Innholdsfortegnelse for 24-Nov-2021 i Shooting Times & Country

Another amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that would have been welcomed in the countryside has been blocked by the Government. Last week, Shooting Times reported that attempts by the Bishop of St Albans to strengthen the law on hare coursing were blocked by the House of Lords (News, 17 November). The Government has also blocked a change to the law on aggravated trespass, which could have stopped saboteurs disrupting shoots. Under the current law, an offence of aggravated trespass is committed if people enter land to disrupt a lawful activity. However, if saboteurs claim a shoot was unlawful even in a relatively minor way, prosecutors must prove it was not breaking the law. In 2008, saboteurs escaped conviction when the shoot they disrupted was shown not…

One of the many strange effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been a squeeze on the availability of beaters and pickers-up. Shooting Times readers are reporting that the teams working on shoots across the country have changed radically this year, and many shoots and estates have struggled to fill the gaps on their beating lines. Social media posts seeking beaters have risen noticeably this year, with top Scottish sporting estates using Facebook to try to sign up new team members. Even Welsh shooting giant Bettws Hall has been forced to openly advertise for “beaters, pickers-up and loaders”. The exact causes of the beater shortage are obscure. Some blame an unwillingness by older people to take part in social activities with large numbers of people they are not related to. Last…

Clubbing together works for fowlers What a peculiar view of the realities of wildfowling Peter Gilroy Marshall has (Letters, 27 October). I think that to state that Kent Wildfowling and Conservation Association (KWCA) is more of a threat than the RSPB is just silly. The long-established wildfowling club on the north coast of the Thames that he claims has been ‘taken over’ can only be Leigh-on-Sea Wildfowlers Association (LOSWA). I would like Shooting Times readers to know that, far from being taken over, LOSWA by a unanimous vote amalgamated with KWCA some 10 years ago. That was soon followed by an investment of £175,000 to purchase freehold land locally to protect wildfowling and further develop conservation initiatives. In addition to continuing the traditional LOSWA shooting arrangements, the amalgamation provides more…

October brought a run of northerlies. The full moon followed, and the unmistakable ‘wheeoo’ of wigeon could be heard overhead on clear nights. Teal dropped into the pond at last light and departed at dawn. Ragged mobs of curlew and lapwings were arriving from northern climes. High tide was at 4.30pm, sunset two hours later. I spied a chance to combine an afternoon tide flight over decoys with an evening flight under the setting sun. But a split hydraulic pipe, a problem with a sand delivery and a delay at a level crossing meant the drive to the shore was spoiled by a nagging sense that I was missing the best of the chances. Do others get this sensation: that things are happening in your absence; that the best of…

First, do no harm.’ The much-quoted essence of the Hippocratic Oath doesn’t actually appear in that particular work at all. The words are certainly attributed to Hippocrates, but appear elsewhere entirely in Of the Epidemics, in which he begs medical practitioners, “with regard to disease, namely, to do good, or to do no harm”. These words are appropriate ones with which to begin a discussion on home gunsmithing. The guns you may be planning to work on were made by time-served craftsmen at the top of their game. Time may have been unkind to their creations, but unskilled restoration or repair work is the unkindest cut of all, to paraphrase a line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. As a frequent buyer and restorer of century-old (or more) sporting guns, the bodgery…

Though percussion cap ignition was swiftly embraced by sportsmen the world over, the military establishments of the great powers remained less than enthusiastic about adopting it. This was primarily a question of finance: government arsenals were well stocked with perfectly serviceable flintlock muskets and spare parts after the Napoleonic Wars. Any adoption of percussion ignition had to take account of that. It also had to recognise that whereas a civilian shooter could devote a lot of time and effort to cleaning and maintaining a mechanically delicate mechanism, a soldier on campaign could not. However, by the late 1830s, the world’s military had either started to convert its existing stock of flintlock muskets or was building new percussion ones by modifying existing parts. I’ve recently acquired a Crimean War Russian musket…

TYPE ‘HOW MUCH does it cost to keep a dog’ into an internet search engine and you will come up with numerous answers. Apparently, most owners underestimate the cost. The PDSA reckons that the lifetime cost of a dog ranges from £21,000 to £33,000 according to size and breed. Most other sources quote similar figures, all of which seemed to me rather high — and a lot more than I spend. However, given the suggestion that people are likely to underestimate their outlay, I have done some arithmetic of my own. Most estimates of ownership costs include the initial price of a puppy. I’ve only bought one puppy in the past 25 years, my sprocker Emma, for a reasonable £650 three-and-a-half years ago, before puppy inflation took place. I’ve bred…

No one’s yet founded the Prevention of Unkindness to Guns Society, probably because most of us love our guns with that teenagery intensity once focused on fellow pupils at the school disco. But there are exceptions. I still recall the horror of a heap of Berettas slung, unsleeved, into the back of a shooting-school pickup. And a friend’s sidelock, made specifically for him by a close friend, rusting away slowly for want of a dab of grease until an accident with a reversing car put it out of its misery. It had been laid on the ground right behind the vehicle. More commonplace is the care lavished on a bespoke 12-bore by another friend. “He doesn’t quite take it to bed,” revealed his son, “but he will watch a long…

The years before World War I produced glorious wildfowling outings at Wells-next-the-Sea. There were plenty of ducks and thousands of pink-footed geese flighting out to their roosting grounds on the vast sands and returning to their feeding grounds in the early mornings. A few local gunners lined the sea banks and sand dunes for morning flight when the wind was strong enough to keep the geese low, but on fine, still mornings thousands of geese could be seen passing along the saltings with never a shot fired at them. A few gentlemen gunners who visited the town in those days were certainly not so trigger-happy as many who came later. The reason no doubt was that the few who came in the early days hired a local guide who was…

Grouse shooting is still propping up the economy of remote rural Scotland, despite there being very little actual shooting. A survey by the country’s regional moorland groups found that spending from grouse moor management actually increased by £15 million this year, despite the shooting season being one of the worst on record. The grouse season in much of Scotland was wiped out by poor weather during the critical grouse breeding season. Many moors had no shooting at all and others had a limited calendar. This led to average losses of £140,000 per estate this year. But in spite of this, estates still commissioned an average of £600,000 of work each. This money went to businesses such as local garages, joiners, builders and plant hire companies. Last year, a similar survey…

FEED Spin oilseed rape to keep birds busy and help wild seed eaters. Spinning out a little rapeseed can give gamebirds a welcome change in diet and some added nutrients. It also helps keep birds busy, which might encourage them to stay at home, always a challenge when the weather is warm and natural food is abundant. Oily and calorie-rich rapeseed is also keenly welcomed by finches and other wild birds. CHECK Clean and dry guns thoroughly on wet shoot days. With the weather staying unseasonably warm and wet, guns need particular care to protect them from corrosion. Always check that a gun is unloaded before cleaning and never dry it by a fire or radiator; instead, wipe it with a clean tea towel or cloth and allow it to…

Planting trees is very fashionable these days, and most people think it is good conservation practice. Aside from replacing what our ancestors felled, there is also a halo of virtue because of carbon capture and global warming. Like all such fashions, however, there are specific considerations that can make a big difference to how much good is being done. Those who say that we are only restoring what our ancestors destroyed should take a long look at the pollen record; in previous interglacial periods there is little tree pollen. It is almost certainly the case that the post-glacial history of dense woodland over most of the UK is man-made. As the ice retreated, a growing human population killed most of the larger herbivores, allowing trees to colonise what would otherwise…

With their thick necks, bulging Adam’s apples and bullish demeanour, fallow bucks are undeniably imposing during the rut. There’s a certain sense of majesty about them, too. Granted, they may not strictly be a native species, but a territorial beast strutting his stuff in broadleaf woodland is surely up there with rose gardens and afternoon tea in the ‘quintessentially English’ stakes. Hailing as I do from muntjac and roe territory, the fallow rut is a spectacle I’ve yearned to experience at close quarters for some time. I’ve missed it by a few days — or a few degrees. So as I headed south early one late-October morning, I couldn’t help but think the wild winds and too-warm temperatures might scupper my chances once again. I was driving to south Lincolnshire…

You don’t actually need much kit to go deerstalking. Binoculars to spot a beast and a rifle to bring it down are essential, but I would argue that a telescopic riflescope is the most important part of the set-up. There’s a reason why most stalkers advise spending more on a scope than a rifle. A scope turns your rifle into a more accurate tool; it connects you to your quarry before you squeeze the trigger. It has to be reliable to ensure humane shot placement, and to withstand recoil, weather, knocks and being dragged through undergrowth and dirt when crawling into position. Scopes haven’t changed much over the years, but at any gun shop you’ll be presented with a range of options. These scopes may have fixed or variable magnification,…

I’ve enjoyed the recent correspondence in these pages on eating roadkill (Letters, 20 October). I have eaten plenty over the years with no ill effects, though these days I rarely do so. The reason is simple: I can have as many pheasants and partridges as I want from local shoots at no cost and there’s a limit to how much game I want to eat, however much I like it. However, I still can’t resist picking up fresh roadkill, especially pheasants. It’s quite remarkable how many pheasants I have picked up on the road that have suffered very little visible damage, often no more than a fatal blow to the head. I take the breasts off these birds for the dogs. Normally, these breasts haven’t got a mark on them…

We all believe in the Code of Good Shooting Practice, don’t we? Well, we should, because it has been written by our representative organisations as a set of principles that any decent sportsman or woman should not only accept, but embrace and promote. Whenever I ask a group who are out for one of the GWCT’s summer shoot walks whether they abide by the code, I see nothing but nods of assent. But when I ask for a show of hands from those who have read it, rather fewer are raised. So we all stick to the code, but we have not quite got around to reading it yet. Funny that… On first reading, many people are surprised that it contains more about conservation than they expected. But then one…

Latin name: Linaria vulgaris Common name: Common toadflax Other names: Bread and butter, butter and eggs, butter haycocks, dragon bush, flaxweed, imprudent lawyer, Jacob’s ladder, lion’s mouth, wild snapdragon, rancid How to spot it and where to find it: You will easily spot common toadflax at this time of year, in open grassy places, on stony and waste ground, hedge banks, road verges, railway embankments and cultivated land. Its dense clusters of bright yellow and orange flowers first start to bloom in June and continue well into November. They resemble those of the snapdragon, with darker yellow to orange centres, carried in spikes above narrow, greyish-green leaves. Interesting facts: The orange or dark yellow streak on the lip of the flower acts as a guide for the bees that pollinate…

THOUGHTS FROM THE FIELD The hedgerows are interspersed by clouds of pink at present thanks to Euonymus eurpaeus, the spindle tree. The blushing tones are due to the poisonous, yet attractive, turning leaves and berries that the plant sports in autumn. The spindle’s tightly grained wood is highly prized, particularly by those of a creative bent. Charcoal produced from spindle is considered the blue riband by artists. Knitting needles and wool-weaving spindles are carved from the forgiving white wood. On the Continent, the spindle is said to be lucky. However, in a display of British contrariness, we believe the opposite. English folklore says it is particularly unlucky if the tree flowers early, which, it is said, foretells of an outbreak of plague. In 2020, the spindle flowered in the first…

The RSPB has been heavily criticised for hosting a publication on its website that described baiting electric fences with scents that would attract badgers, foxes and hedgehogs. The charity routinely uses electric fences to protect the nests of birds such as terns and curlew. The practice is controversial due to its enormous cost and its tendency to simply displace predators and increase predation elsewhere. Now the Daily Telegraph has discovered that a manual hosted on the RSPB’s website advocated baiting electric fences with scents attractive to animals such as foxes and badgers to encourage them to lick or sniff it. According to Lord Botham writing in the paper: “The RSPB’s manual explains that the electric shock from fences should be strong enough to create ‘a large spark’ and to ‘burn…

The dangerous and criminal behaviour of hare coursers has been brought to national attention after a mass coursing event in Bedfordshire. Footage posted online shows multiple vehicles and several dozen individuals openly coursing hares in broad daylight. The vehicles are driven across recently drilled crops with individuals hanging out of windows and standing in open sunroofs to view the action. Lurcher-type dogs pursued hares across the flat ground, while bystanders shouted encouragement. Though precise numbers of participants are hard to determine, at least a dozen vehicles and around 50 people were shown in the field itself, with a larger number apparently parked on nearby track or road. The video also appears to show police officers standing beside the open doors of a police car, but not doing anything to intervene.…

There’s a hitch to the new trailer law A plan to change the law on towing trailers has hit a serious bump in the road. Changes to the law that would have allowed anyone with a car licence to tow a trailer of up to 3,500kg without taking an additional test were withdrawn by the Government last week. The testing staff who could grant licences have already been deployed to other work. This has left drivers who want to tow a trailer but who don’t have the right licence entitlement unable to tow and unable to book a test. The milu is back at home in its milieu The milu or Père David’s deer is flourishing in the wild in China once again. The animals, which are closely related to…

Getting married is one of life’s great milestones; an occasion that marks an amazing turning point and an exciting new chapter. We had set on an October wedding earlier in the year, so our friends had the chance to move their own weddings to the summer after the inevitable Covidrelated postponements of 2020. When I mentioned the date to our gamekeeper, he laughed. “That’s one weekend of the shooting season you’ll never be able to shoot again.” Only time will tell, but aside from that, it did give me an idea. “It seemed 50-bird days for six or seven Guns was a hot market” Everyone always says that your wedding day passes by in a flash, so I was keen to try to extend the occasion as much as possible.…

Syndicate shoots come in all shapes and sizes, but most have at least a couple of dedicated individuals who are central to their longevity. For the Fenland Wildfowlers Association (FWA) Terrington Syndicate, part-time keeper Tony Butt is a case in point. It was Tony’s father, Ray, and local gunsmith Andy Cochrane who founded the FWA in 1952. Though only a young boy at the time, Tony remembers the 1950s well. Growing up in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, the pull of the marsh was strong. “Dad took me fowling on the foreshore at an early age and I caught the bug,” he said. “Then I moved on to punt-gunning as well. I maintain an interest in fowling and have always recognised that conservation of habitat is the key to the sport.” Habitat creation…

The new generation of Zeiss V8 Riflescopes Zeiss V8 riflescopes deliver more successful moments on the hunt than any other riflescope from Zeiss. Outstanding optical quality, an extra-large eye box for fast target acquisition, and the finest illuminated dot in the world make it an unsurpassed companion in any hunting situation. Despite the elegant new design and narrow main tube of only 30mm or 34mm, the new Zeiss V8 riflescopes are extremely robust and reliable. Learn more: zeiss.ly/new-v8-scopes…

OUR VERDICT If there was an award for the best long-lived modern rifle action, other than the Mauser 98, it would certainly go to the Ruger M77. Bill Ruger imagined a sporting rifle without compromise yet featuring the accuracy and reliability you would expect from a hunting arm, and the M77 was born. Essentially a modified Mauser bolt-action design, as most rifles were back then, Ruger’s investment casting system for the action helped achieve his goal of cost-effectiveness and high production without compromising on quality. Since 1968, the M77 Hawkeye range has undergone many improvements, which this new model embodies. It offers instant visual appeal with its lovely profiled walnut stock, which is bound to attract the traditionalist, with the modern twist of a Cerakote finish to shrug off even…

Wheat is currently trading at a little more than £200 a tonne ex-farm — and costing up to £20 a tonne more if you are having to get it delivered or are going through a middle man. This compares with an average of around £150 a tonne last year and somewhere in the region of £135 a tonne the year before. Shoot budgets are going to feel the difference, regardless of size. I am sure none of us begrudges our smaller farmland and woodland birds their share of the wheat, but having it eaten by deer and badgers, smaller mammals such as rats and squirrels, and of course pigeons and members of the crow family, can end up costing a small fortune. Not to mention a huge amount of time,…

Deer dogs were rarely seen in Belgium 20 years ago. You might spot the occasional one, but most people remained ignorant of the breed. If you did see the dogs, they were with a ranger working in an area exclusively reserved for the shooting of deer or wild boar. And even then, they were only used to find game animals that had been felled. No one paid them much attention and only those connected to particular hunting domains even knew of the existence of the Hanoverian and Bavarian hounds. In recent years, however, these dogs have become increasingly popular, sadly not only with experienced hunters. We have now reached the point where the fashion for these two types of hounds is threatening to undermine careful breeding and training programmes that…

Shed light on elusive rabbits AIRGUNNING Q The rabbits have become very elusive on the farm I shoot over with my air rifle. It is now unusual to see any in areas where I used to see good numbers during the summer months. I don’t think the rabbits have been wiped out by disease because there are still lots of signs of their presence, including droppings and fresh excavations around their burrows. Why are they suddenly spending so little time above ground? A My guess is that the rabbits are not spending much less time above ground, they are simply now venturing out after dark. If you think about it, rabbits that emerged to feed at around 7pm earlier in the year would have been out well before sunset. If…

I once missed a moose. It was about 200 yards away, standing broadside and as big as the proverbial barn door. My companion Gerry and I had seen only one moose — a cow — in eight days of tramping around the Canadian woods. Then suddenly, on our last day,here was a bull the size of a Clydesdale horse, peering at us from behind a screen of spindly spruce. I squeezed off a shot from my trusty .30-06. The moose collapsed. We couldn’t actually see him once he was down because of the vegetation. We waited a while and then I waded cautiously through the thick vegetation, rifle at the ready with one up the spout. The way the animal went down as though struck by lightning made me nervous;…