Innholdsfortegnelse for 16-Mar-2022 i Shooting Times & Country

A hunt saboteur has been fined after attacking a car that contained two children under the age of four. The woman, who has been named as Tracey Cox, was among protesters from three different animal rights and hunt saboteur groups that were trying to disrupt a fun ride organised by the Cottesmore hunt in April last year. Cox struck the bonnet of the vehicle, damaging it and alarming the children inside. She was sentenced to a six-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £200 to the victim, plus a surcharge of £22 and £85 in costs in a hearing at Leicester Magistrates Court. Polly Portwin, director of the Countryside Alliance’s Campaign for Hunting, said: “While animal rights extremist groups such as this are small in numbers, they can nevertheless be…

REAL GROWTH All the talk of Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) and Government payments rewarding “farming for nature” (We can lead the way, 20 October 2021) made a lot of sense to me, especially as during my lifetime I have witnessed the mass destruction of habitat and hedgerows. However, recent political events in Ukraine have reminded me of a poem my primary school class had to recite at the harvest festival in the 1940s. My line was: “My father grows potatoes, although we have won victory”, which was basically part of a continuation of the wartime Dig for Victory campaign in which growing your own vegetables was encouraged to eke out the meagre post-war rations. With our dependency now on imported wheat, fruit, vegetables and sugar, perhaps we ought to…

To put a finger on why the woodpigeon is such an arresting quarry is a difficult thing. But stand in a busy roosting wood on a blustery evening as squadrons of the birds plunge their way towards a swaying canopy and you’ll soon get the gist. It’s a paradox that a creature of habit can be so unpredictable. Yet that tendency to keep us on our toes makes the bird special. I grew up shooting pigeons, so nostalgia and familiarity no doubt have something to do with the bird’s lofty ranking in my mind. But there is surely no more exhilarating thing to do with a shotgun between your hands than stand beneath the boughs for a lively few hours of roosting. “Footwork is key; roosting is a nimble person’s…

OUR VERDICT The German gunmaking firm Haenel has been producing rifles for almost 200 years. Its reputation in Britain is now on the rise, thanks to its attention to detail and its importer, Viking Arms. The Jaeger — or Hunter — range certainly lives up to its name; a bolt-action rifle built in the traditional style using old-world gunsmithing quality but with technology that is bang up to date. This particular rifle comprises a slim lightweight Sporter with correct bedding for consistent accuracy, a Picatinny rail for universal scope mounting, a detachable magazine and a safety with bolt-open facility to unload. Add to this the precision barrel threaded muzzle for sound moderator, super-slick low-lift bolt handle, corrosion-resistant Ilaflon coating and superb walnut stock, and this is an attractive proposition at…

When we reach a certain age, there should be a degree of acquired wisdom. Go easy on tequila slammers, shun double denim and never comb over the bald bits, for example. And if we shoot, we should know which loads, shot size and chokes we should use for different quarry. Goodness knows, we’ve all had enough experience to inform our choices, quite apart from the thousands of words we’ve devoured on these topics. Yet I’m having a serious ponder about what to put up the barrels and how to swing them after some pretty dismal performances last season. Up to now, I’ve followed the mantra of a long-dead and loved friend who was a guru in the shooting world in the 1970s. “Tight chokes are the enemy of good shooting,”…

How to catch a crafty fox FOXING Q I have a fox that regularly appears in roughly the same area — but being close to farm cottages it’s not somewhere I can safely shoot with a centrefire. Noise is also an issue, as the tenants have a young baby. If I can get it close enough, I could probably shoot it with a .22 rimfire. Do you have any advice on doing this humanely? A The .22 LR is the perfect tool for these sorts of jobs as long as shot placement is good and ranges are kept short. As you are so close to some other properties, I’d advise using a number of sandbags to create a safe backstop and ideally try to shoot from a downward angle, such…

THOUGHTS FROM THE FIELD Starlings have made a noticeable comeback this year. The return of overwinter stubbles, a huge reduction in pesticide use and landscape-scale improvement of farmland habitats has borne fruit. Murmurations are now a daily spectacle, the chortling chatter of flocks in hedgerows is heard once more. The starling is a remarkable mimic. Captive starlings can be taught to copy human speech. This ability to impersonate is not restricted to caged birds, however. Wild starlings imitate the sounds they hear around them. The local starlings have teal whistle and golden plover flute in their repertoire; they’ll readily knock out a buzzard mew and a passable rendition of a jackdaw’s “chack, chack”. One has accurately mastered the repetitive ‘bong’ made by an Isuzu D-Max pickup when the driver’s door…

The avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak that hit the UK through the winter is easing — but it remains a potential threat to the next shooting season. Figures published late last year showed that, in total, more than 100 cases of the disease have been recorded in the UK. This is almost four times the total recorded in the previous worst outbreak. Unlike the figures used to monitor human diseases, a case relates to an outbreak not to a single bird, so each case may involve multiple birds. The outbreak began in late October and rapidly accelerated through November and December. After slowing significantly in January and February, the signs are that the outbreak is continuing to slow through the first couple of weeks of March. However, concern remains around…

CROPS The window of opportunity for sowing game crops is rapidly approaching. If you haven’t done so already, speak to your seed merchant about what would suit your plots. Crops requiring lower inputs may well be attractive this year, considering that costs are likely to be high. BIRDS Step up crow control. Spring is peak crow-trapping season and not only are the crows territorial and therefore easier to catch, but there are lambs and chicks that require protection. Laws have changed significantly in recent years and vary around the UK, so speak to a shooting or gamekeeping organisation if you are unsure about the law or about what is necessary to comply with the general licences.…

A recently published study of 426 Italian dogs revealed that 86% of them showed behavioural changes after the death of a canine companion. It prompted newspaper reports that dogs experience a form of mourning, while one of the authors of the report, Dr Federica Pirrone of the University of Milan, said: “Dogs are highly emotional animals who develop very close bonds with the members of the familiar group. This means that they may be highly distressed if one of them dies and efforts should be made to help them cope with this distress.” I find this interesting, as many people have told me how their surviving dog, or dogs, have been distressed by the death of a companion or kennel mate, which doesn’t surprise me at all. However, it’s not…

From whether a man ought to wear a tie in the field to whether all Guns should take a brace of birds home, the sporting world is full of great debates. In the first of my new series on tackling the big issues, I thought I’d bravely focus on lunching. Let me say at the outset that I am acutely aware that there are rational arguments marshalled on either side of this vexed question. Nonetheless, here goes. There are certainly circumstances where shooting through might — perhaps should — be the preferred option. If a party is assembled for the purpose of shooting and all involved are staying at someone’s home or at an agreeable inn before and after the main event, then by all means let’s shoot all day.…

Like professional sportsmen, there comes a time when we pass our physical prime. While footballers or cricketers can remain involved through coaching or management, it might not be so easy for a rough shooter, wildfowler or pigeon decoyer to maintain their interest as old age approaches. It is heartbreaking to see a personal hero having to accept that they have reached the end of their sporting road. One keen Shot of my acquaintance made the sudden decision to surrender his guns in his mid-seventies. He had tripped while on a walked-up day and this small incident suddenly put an element of doubt in his mind about his safety with a gun when in company. However, I think his decision was eased by the fact that he had received a Certificate…

Several years ago, I had a talk with a keen young keeper who was on an estate where partridges were hand-reared. Being moorland bred, he assured me that if ever he took a job on his native heath, he would use the experience that he had gained among partridges to produce grouse artificially. He pointed out that there are certain similarities between the two species. For instance, they both have to be subjected to a pairing technique before breeding can commence. He assumed that if this delicate operation could be tackled with skill, an adequate supply of eggs could be got in pens. After that important preliminary had been achieved, the actual rearing could be tackled with confidence. Since then, I have had some conversation with an older moorland keeper,…

I once wrote that an anti might regard the taxidermy-strewn grand hall of Cabela’s, the US hunting superstore, as a vision of hell. Well, hell is what you make it. Everybody has their own prejudices and we all find comfort in being among like-minded people. Sometimes, the fieldsports community fails to appreciate just how weird we may seem to some other parts of society. We have to be mindful of this reality if we wish to be left alone to pursue our own cultural identity. We cannot always convert people into actual support for our way of life, but we might be able to persuade them to tolerate it. In a liberal democracy, that ought to be enough — providing we don’t become a convenient scapegoat, which is the fate…

Two key Government reviews are set to begin in April. The Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency will jointly launch the public consultation element of their two-year lead ammunition review. This consultation will follow the publication of a ‘restriction dossier’, which will set out what restrictions the agencies propose to introduce on the use, sale and manufacture of lead ammunition. Shooting Times expects shooting organisations are likely to focus on slowing the introduction of restrictions to allow for time to build confidence in alternatives. They are also expected to push back on restrictions on small-bore shotgun ammunition, small-calibre rifle and ammunition and air rifle pellets, where good non-lead alternatives that are any good are yet to be developed. Also in April, firearms licensing fees are to be reviewed. The…

An attempt to restrict the ownership of pump-action shotguns has failed at Westminster. Labour MP Luke Pollard introduced a private members’ bill in an attempt to restrict pump actions after the tragic shooting in his Plymouth constituency last year. The bill was debated as a ‘10-minute rule’ bill, which strictly limits the amount of parliamentary time allotted to a proposed law. Introducing the bill, Mr Pollard said: “I want to rid our communities of these dangerous and unnecessary pump-action weapons that are currently held in homes throughout the country.” The proposed bill would have restricted the storage of pump-action shotguns so that they could not be kept in the owner’s home. Bill Harriman, BASC director of firearms, said: “The Plymouth shooting was a horrific tragedy. However, it is only right…

Not so long ago, a nomadic people with a rich culture and heritage wandered the lanes and heaths of England, as they had for nearly 500 years. These were no New-Age Travellers, but the Romany, a people who arrived on these shores some time in the late Middle Ages, and who picked up the label ‘gypsy’ from the misguided belief that their origins lay in Egypt. Skilled metalworkers and farriers, it is far more likely that the Romany originated in India; first reaching the borders of Eastern Europe, perhaps, with the horde of Genghis Khan, whose horses they shod. The Romany language shares many linguistic similarities with Hindi, giving further credence to this theory. There is even a racist legend that the Romany forged the nails that fixed Christ to…

So far, the drive from Karachi, Pakistan’s economic capital, to the hunting area has taken us four depressing hours. The airport, with its heavy military presence, is a long way behind us, but everything we have seen since leaving its environs has suggested a place of great chaos. As we arrive at our destination, we look on anxiously as two guards with machine guns open the gates. What have we let ourselves in for? Yet inside there’s another world, a heavenly realm incongruously planted amid poverty and suffering. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, though — the accommodation isn’t cheap. Indeed, the hunting expedition for Sindh ibex has proven to be a costly affair. “Older ibex hide to avoid being left in the wake of fitter animals racing from…

Driven shooting is not an inexpensive hobby. A quick look at shooting for sale suggests that the price paid per bird on a commercial shoot starts at £35 and only heads one way. So even a small day could be £350 plus VAT per Gun. If you want a bigger day out, or more challenging birds, start with £1,000 and you can’t go too far wrong. However, there are plenty of opportunities out there for those who don’t want to spend as much but still are keen for some shooting. While I greatly enjoy a day out in the field, my budget doesn’t stretch very far, so I have worked hard to find shooting on a shoestring. My first suggestion is to try to get involved in a syndicate of…

I am continually surprised by the lack of ground cover in some of the woods I see when I am shooting or beating away from home. The poorer ones are usually relatively newly planted hardwood plantations, or mature woods made up of only one or two species that have shaded out the undergrowth. Sycamore, beech and ash are the main culprits, though with ash dieback spreading across the country at an alarming rate, ash trees are going to be less of a problem in the future. I feel that for now we should probably leave them alone unless they are obviously dangerous, in the hope that some of them will have a genetic resistance to the disease. In many places, all it takes to encourage the bramble that will warm…

Ask a dozen gamekeepers what they think of social media and I imagine half would denounce it as the devil and the remainder would point to its benefits when used correctly. Max Hickling falls firmly into the latter camp. For a while, I’ve wanted to interview a gamekeeper who is active on social media and has built a reasonable following; to discuss their motives, the approach they take, the feedback they receive and glean their views on the topic as a whole. More than 14,000 people follow Max’s Instagram page (@gamekeeper_max). He seemed like a suitable person to get in touch with. But at first he was unsure. “I don’t want to come across as blowing my own trumpet,” he said. Speaking to him at greater length, it became clear…