Innholdsfortegnelse for 3-May-2023 i Shooting Times & Country

Merseyside Police have caused outrage in the shooting community by suggesting that they are working to “remove and reduce” the amount of lawfully owned firearms across the area. The claim has prompted BASC to lodge an official complaint with the Independent Office for Police Conduct. A newspaper carried quotes that the force had “work ongoing to remove and reduce the amount of lawfully owned firearms across Merseyside so that they don’t fall into the wrong hands”, and that “the force is prevention driven so we are looking at removing that threat before it emanates”. BASC did not disclose the name of the publication, but it stated in its complaint that the comments were both intimidatory and discriminatory. BASC’s director of firearms and ST contributor Bill Harriman remarked: “The unevidenced comments…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Will campaigners step up to help? Following a number of balanced and perceptive articles recently on trophy hunting, and by inference all paid-for hunting both here and abroad, I was interested to read an online article from the I newspaper regarding the sale by auction of a ranch in South Africa that is home to a substantial white rhino population. The 21,000-acre property is on the market for about £8m, complete with animals. To date there has been little interest from buyers, and therefore it risks being split up and the livestock sold separately to the highest bidder. I wonder where the rhino would end up? The annual running costs are said to be £2.4m, not a lot in the scheme of this (but unfortunately out…

On an early spring morning, three of us met to stalk. Ben would be making his way to a high tower to wait for deer emerging, while I guided Alex, who is relatively new to stalking. Providing one-on-one mentoring would help build his experience and, critically, confidence. There is a great step change between what is learned on DSC1 (deerstalking certificate), an introductory course, and the expectations of the DSC2 assessment, in which the candidate is required to lead a stalk and complete all components, from stepping out of the vehicle to hanging the beast in the chiller. Preparatory stalks, such as these, are crucial to build the necessary skills and experience for this important advance in the deer manager’s progression. We carefully made our way along the woodland edge,…

When the season draws to a close, most shooters put their guns back in the cabinet and there they will stay until the autumn. But the introduction of simulated game shooting has enabled shooting estates to generate income through shooting while offering a great summer alternative to the clay ground for game shots. It can also help educate anyone interested in what a day’s shooting is really like. I speak from experience as I was involved from the early days when working for one of the schools that was influential in the introduction of simulated game shooting. Working with Jonathan Irby of the Royal Berkshire Shooting School for Purdey, I learned the complexities of running a simulated day. When Jono departed, I ran the simulated shooting on six estates in…

Delving deep into the way sport, land, and big houses are run now We recently had the Wildlife Trust undertake a survey across much of the land on the estate, and the results were fascinating. The species list topped well over 400, something I would never have believed prior to surveying. What was stark, though, was the way the species map dropped off so violently as the surveying moved from grassland and woodland on to the arable farmland. We were recently faced with the return of several hundred acres of land from a tenant who clearly had reached the end of his overdraft and could not face another harvest. A sad sight to see, but I have huge respect for him admitting his despair and handing us back the keys.…

THOUGHTS FROM THE FIELD The new moon rose on 20 April and now is the perfect time to see ‘earthshine’. This occurs when sunlight reflects off the Earth’s surface on to the unlit portion of the moon. This twice-reflected light makes the crescent appear exceptionally bright, while the larger unlit portion glows with a somewhat eerie ashen hue. Earthshine is sometimes known as the ‘da Vinci glow’ after Leonardo da Vinci, who was the first in history to explain the phenomenon. The light cast by earthshine causes interesting behaviours in wildlife. The brighter nights are known to trigger large-scale migrations in birds, with swallows, swifts and turtle doves among the species making their appearance around now. Earthshine can also lead to increased activity by nocturnal mammals, so it pays to…

NEWS The team at Wild Justice — Mark Avery, Chris Packham, and Ruth Tingay — have once again been on their annual meat-aisle supermarket sweep. The narrative is usually the same — the trio pop into a few retailers up and down the country to buy game, which is then sent off to be analysed for lead levels. Some weeks later a blog is posted announcing that in spite of all the talk about the shooting community cutting back on its use of lead ammunition, levels in the meat are still worryingly high. This time they went to Harrods, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, M&S and Lidl. However, the message this year has changed a bit. “The blog comments that it is too soon to whoop with joy” For the first time, there…

The RSPB has a dilemma: it knows that predator control is vital to protect ground-nesting birds, but its wardens rarely have the skills necessary to do so. In Northern Ireland, it’s seeking contractors to undertake fox and crow control on its reserve at Lower Lough Erne, Co Fermanagh, a site important for breeding lapwing and curlew. However, as many of its members dislike predator control, it tries to keep such activities quiet, insisting that any killing is undertaken out of public view. In response, Lord Botham, a keen Shot and environmental campaigner, accused what he calls the “eco-Left charity” of hypocrisy. In an article in the The Telegraph, he suggested that wounding rates for fox shooting at night “are catastrophically high”, and that the RSPB “needs to be more upfront…

"As the crow flies” seems a weak comparison. The Cambridge Idioms Dictionary says it means in a straight line; the most direct route. After five hours of trying to read the movements of corvids in the wind, to me it implies the contrary. Crows fly with an ability to twist and to turn, to blow like a leaf, to rise and to fall and to rise again apparently vertically. They sometimes hang with no perceptible movement then run in the teeth of a gale, disappearing faster than the wind that carries them away. By crows, I’m applying a shorthand for jackdaws and rooks as well, and they all made for an exceptionally difficult afternoon’s shooting. “Crows have the ability to blow like a leaf, to rise and fall and rise…

Meet the personalities who share our passion for fieldsports The first years of my life were spent in a cottage on a farm in Brownhills, just outside Lichfield. It was a sporting paradise that harboured grey partridges, hares, pheasants, pigeons and rabbits. That idyll came to an end when I was six years old and my mother died. I have few memories of that period, but remember crying with my father, the only time I ever saw him shed a tear. We moved in with my grandparents, who lived next to my father’s small engineering factory. Father was busy building his business and it soaked up much of his time. Consequently, Grandfather had a six-year-old shadow — I know it gave him as much pleasure as it did me. Grandfather…

Across 1 A figurehead secures groups of birds (6)5 Marks of correctness for parasites (5)8 A trap on the outskirts of Cambridge (4)9 Supply trashy types with rearing equipment (4,4)10 A bakery offering from New York initially for the rabbit (5)11 Gun reports are variable (7)14 As Tripoli is transformed, there’s a gun to hand (3,6)17 A viewing spot at field trials with art on display? (7)18 There’s no escaping Genoese wildfowling targets (5)20 Exactly what Guns strive to be if they don’t want to go missing (8)22 Do a pressing job on gun sights (4)23 Those putting the spotlight on large measures of electric current? (5)24 Become as skilled as the commander of hounds (6) Down 2 Is there division among the International Gundog organization? (6)3 The result of…

Fifty years ago, the black-winged kite was one of the rarest birds in Europe, with just a tiny population in Portugal and Spain. In recent decades numbers have been increasing, with the first birds found nesting in south-west France in the 1990s. Today, the French population is estimated at 1,500 pairs, with the nearest nesting birds to Britain in Pas-de-Calais. Though widely predicted as a potential colonist for Britain, this species had never been recorded here until earlier this month (18 April), when the first-ever sighting was logged in mid-Wales. The bird’s finder, Martyn Owen, managed to video it. These kestrel-sized kites are birds of open country, where they frequently hover when hunting. Their diet is similar to that of the kestrel, with insects, small birds and rodents forming the…

NEWS Nothing stands still. Not so long ago, every shoot up and down the country would have had a few Land Rovers in the mix and it was the keeper’s truck of choice, but as The Vapors sang in 1980, it’s been “turning Japanese” for a while. Hilux and Isuzu are now the order of the day, and it has been announced that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the parent company, is to cease production of ‘Land Rover’ branded cars altogether. Land Rover was born in the post-war period when the nation was fighting to establish itself on the global automotive stage. Since then, however, things have changed and lots of their offerings have come to be seen as outdated. Richard Negus, hedgelayer and ST contributor, described his Defender ownership as…

The use of single-shot rifles in the stalking field is not something I had given much thought to, but that changed after a conversation with someone in the gun trade who mentioned that the sale of such rifles was on the increase. I do know of a few stalkers who use them but I have never handled one. My curiosity was aroused. After the subsequent and inevitable discussions over a post-dinner dram on the use of the single-shot option for deer, I fired an exploratory email over to those awfully nice folk at Viking to ask about the chances of getting my hands on one for a roebuck stalk. My request was clearly well received and a few days later a Merkel K5 arrived at Garryloop HQ. What a stunning…

The Coronation Despite some 30 seasons passing, I remember the day with crystal clarity. Hounds met at Lowesby, the grassy heart of the Quorn Friday country. The bitch pack looked their usual lithe selves; Richard Mould, the grand old pack’s kennel-huntsman, did likewise. I sidled up to my friend, who was mounted on a butty horse, his eyes forever on his hounds. “All well?” I asked. “Morning Arthur,” he replied — you tend to get called Arthur by people of a certain vintage if your surname is Negus — “I hope this horse of yours jumps,” he muttered out of the side of his mouth, patting the bay mare’s neck. I had sold the horse to the hunt in the autumn. “The Prince is out,” he added with a knowing…

Crows and magpies are sharp-eyed opportunists that never miss out on the chance of an easy meal. Their talent for locating sources of high-protein nourishment and helping themselves makes them a constant problem on a small estate close to my home, where corvids have lambs, gamebirds and poultry to go at — not to mention the impact their nest-robbing habits must have on the songbirds that are trying to raise this spring’s clutches in the hedgerows and wooded areas. Corvid control isn’t easy on this estate, as there are scant opportunities to make larger bags with the shotgun. Instead, I tend to keep them in check, or at least do my best to, by chipping away at them with regular airgun sorties. Bags are usually modest, but I believe my…

Subaru is the latest manufacturer to join the all-electric market. The Solterra was slightly late to the party, but Subaru has had a sneaky hand in the game for a while now. It’s been collaborating, developing extension-lead powered off-road abilities — and some readers may find the Solterra strikes a resemblance to a Toyota. That aside, let’s crack on. Sleek meets futuristic ruggedness. The overall silhouette is pleasing to the eye despite its familiarity. There are some bold angles incorporated in the styling, which marry well with the LED lights front and rear. The Solterra is certainly eye-catching, and it has a higher-end look. Crouching down with a feedbag, there’s not much to take in — it’s mostly industry-standard plastic under-trays. We’ve got 177mm of ground clearance before we scuff…

VINTAGE TIMESCELEBRATING OUR BEST WRITERS Easter weekend brought an opening to the trout season in my part of the world. Earlier that week I had made one of my infrequent visits to London for the express purpose of meeting up with some old angling chums. Ken Morritt, of Intrepid Reels fame, had organised a little luncheon reunion and was to show us some of the latest products being released from the Falmouth factory. Of particular interest was the new Intrepid superline. An underwater demonstration proved, to this writer at least, that this new line is more invisible than the other competitive brands displayed. It is modestly priced and I forecast a profitable future for the company from this one item alone. There was also a breakthrough into the cheaper fibre-glass…