart bit of kit. Kia has done a good job with the silhouette and styling, making it beefy…

FOR THOSE OF US fortunate enough to live close to open countryside where we can exercise and train our dogs, it’s easy to forget that not everyone has the same advantages. I have often been amazed how far people will travel to work their dogs on different ground. Earlier this year, I reported on a hare-training day organised by the Hungarian Wire-Haired Vizsla Club of Great Britain, held on a Suffolk farm not far from where I live (Gundogs, 5 May). Handlers had travelled from as far away as Bristol and the Peak District, drives that had taken them several hours. They all seemed to think it was worth it, too, though encounters with hares were few. Finding good training ground can be challenging, especially for those who want to…

The countdown to the opening meet at the end of this month has begun. The young hounds introduced into the pack in the summer — the new entry —have had opportunities to learn good trail-hunting techniques from their elders in preparation for the season proper. Mounted followers have enjoyed the chance to get up close to watch hounds during autumn hunting when in smaller, shaded coverts. With more dew on the ground, the scent of the trail has been far easier to chance upon than it is in open country. On a warm morning, the sunrise raises the dew, the ground dries out and the scent lifts, meaning it is much more challenging for young hounds. Approaching the end of October, with autumn giving way to winter, the temperature has…

What’s the use of parallax? SCOPES Q What is parallax adjustment on a scope and why is it important? Is it only a focus knob? A There are two types of scopes. The first type is usually a cheaper, more basic model that will have a fixed parallax, typically set around 100 yards or 150 yards. The other type has an adjustable parallax, which is found in most top-end scopes, particularly those designed for long-range shooting. Parallax, as most will know, focuses the image in the scope, enabling you to see it clearly, but it also has another function. It sets the lenses within the scope to be on the same plane. Why is this an important feature? Well, if the scope is slightly out of alignment, and so not…

There are a few more young birds around, and the bean stubbles have shot better than in the past couple of years. That’s purely down to a normal harvest timing. I’ve seen birds hitting the oilseed rape in reasonable numbers, though this is quite early as they haven’t really started to flock up yet. Having said that, groups are getting bigger. Again, this is early and is a sight usually observed in late October and early November. With more rape being grown, we could see some good old-school flocks in certain areas this winter. Restaurant demand for pigeons has been high. The canniest chefs will pay a premium for young squabs.…

The BASC-led coalition aiming to get local recreational stalkers involved in essential deer management on public land in Scotland has ignited debate (News, 6 October). There are, of course, the usual squeaks and squeals from those who’ve had their noses put out of joint — either because they claim to have thought of it first, or because they worry that somebody, somewhere, might do well out of it. If the proposed pilot scheme flies, everybody will claim to have had a part in its success. If it flops, the same people will chorus “I told you so”. The notion of the public hunting on publicly owned land is somewhat alien to the British tradition. The nearest we come to it is wildfowling on Crown foreshore. That is increasingly trammelled in…