Innholdsfortegnelse for 25-Jan-2023 i Shooting Times & Country

The other day, I turned up at the local car wash feeling slightly embarrassed. Some months ago, the Romanian girl who takes the cash noticed a few pheasant feathers in my car and, recognising what they were, asked if I could bring them some birds. I was delighted that she was so enthusiastic about game and told her I would bring some soon. As so often happens, due to how busy life gets, I completely forgot and I very much hoped that the team at the car wash would have forgotten too. “You b******,” the girl said when I got to the front of the queue. “You say you bring bird and no bird.” I started to reply but she cut me off. “Not happy. I charge double for car…

It has been claimed that the Princess Royal’s bull terrier attacked a keeper’s dog during a family shoot day at Sandringham. A witness said that the dog ran across a field and latched itself on to the gundog’s ear. The insider told the press that “it took a while to get the dog off the ear because it had really sunk its teeth in”. Princess Anne is very keen on bull terriers and has previously been charged when one of them, Dotty, bit two children at Windsor Great Park in 2002. Buckingham Palace was contacted by the tabloids but declined to respond. FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM @SHOOTINGTIMESUK…

Woodcock seem to be an emerging issue for shooting. Everybody has a different take on our sport, but I’ve sensed growing concern about shooting woodcock during this current season. Several of my friends have decided to stop shooting the birds, and there’s definitely a greater sense of restraint where they are shot. Shoot captains are more likely to mention woodcock at the start of day, confirming one way or the other whether the birds should be shot and under what circumstances. Even five years ago, most of the places I shoot would simply assume that woodcock would always be shot. For my part, I’ve been pleased to see people shooting only what they intend to eat. That’s a fair arrangement, particularly since woodcock seem to divide opinion as birds for…

The springs broke at home in the last week of December, and with plenty of heavy rain since, the winterbourne from our village is boring on down; it will surely run for at least another couple of months, if not much longer. In dry winters the springs never break, and in an average year the waters run for a month or so from February, so here in the south we have already had a wet winter by local definitions. The floods are out in the valleys, and a careful look with binoculars reveals little groups of ducks scattered far and wide. Meanwhile, my flightpond in the Dorset hills is all but deserted, so I doubt we will get another flight before the season goes out. The foreshore is no better…

Sporting history Unless you hold an interest in vintage racing cars, the chances are that you will never have heard of Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin. But a century ago he was a household name, especially in the county of Norfolk. He was undoubtedly one of the area’s most colourful residents during the Roaring Twenties, his exploits allowing him to spend little time at his adopted home of Tacolneston Hall. Having served in World War I, Birkin had returned home a dashing young chap who appeared to have the world at his feet. His biography was titled Full Throttle, which perfectly summed up his hectic, privileged lifestyle. Birkin’s family were manufacturers in the lucrative Nottingham lace trade but, strongly against his father’s wishes, his life predominantly revolved around flying aeroplanes and…

Educating and instructing youngsters in the ways of countryside and conservation is an easy task when the young people are aged between six and 12 years old. Primaryaged children are simplicity itself. To harness their spaniel-like joy for life, merely enable them to get mucky, touch dead things and some sharp things and hunt for animal tracks. Before you can say ‘Dr Mike Swan’, you have created a classroom of young conservationists. Teenage ‘peregrines’ When you stray into the realms of the teenager, things become more problematic. With this group, the attention spans and reactions are a mixed bag. At one recent Young Farmers’ Club demonstration, I encountered a few examples of Harry Enfield’s ‘Kevin the Teenager’, sulkily scoffing while I showed and told. Then there were the ‘peregrines’. This…

It never ceases to amaze me how different species of deer act in the wild. Each species will have a characteristic or a trait. Muntjac are not happy in the open and will constantly be on the move when in exposed areas. Roe, if spooked, will run a short distance then stop and look back. Last year, I was out stalking in Lincolnshire and met one of the forestry guys working in the woods. We had a chat about what he had seen. Like most stalkers, I would have thought that the disturbance in the woods would have made all the deer elusive and unsettled but, according to him, this was not the case. He told me that most mornings there would be a herd of fallow in the thick…

Are gamedealers the unsung heroes of the shooting community? As you splutter over your cocoa, let me tell you about a professional deer manager I used to know some years ago. He was always complaining about his gamedealer. This dealer, apparently, was pernickety about carcass quality and always docking money. Every time the stalker and I stopped by the estate’s deer larder, the mere sight of a beast hanging in the chiller would set him off on one of his grumble-fests about the gamedealing fraternity in general and his local dealer in particular. Then, one day, the gamedealer in question was no longer there. I cannot recall whether he had actually gone bust or simply given up. Anyway, cue a severe outbreak of acute consternation from the stalker. What on…

NEWS VOTE You have less than a week to cast your votes for the 2023 Great British Shooting Awards. Now in their fourth year, the awards celebrate the very best of the fieldsports industry. Voting closes on 31 January; the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony at the British Shooting Show, NEC, on 18 February. Visit futureevents.uk/gbsa23/vote to choose your favourites. READ Legendary fly-fishing photojournalist Matt Harris has released his long-awaited debut book, The Fish of a Lifetime, a massive anthology that packs decades of entertaining editorial features and award-winning photography into one huge volume. You can order a copy from Fieldsports Press: bit.ly/3QTkBVK CORRECTION: The fellas over at Plant-Based Future got in touch to say that our piece that reported that seven of their members were charged…

A campaign has been launched by the Gun Trade Association (GTA), in partnership with the British Shooting Sports Council (BSSC), to remove sound moderators from firearms certificates (FACs). As the law stands, all moderators must be listed as firearms on FACs, which the GTA argues wastes time and resources. The issue has now been raised with the Home Office and the police. There are almost 200,000 authorised moderators on FACs but police forces confirm there are no reported use of moderators in crime. Policing minister Chris Philp said: “There is a growing case for legislating to remove them from firearms licensing controls.” Almost everyone who uses a rifle also uses a moderator, which are seen as an essential piece of health and safety kit. Shooting Times contributor and head of…

LETTER OF THE WEEK An unsung heroine Lisa Marie Presley, 1968 – 2023 Whenever I tell people that I met Lisa Marie Presley through her working in a mobile fish and chip trailer, serving people in a pub car park, they think, and say, I’m a complete nutter. They are most probably right, but this is, I can assure you, all completely true. In 2021, when married to Michael Lockwood, Lisa wanted to ‘muck in’ with the local community in a small Sussex village near Polegate, where they owned a mansion with beautiful historic grounds. She adored England, its people and, most of all, our totally unique countryside, where she was a very experienced horse rider. She was also a very passionate ‘hands-on’ conservationist. Through our various telephone conversations, I…

There is a saying “keep your friends close but your enemies closer”. I must stress I use the word enemies in a very loose sense as I have some friends who have worked for some of the agencies to which I refer, and some of them fished, some shot and some did both, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Those who choose to work for the various government departments that decide what we shoot and when we shoot it, among a great raft of other legislation that controls our sporting activities, are in the main driven by an ethical reason — certainly not the salary. That said, it’s hardly surprising they have little sympathy for the wildfowler trying to bag himself the odd item for the table…

One of the things I love about the competitive side of gundogs is the simple fact that it highlights what we need to work on more than a normal day’s shooting. That is not to say these faults are any different on a shoot day, but in a trial you cannot cover them up or make any excuses. For example, in a trial a dog is expected to walk to heel without constant reminders. For good reason; a good shooting companion should not require the handler to repeat the command every few metres, particularly when you are trying to remain focused on shooting. I see examples like this so often. The irony is that it requires a little polish at home and again on a shoot day, and would make…

Gundogs I RECENTLY MET A chap who maintains that without the beaters’ dogs, many shoots wouldn’t be able to function. It’s an opinion that’s hard to disagree with. Despite this, he believes that the dogs in the beating line never get the recognition they deserve. “All the praise and attention is given to the retrieving dogs, and they’re the ones that get fancy titles such as field trial champion. However, if it wasn’t for the beating dogs, they wouldn’t have much to retrieve in the first place.” I then fell into the trap of asking him how he believed the humble beating dogs (or brushing dogs, as they are known in East Anglia) could gain a higher profile. “Simple,” he replied. “We should have a beating championship in which the…

The experts THE ULTIMATE SHOOTING QUIZ TEAM BILL HARRIMANBASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNINGAirgunner and journalist from the West Country DIGGORY HADOKEVintage gun expert, firearms dealer, author and journalist BRUCE POTTSShooting Times rifle reviewer and stalker MIKE SWANConservation expert and head of education for the GWCT DAVID TOMLINSONHighly regarded writer and ornithologist LIAM BELLShropshire gamekeeper, keen wildfowler and amateur naturalist GRAHAM DOWNINGShooting consultant and sporting author TONY BUCKWELLVeterinary surgeon with a special interest in gundogs TOM PAYNE Professional shooting instructor and avid pigeon shooter ELLENA SWIFT Award-winning gundog trainer and canine behaviour specialist TIM MADDAMS Former head chef at River Cottage and runs a shoot in Devon SIMON WHITEHEAD Author, professional ferreter and rabbit controller IAIN WATSON Keen stalker and senior CIC international trophy judge…

One of the hot topics at last year’s British Shooting Show was the price of car parking. One savvy distributor even offered to refund the cost of parking — £16 per day — with the purchase of any new Mossberg shotgun or rifle. This year, show organiser FRL Media has announced that all tickets to the British Shooting Show 2023 include car parking at the NEC at no additional cost. FRL Media said: “This comes as part of the British Shooting Show’s ongoing mission to best serve the global shooting industry and, of course, our valued visitors.” The exhibition runs from 17 to 19 February, with tickets available at shootingshow.co.uk…

One happy trend to emerge lately is an enthusiasm among schools and catering colleges to seek out game. Some of this is driven by campaigns such as British Game Assurance’s Eat Wild, which has invited trainee chefs from around the country to springtime game events. Other interest, however, seems to be happening spontaneously as game gets more of a grip on the public’s imagination. Over the past few weeks, we have received an unusual number of requests to help both primary and secondary schools source game to use in class. Some of these schools spot us on social media and come to us directly. Other interest is being generated by businesses we work with; forward-thinking companies such as Essential Cuisine and Big Barn are keen to educate the next generation…

Your head would really have to be in the proverbial sand not to realise the threat that many of our native creatures face. On a gloomy note, I suspect it is already too late for some. But, with a little effort, we can start to redress the imbalance. Leave parts of the lawn unmown, a tucked-away corner uncleared of weeds or windblown branches to break down and rot — it does not take long for small improvements to begin. If enough folk start to make these changes, then collectively it can make a huge difference, from the smallest insects to the largest mammals. Nature will recover when given the chance. But, for the most part, such a chance will have to come from us. For example, when we moved to…

British game Familiarity, goes the old saying, breeds contempt. I’m not suggesting that any sportsman has contempt for the pheasant, but I’m sure that when we lift our gun to a rocketing cock, we see just a pheasant, not one of the most resplendent and beautiful birds in the world. Look carefully at a mature cock, his plumage a stunning mixture of gold, bronze and black, his face as bright as a master’s coat, and you appreciate that this amazing bird is simply far too exotic to be British. Pheasants may have lived in Britain since the time of the Norman Conquest, but they’re never going to be thought of as native. In sharp contrast, there’s nothing in the least bit exotic about a brown hare, for it looks every…

Game cookeryThe Field Kitchen: coronation pheasant I look forward to what 2023 holds for wild, sustainable game meat. I’ve seen venison stews served by the NHS, Kentucky fried partridge legs at Le Bab and pheasant sausage rolls on the menu at Drake & Morgan. These are big companies flying the flag for game meat, which got me thinking. What more can I do in 2023 to move the dial? Simple: keep producing recipes that are easy to follow and bring people from all walks of life into eating more game, and educate the public on the importance of an assurance chain in the game meat sector. When I got a call from Stuart Eborall of Warwickshire Wild Game, asking if I would like to head out on a walked-up day…

I wrote in a recent viewpoint (28 December) about the reluctance of many dogs to pick up a woodcock. Since then, I’ve conducted a mini survey among gundog-owning friends to see how common it is for dogs to refuse to pick woodcock. Most said that their dogs would retrieve woodcock but were always keen to spit them out at the first opportunity, while others remarked that their dogs had never been given the opportunity to pick a ’cock, as the birds weren’t shot on the shoots where they worked. Earlier this month, I spent a gloriously sunny day on a shoot in North Norfolk with an abundance of these mysterious woodland waders. One of the shoot’s members, Carl Wilcox, told me that he reckoned on a typical December or January…