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EXCLUSIVE: EX L SIVE BERETTA’S NEW SUPER-LIGHT GUN ON TEST

26 MAY 2021

How pigeon shooting has changed

PERFECT DAY

OUTFOXED

DUCK SHOOTING

What paying Why lamping Create the ideal Guns want still has its place flightpond

DOG OF THE WEEK

Molly Molly is 13 years old now but in her younger days she was a hell of a ratter — she killed her first at six months old and never looked back. Beyond rats, she loved an afternoon of roosting pigeons, but is now retired and likes ice cream.

Owned by Tom Payne. Photographed by Sarah Farnsworth

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Ringing the alarm Only a couple of years ago, if I was awake at 2am, I was probably at a party. Lately, though, I’ve found myself out on the road in the early hours of the morning, going in search of some of Britain’s rarest birds.

Last week, I went to Suffolk at dawn to join a three-man team who were ringing nightingales. It was an extraordinary experience and holding a nightingale in my hands was a real privilege. In the past 40 years, nightingale numbers have declined by more than 90%.

The causes are many, but the ringers were adamant that browsing by muntjac deer is having a disastrous impact on nightingale habitat. It was heartening to hear them talk about the need for the nation to eat more venison. These were not shooting people, but one of them told me he’d once had an incredible day of hunting pheasants with a Harris hawk.

It’s easy to imagine that those who don’t shoot are generally opposed to what we do. But for every person I’ve ever met who dislikes fieldsports, I’ve met 20 more who see there is a place for everything — the more people understand the countryside, the more moderate they tend to become.

Patrick Galbraith, Editor

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14

Light at heart The enduring appeal of lamping

18

Leaving the lead at home Stalking roe with copper ammo

26

High birds and hot sausage rolls What paying Guns want from a day

30

Evolution of pigeon shooting Would Archie Coats know it today?

34

Ducks and cover — and water Creating the perfect flightpond

40

Field of beams Reviewing the best new lamps

46

Exclusive: Beretta Ultraleggero First test of the walking Gun’s dream

48

You can’t catch them all The rabbits teach Dotty a lesson

Follow Patrick on Twitter @paddycgalbraith

Contents NEWS & OPINION

REGULARS

06 NEWS

12

COUNTRY DIARY

10

38

FORAGING

FEATURES

43

STALKER DIARY

14

FOX CONTROL

44 CONSERVATION

18

STALKING

46

SHOTGUN TEST

22

WILD SHOOTS

52

GUNDOGS

26

GAME DAYS

54

VINTAGE TIMES

30

PIGEON SHOOTING

58

SOLDIER PALMER

LETTERS

60 COOKERY DUCK FLIGHTING 62 ANSWERS 40 LAMP REVIEW 70 TROPHIES 48 FERRETING 71 GAMEKEEPER 34

74

SHARPSHOOTER

4 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE MA

NEWS The Deer Working Group report recommends doubling the female culling seasons

SGA warns over doubling of culls following deer killings Concern over the Deer Working Group proposal has escalated after images showing a shot hind and her unborn calf were made public

PAUL QUAGLIANA; ALAMY; GETTY IMAGES

I

mages of a shot hind and her unborn calf have provoked strong reactions among deerstalkers and local residents on the Isle of Skye.

The photos, which show a hind shot substantially out of season along with a welldeveloped but unborn calf, were taken by a local resident who passed them on to the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA).

A general licence issued

by NatureScot allows close season culling of female deer in Scotland up until 1 April.

However, the agency confirmed that no special permissions had been issued on this site to allow out-of-season culling.

The lack of a licence from NatureScot may mean that

those involved have committed a criminal offence.

The deer were found dumped in an area fenced off for a native tree planting scheme on the Dunvegan Estate owned by Hugh MacLeod, chief of the clan MacLeod.

Sources in the West Highlands have told Shooting Times that the estate’s deer management team has angrily denied any involvement. The identity of those responsible remains unclear, with contesting claims that poachers, individuals

“By April, unborn calves could almost stand by themselves” Responding to the images, a spokesman for the estate said: “The MacLeod Estate and its team takes its deer management responsibilities very seriously and the only culling authorised and undertaken this year has been in accordance with the regulations and in permitted areas.”

6 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

with a grudge against the estate and rogue contractors are to blame.

Deerstalkers were divided over the images, with some appalled at what they saw as a serious breach of stalking ethics, while others pointed out that pregnant muntjac deer are shot frequently.

SGA chairman Alex Hogg refused to be drawn into the debate around who was responsible, instead drawing a wider lesson. “The Scottish government-commissioned Deer Working Group report recommends doubling the female culling seasons as a new normal in Scotland, without the need for such authorisations,” he said (News, 31 March).

“The seasons were also put in place to avoid culling females when they are so heavily pregnant in April that their calves could almost stand by themselves,” he added, saying that those who had seen the photographs were clearly so revolted by them that they had got in touch with the SGA. Matt Cross

Email your stories / shootingtimes@futurenet.com

Shooting tale is ‘fake news’ Shooting Times has traced a news story published online by the Mirror earlier this month to a book of short stories and tall tales by an Irish author in the 1960s.

The Mirror story, which cited a podcast as its source, claimed that a group of Middle Eastern hunters had set out on an unaccompanied hunting trip somewhere in England and, failing to find any pheasants, had shot a flock of sheep instead, believing them to be Highland deer.

Despite the obvious breaches of firearms and animal welfare legislation, and the general absurd improbability of the story, some readers seemed convinced it was true. One commented: “Serves the farmer right.

Since when is shooting a defenceless animal for ‘fun’ been acceptable?”

If you had to have just one spaniel breed for the rest of your life, which would it be?

49% A springer 36% A cocker 5% A clumber 10% A sprocker follow us @shootingtimes

Respondents: 209

To do this week The news mirrors a short story written by author Brendan Behan

Shooting Times received a tip that the story bore a striking resemblance to one in a book by playwright and novelist Brendan Behan. On investigation, we found that it had been lifted from the book Hold Your Hour and

Have Another, published in 1963, with a few small changes, such as moving the story from France to England and adding some additional hunters.

The Mirror did not reply to our request for comment.

Lord Benyon in, Ewing out Keen Shot and countryman Lord Richard Benyon has been appointed as a Defra minister in what is hoped to be a counterbalance to the influence of the Goldsmith brothers. Lord Benyon is part-owner of Glenmazeran Estate in Inverness-shire and of farms in the Home Counties. He is also a former trustee of the GWCT. Lord Benyon is a prominent advocate for grouse shooting and, in a debate over banning the sport, he said that a ban “would be a disaster for my generation and for my children, who would not be able to see the kinds of birds and wildlife that I have had the privilege to enjoy seeing in our uplands”.

His support for shooting and traditional land uses is likely to put him at odds with fellow Defra minister

Weekend Twitter poll

Book a place on

V I S I T a Curlew Safari.

With curlew breeding season now in full swing, you can enjoy the sight and sound of these birds on one of their upland strongholds, the managed grouse moors of Bolton Abbey in North Yorkshire. The gamekeeper-guided safaris are running on 12 and 13 June.

To book a place, email contact@ yorkshiredalesmoorlandgroup.com Takeadvantage

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Keen Shot Lord Benyon has been appointed as a Defra minister

Zac Goldsmith, who has been the leading advocate of banning burning for habitat management in the uplands.

Meanwhile, there was less welcome news for fieldsports in Scotland as Fergus

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Ewing was replaced as rural economy secretary by Mairi Gougeon. Ms Gougoen gave government support to the ban on hare culling and has led efforts to introduce grouse moor licences.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 7

NEWS

From 31 May there will be maximum releasing densities on European protected sites

Shoots set to lose drives due to ‘protected areas’

ANDY HOOK; SARAH FARNSWORTH; GETTY IMAGES

Guidance has been issued for those releasing gamebirds on protected sites ahead of the general licence coming into force at the end of May Shooting and gamekeeping organisations have begun issuing guidance for shoots that release birds on or near European protected sites.

As we reported last week, releasing birds on Special Protection Areas, Special Areas for Conservation and surrounding land within 5km of these sites will now be regulated under a general licence (News, 19 May). This will set maximum releasing densities on and around protected sites.

BASC’s Jack Knott told Shooting Times how shoots could seek help. “The first step for most shoots will be to check whether they are affected by the changes,” he said.

“They can do this by using BASC’s Green Shoots Mapping [greenshoots.basc.org.uk] or by following a link from the licence itself.

“BASC has created a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) to ensure the small proportion of shoots affected by this interim licensing scheme have the correct information

THEY SAID WHAT

to hand in order to move forward this season.

Members can contact their regional officer for further information and book a shoot visit to ensure all necessary actions are taken prior to the start of the season.”

BASC’s FAQs cover what types of sites are affected, how many birds can be released and what to do if you wish to act outside the terms of the licence.

data confidentiality in relation to the reporting requirements. We will also be pushing for a much more effective and prompt individual licensing regime for those who cannot operate under the general licence conditions.

“We will continue to update members when we have reviewed the licence conditions,” Mr Bell added.

“News that releasing on these sites can continue is a good result for the sector” The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation is also offering help and advice to its members.

Chairman Liam Bell said: “News that gamebird releasing can continue on or near protected sites according to best practice guidelines is a good result for the sector.

“We will be seeking reassurances from Defra and Natural England over

Since the announcement of the licence, Shooting Times has spoken to several shoots that will have to operate under the ne w conditions. Most have confirmed that they can continue unchanged, with one shoot saying they had dropped two drives in response to the changes.

Matt Cross

“It happens over and over and yet never fails to disgust and enrage. I have watched a crow perch on the head of the lamb, taking its eyes while [it is] in the process of being born.”

Who said it: Monty Don

Why: Monty Don, presenter of Gardeners’ World, on seeing the gruesome process of lambs being killed by crows. Perhaps he could have a word with other BBC presenters.

8 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Email your stories / shootingtimes@futurenet.com

High price of wheat will squeeze shoot finances A squeeze in shoot finances from rising cereal prices looks inevitable, as feed wheat remains at more than £200 a ton.

Prices for wheat at the farm gate have stayed stubbornly high, with

a brief dip in April rapidly corrected, and the price is now 25% higher than this time last year.

A range of supply and demand factors have driven the price up. These include last year’s poor harvest, the

Shoots may need to boost their feed budget as prices remain high

cold and dry spring weather and lower-than-expected amounts of maize being planted in the US and Brazil.

Barley, which is used in relatively small volumes for feeding ducks, is also still commanding a high price — up from £128 a ton last year to £176 a ton this year, a rise of nearly 40%. Rising wheat and maize prices often drive barley prices up as feed manufacturers seek to use barley to replace the other cereals in compound feeds.

In slightly better news for shoots, red diesel prices are currently sitting at an average of £129.39 a litre, well below the highs experienced from 2011-13.

Buzzard blunder by the RSPB The RSPB has been forced to apologise after using a staged photograph of a dead buzzard in its magazine, Nature’s Home.

The image, which was used in the magazine’s autumn issue, showed a buzzard hanging from a wire fence with the caption

The RSPB apologised after using a staged photo of a dead buzzard

“Buzzards are often victims of illegal killing — our bird of prey campaign aims to stop this”.

However, a few months later, the charity was forced to print an apology and correction. In a statement, it said: “The August issue... included a photograph of a dead buzzard hanging on a fence. We now know this photograph was staged and not a genuine illegal incident. While the location was not specified, someone could have recognised it.

We have apologised to the landowner and the immediate neighbour.”

Shooting Times has established that the image was taken on Glenfeshie Estate in the Cairngorms, which is one of several estates owned by Danish billionaire and rewilding enthusiast Anders Hoch Povlsen.

The retraction and apology are understood to have followed a threat of legal action.

NEWS IN BRIEF

Estate to tell story of the golden eagle A shooting estate in the Borders is to host Scotland’s first golden eagle information point. The Philiphaugh Estate near Selkirk, which is owned

by Sir Michael Strang-Steel, has been a prominent backer of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. The Eyrie: Eagle Information Point is based in Philiphaugh’s Waterwheel Café. It features interactive and audio-visual displays, alongside a Guess the Raptor game and a series of information panels telling the story of golden eagles in the south of Scotland.

Lapwing predation by badgers soars Badgers have been munching their way through the nests of struggling waders at the GWCT’s Auchnerran demonstration farm. Cameras set around lapwing nests found that almost a third of all the lapwing nests were predated by badgers, with the mammals taking either the eggs or the chicks.Thisisahigherratethanprevious years and researchers believe that the cause may be a lack of earthworms due to the unusually dry spring weather.

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SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 9

LETTERS LE T TER OF THE WEEK ISSN: 0037-4164 Shooting Times, Future PLC, 161 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9AP. For editorial enquiries: shootingtimes@futurenet.com For picture enquiries: max.tremlett@futurenet.com Subscription hotline: 0330 333 1113 help@magazinesdirect.com Editor Patrick Galbraith Deputy editor Ollie Harvey Commissioning editor Steve Faragher Group art director Dean Usher Art editor Rob Farmer Picture editor Max Tremlett Group production editor Di Cross Production editors Sarah Potts, Nicola Jane Swinney Digital editor Charlotte Peters charlotte.peters@futurenet.com shootinguk.co.uk MD, Country Lifestyle Mark Winterton Chief content officer Angela O’Farrell Head of editorial operations Jacquie Spanton Content director Simon Kirrane Design director Simon Maynard Advertising Alex Armstrong 0330 390 6502 alex.armstrong@futurenet.com Laurence Pierce 07971 605143 laurence.pierce@futurenet.com Advertisement director Toni Cole 0330 390 6579; toni.cole@futurenet.com Senior advertisement production manager Jo Crosby jo.crosby@futurenet.com Advertisement production Peter Burton peter.burton@futurenet.com International licensing and syndication Shooting Times is available for licensing and syndication. Contact the licensing team to discuss partnership opportunities Head of print licensing Rachel Shaw licensing@futurenet.com Innovator (for loose and bound-in inserts) 020 3148 3710 Can’t find ST? 020 3148 3300 Back issues 01795 662976 support@mags-uk.com

Shooting Times is the official weekly journal of BASC and the CPSA. BASC, Marford Mill, Rossett LL12 0HL, tel 01244 573000; CPSA, PO Box 750, Woking, GU24 0YU, tel 01483 485400 We reserve the right to edit letters. Letters will not be used unless the author is prepared to have their name and county of residence published. Letters should be sent to: The Editor, Shooting Times, Future PLC, 161 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9AP, or stletters@futurenet.com. Please include a telephonenumberandpostal address.

Addressing the real issue I have just finished reading Alasdair Mitchell’s latest offering (Sharpshooter, 12 May). I fully appreciate that occasionally, as a writer, one has to make something out of nothing for some copy, but am I seriously to believe we should now worry if we use guns that go bang? If so, let’s give up now and go fishing — silently — instead.

The problem we shooters face is that a tiny but vocal minority hate us killing things and will not rest until this is stopped. So what cartridges or shot we use and whether we use a gun slip or go bang will not arrest the ongoing criticism from this quarter.

If we are worried about being beaten with a PR stick, perhaps we should focus on the ongoing persecution of protected birds and the perpetuation of industrial-

THIS WEEK’S COVER IMAGE WAS SUPPLIED

BY ALAMY

lead shot out of fear rather than science. By the way, I don’t think people buying pheasant breasts three or four times a year is really the answer to any of this.

Rather than worrying about making a noise, perhaps we should address the elephant — or is that a pile of 1,000 dead pheasants? — in the room.

Guy Beech, by email

IN ASSOCIATION WITH KING’S GINGER Each week, the best letter wins a bottle of King’s Ginger — the ideal drink to enjoy after a cold stalk.

For more details visit thekingsginger.com Please note, we are unable to send out prizes as our offices are closed.

WAKE UP We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill and printer hold full FSC and PEFC certification and accreditation.

scale, commercially-driven shooting. Both these issues feature in the press on a recurring basis. Happily, the shooting community is attempting to address the former while turning a blind eye to the latter. Industrial driven shooting is proven to be bad for the environment, depresses game prices and promotes unethical disposal of shot game. It is open to attack over its justification far more than wildfowling, stalking, rough shooting and modest driven days.

While this letter is not about the intended lead shot ban, it is perhaps ironic that one of the weakest arguments for moving away from lead is to assist commercial shoots shift mountains of shot game via supermarkets, which are understandably concerned about their own PR and reject

I keep asking myself when all people involved in shooting in this country are going to stop burying their heads in the sand and wake up to the threats we are up against.

We are receiving no help from any of the shooting associations, which have already sold us down the river on the lead shot ban by pushing ahead without any consultation of the membership.

To add insult to injury, yesterday I received a begging letter from the British Game Alliance (BGA) asking for 50p per bird shot to be given to it to promote the sale of game meat.

We should all face up to the facts on this subject as in any business. If there is oversupply, it is only sensible to cut the

10 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

production to match demand. In truth, pheasant has never been that popular as food. No matter how many recipes for them there are, few people are interested.

The BGA is fully responsible for stopping game dealers from taking anything with lead shot because they cannot export it to Europe. So all the estates shooting big numbers of birds need to cut back to a level to suit the demand from our home market, and all shot with lead. The decision by some supermarkets not to take pheasant shot traditionally will make little difference to the overall sales.

If we look back 50 years or more, a brace of pheasant sold for £5. In those days there was no oversupply and pheasant

was a luxury food. It is time the Code of Good Shooting Practice included maximum numbers shot per day, maximum times beats are shot and a guide on the number of birds per acre put down, before it is made into law through the back door.

Nobody seems interested in saving what we have. If we leave it, it will be too late. Please can all the shooting press bring this to the attention of their readers and, as individuals, we should all spread the word — now.

Tony Kennedy, by email

RAPTOR ANGER The recent disturbing news of a police raid on Invercauld estate after the discovery of a poisoned golden eagle next to a bait

Email your letters / stletters@futurenet.com should disgust and anger all in the shooting community. Sadly, for quite a few members of that community, these feelings of revulsion will not be felt.

If any readers can steel themselves to check out the Raptor Persecution UK blog, they will find a sickening list of illegally killed raptors from all around the Cairngorms.

If, as shooting’s representative organisations keep telling us, “it’s a few bad apples”, I would suggest that this area of Scotland could well contain the orchard.

Invercauld is one of the most prominent sporting estates in Scotland, with a reputation to uphold around the world, yet this is not the first time it has been investigated in recent years.

This begs the question, how many similar crimes go undiscovered? More pertinently, when they are discovered, how often is the burden of proof insufficient to bring a prosecution?

This fact is well known to the perpetrators, and should be borne in mind when the relative scarcity of successful prosecutions is used by the industry’s representatives to deny the scale of the problem.

Paul Tooley, by email

WISDOM OF THE ‘SOFA SAVIOUR’ The points made in ‘Let’s stop bullies’ (Letters, 21 April), got me thinking.

A lot of people are against shooting as a fieldsport. The most vocal against keepers on grouse moors, deer controllers in forestry, even shooters giving a free pest control service for crop protection on agricultural farms, as well as fox and crow shooters protecting lambs on remote hillsides, become remarkably silent when challenged to offer an alternative solution to these food industry activities. The silence is deafening.

NEXT WEEK IN

SPORTING DEBATE In dealing with the challenging task of defining the concept of ‘sporting’, the author concludes that “there is an awful lot to ponder” as it can take many forms and, in essence, is personal to us (Is that fizzing redleg sporting or too high?, 12 May).

This may be so, but surely, like in the case of European hunting cultures, there should be an ethical codex of norms of behaviour that should apply to all who pursue game with shotgun, rifle or rod?

This codex has the following essential aspects: Animal welfare and respect for fellow creatures.

This implies steering clear

These same individuals are good at pointing out a problem as seen through their eyes, but become blind when asked to understand the actions of those tasked with providing food or animal husbandry, in effectively wild countryside, far removed from their cosy existence.

They are remote from the problem yet still benefit from the hard-working efforts of those who put clean, wholesome food on their table. They themselves only have to buy it from a local shop or supermarket. How convenient for them.

They want to rewild an area and reintroduce long-removed predators and massive raptors, while others with a similar mindset abhor the ‘introduction’ of grouse or pheasants because they are not native. It must be nice to feel justified that you are the ‘sofa saviour’ of nature and can use your unfaltering, Solomon-like wisdom, knowing that only your answer is the best for nature and thus mankind.

Any keeper or shooter suspected of doing anything to hurt buzzards or pollute the

of inflicting avoidable pain and suffering.

Active engagement with environmental protection and enhancement to create optimum conditions for all wildlife and quarry species.

Showing respect for other hunters and indeed those opposed to it.

I doubt whether these norms can be shoehorned into the adjective ‘sporting’, as it conjures up largely negative connotations in the general public, such as bloodsports or killing for sport, and is thus counterproductive in any public discourse.

Felix Bihlmeier, Gloucestershire environment in any way should be castigated and shunned as an enemy of all. Consider this.

What if you were a keeper, with a tied cottage and a basic wage to fulfil the needs and wants of your spouse and children? What if you had to come up with the perfect shoot day for a demanding boss regardless of raptor, buzzard, corvid and fox damage? What if countryside vandals destroyed property, tools and generally disrupted your working life to the point that you might be sacked and lose house and home for yourself and your family?

Might you be tempted to break the rules on occasion?

I will leave that answer up to you.

Roderick McCafferty, by email

CHARITY, OF COURSE I apologise for an error in my previous summing up of collective nouns (Letters, 24 March). It has been pointed out that the correct one for game dealers, game farmers et al is, of course, a charity. My apologies for causing any offence or confusion.

P A Blackman, by email

‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please.

We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after.’’ King George VI

SURF AND TURF A mixed species day to gather a barbecue feast.

IT AIN’T HEAVY Like a feather: we review the best lightweight stalking rifles.

CORVID CONTROVERSY Why culling rooks and crows can be absolutely essential.

STAYCATION SPORT How to catch a mackerel from the beach.

... AND MUCH MORE!

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 11

Country Diary

Richard Negus

The Green Party should be a natural fit for people keen to preserve a healthy, biodiverse countryside, but many of its rural policies grate

T

‘Unradical’ offering

Andy Mellen, a likeable smallholder and writer from a neighbouring village, was our local Green Party candidate and his efforts proved to be successful. Reading the contents of his campaign leaflet, I was struck by how markedly ‘unradical’ it was.

Besides highlighting the undeniable need for us to care for the planet, it contained nothing more whacky than a list of ambitions to fix potholes and prevent road flooding, along with tales of successful lobbying to improve planning application procedures and erect some bike racks at the local village library.

I was tempted by this offering. Taking the Greens at face value, I should be a natural supporter. After all, I am a conservationist, eat sustainably, buy locally, plant trees and lay hedges.

However, on election day, I chose to forgo my right to vote. I shunned my usual ‘X’ in the Tory box — the Goldsmiths and Ms Symonds saw to that. Labour was never an option and my brief flirtation with the Greens withered before a first date.

My decision not to vote Green was not because I thought Mr Mellen would be a bad councillor. In actual fact, I think he will be a good one. I feared that local Green

Suffolk is turning ‘green’ in every sense of the word, with the Greens enjoying election success

success would embolden the party at national level. The Greens are, after all, a party whose national manifesto includes changes to moorland management and a ban on snaring.

They seek to outlaw commercial shooting and legislate swingeing regulation of pest control. Similarly, pesticides and chemical fertilisers could be banned and the right to roam encouraged. This is but a mere snapshot of their policies on farming and rural affairs, most of which to my mind are ultimately detrimental to

“Is it time for us to start engaging with Greens rather than writing them off?” the rural economy and damaging to the people and wildlife who would call this new Green dystopia home.

As I mentioned, Andy seems like an intelligent and pleasant person. He shoots, he farms and seems well suited to represent my interests in County Hall.

Therefore, should I be fearful of the party he represents? I asked him how his greentinged local-minded rationalism fitted with the radical environmentalism that I saw in the pages of the national manifesto.

12 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

He said: “While a few more Green Party councillors have been elected, under the current electoral system, we are not going to be in government any time soon, which allows us to put forward radical ideas that may never be implemented. I see much in our national manifesto that I support and which will benefit the countryside, as well as a few ideas that are probably unimplementable. I joined the Green Party because it seems to be the only one taking climate change — the fundamental crisis of our times — seriously.”

Andy believes that if the party continues on its current trajectory, it will transition into something less radical and more mainstream. If this is true, is it time for us to start engaging with the Greens rather than writing them off? Should we be trying to influence their thinking and manifesto, so it speaks up for those of us who live and work in the countryside, rather than against us?

We do, after all, share the Greens’ ambition to see a healthy, biodiverse countryside and, more importantly, we have the practical know-how to achieve that.

Richard Negus is a professional hedge layer and writer. He lives in Suffolk, is a keen wildfowler and a dedicated conservationist with a passion for grey partridges.

ALAMY

hings are looking very green at present. This will come as no surprise, it is May after all. The wheat is shooting, hawthorn, dog rose and blackthorn are verdurous and floral margins flush with gusto. Our oaks are in leaf, well before the ash — largely due to dieback rather than any indication of rainfall quantity to come. Suffolk is turning Green in a political sense, too.

The recent local elections saw a sizeable swing towards the radical, environmentally driven party. The Greens’ three seats, secured in 2017, became nine. In County Hall, the Greens (in a coalition with four Liberal Democrats and two independents) are now the official opposition to an overwhelming Conservative majority.

Labour clung on to five urban seats. This is something of a seismic change for Suffolk.

We are conservatives here, by and large, with both a small and capital ‘C’.

Fox control

Lamping: outshined but never outfoxed

JAMES MARCHINGTON; CHARLIE JACOBY; ALAMY

While thermal imaging and night vision are inarguably efficient, there is still a place for the humble lamp, argues Robert Bucknell

14 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Fox control

F

From spotlamps and car batteries to LEDs and lithium-ion, foxing equipment has come a long way

ox shooting technology has come a long way since I first drove around a field in circles hoping to spot a fox in the headlights. That was in the early 1970s, and we thought we were at the cutting edge when we bolted a wooden handle onto a chrome-plated Lucas Silver Sabre car spotlamp and set off on foot looking for foxes with a car battery in a rucksack. Splashes of battery acid played havoc with our jackets and gloves but it worked, and that’s what really mattered.

We adopted new developments eagerly as they came along, from ‘no spill’ gel batteries to xenon bulbs, red filters and eventually LEDs and lithium-ion batteries. Lamps became smaller and lighter and could even be fitted onto a scope or barrel.

A whole industry grew up supplying specialist lamping equipment to eager fox shooters.

There was much emphasis placed on the power of the lamp, measured in 100,000s of candlepower, and the distance at which you could spot your fox. We soon learned that all this power wasn’t necessarily a good thing, and careful use of a dimmer switch could put more foxes in the bag. I was never really convinced by the argument that foxes didn’t see red light, but the popular red filter did seem to help — perhaps because it dimmed the beam considerably, or maybe the light didn’t then look like car headlights, which many foxes had learned to avoid after a close call with a vehicle.

In recent years technology has transformed the art of foxing yet again, with the introduction of affordable, effective digital night vision and now the thermal spotters and riflescopes that so many keepers and pest controllers use today.

The great thing about thermal, of course, is that it’s entirely passive.

Even digital night vision generally

requires an infrared lamp, and some foxes see the IR light and shy away from it. Thermal, on the other hand, emits nothing; it simply views what thermal energy is out there and turns it into a picture. That means there is nothing to give you away to even the wariest fox — not from the device, anyway. It’s important to remember your fieldcraft — a whiff of human scent or the sound of metal on metal can send your quarry running for the hills.

Still a place

Having come all this way over the past half-century, you would think that there’s no place for the old-fashioned lamp — but there is. In fact, I still use one every time I go out in the truck patrolling around the farm for foxes, which is typically two or three times a week.

I have an excellent thermal viewer, a Pulsar Axion Key, which will spot a fox at several hundred yards, but I still find my spotlamp allows me to cover ground much more quickly and locate any fox that’s out and about. I can drive slowly along the farm tracks with the driver’s window

open, swinging the beam back and forth looking for a glint of an eye.

I can sweep a good-sized field in seconds without even stopping, whereas to do the same thing with the thermal I would have to stop and scan the whole field in the Axion’s much narrower field of view. It works particularly well for me because here we have large, relatively flat fields where the lamp beam can reach a long way. For someone like my friend Mike Powell, who lives in the West Country, the fields are smaller and

“Technology has transformed the art of foxing yet again” the terrain more uneven, so he tends to reach for the thermal first and only uses a lamp occasionally.

I use my lamp purely to locate a fox, and switch it off the moment I see a pair of eyes shining back at me.

That shine, incidentally, comes from a reflective layer at the back of the fox’s eye, the tapetum lucidum. It’s what allows the fox to see so well in virtual darkness.

Most foxes nowadays aren’t bothered by a lamp beam sweeping across them. They must encounter the same thing many times a night as a car takes a corner and its headlights swing across a field. What they don’t like, however, is being caught like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights.

Perhaps they had a close encounter with a car when they were younger.

I’m surprised how many of the foxes I shoot have signs of an old

Robert uses his lamp purely to locate a fox, switching it off when he sees its eye-shine

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 15

Fox control

Lamping still works well, but you must remember your fieldcraft

car-inflicted injury, such as a badly broken leg or a malformed jaw. Town foxes are particularly traffic aware; you’ll see them step out of the road onto the pavement, then stand and watch your car pass by.

So I don’t let my lamp linger on any pair of eyes I see. I switch off immediately, stop the vehicle and move to the thermal. If the picture is good enough to identify the quarry positively, I can plan what to do next — perhaps calling, or if the fox seems set on heading in a particular direction, I might move to intercept.

work just as well today, it’s just that the modern, high-tech stuff works even better.

Not everyone wants to spend several thousand pounds on the latest thermal gear, and for anyone getting into fox shooting it’s a big investment before you are sure you’ll want to stick

with his lower position often couldn’t see the fox, but he could see where the lamp was pointing. If the beam wiggled from side to side, he knew the fox had gone and it was time to drive on.

The lamp man becomes adept at keeping the main beam above the fox, rather than blasting it with the full one

“Foxing with a lamp is more of a team job, and made a fun night out with friends”

at it. You can start with just your day scope and a decent lamp. Fortunately, even a cheap, modern, handheld LED lamp will do the job, you don’t Visual clue need to lug around a car battery and Once I’ve flicked off the lamp I’m spotlamp like we did. You just have operating entirely with thermal; to remember — or perhaps relearn the only visual clue my quarry — all those skills we used in the days gets is the lamp sweeping past before night vision and disappearing. came along.

I’ll use the Axion to Fox shooting watch until I prepare with a lamp is more to shoot, then switch of a team job, and to my thermal made a fun night out riflescope, a Pulsar with friends; that’s one Thermion XM50. It’s thing I miss now that a system that works technology has made well for me and has foxing more of a solo accounted for around sport. Typically you’d 200 foxes in the have three of you: past two years. one to drive, another That’s not to to operate the lamp say you can’t still and a third to do the shoot foxes the shooting. The lamp old-fashioned way Robert Bucknell’s book is man and the shooter successfully, with the ultimate guide to would sit up on the back a white lamp and a lamping foxes at night of the truck, ideally in day scope, or another a purpose-made shooting combination such as frame bolted firmly to the vehicle. lamping and using a digital nightA good team soon learned to vision scope. You may call them in communicate efficiently. The lamp while spotting with a thermal to swap man would tell the driver to stop by to white light for the shot. All those knocking on the cab roof. The driver methods worked in the past and still 16 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

million candlepower. The edge of the beam is sufficient to keep the eyes lit up so the shooter can get ready. Then if he needs more light to be sure of the shot, he can whisper “down a bit”.

If the lamp has a dimmer switch, that can be used instead, while some old hands swear by coloured filters to reduce the chance of scaring off the quarry. The shooter needs to play his part, of course, taking a well-aimed shot without taking so long that the fox becomes nervous and runs off.

Success rate

Experience taught us that the threeman team was the most efficient way to lamp foxes, but it can be done with just two, or even solo if you have a rifle-mounted lamp. As with anything to do with foxes, an understanding of fox behaviour and good fieldcraft will improve your success rate no end.

If you get the bug, however, I’m willing to bet you will follow the path we did, adding night vision or thermal to your toolkit as soon as you can afford it. It may seem a bit clinical and lack the romance of the old ways, but you can’t beat it for sheer efficiency.

For a review of the top lamps for night-time predator control, turn to p40

Stalking

‘My love affair with lead has ended’ One stalker’s trepidation turns to excitement as an outing for an elusive upland roebuck culminates in a clean kill and a successful transition to copper ammunition WRITTEN BY AL GABRIEL

18 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DUNCAN IRELAND

Al rests the rifle on his favourite boulder, which overlooks a vast clear-fell

I

t has been three weeks since the start of the roebuck season.

Believe me when I say even Christmas has got nothing on this magical time of year. However, this is no ordinary season for me.

This time around, I have decided to go lead-free, an uncharted territory filled with fear, trepidation and hope. I pull up in my pickup truck near my favourite forestry block in Tarset, Northumberland. It is a mixture of mature and young conifer plantation. Some 10 miles to the north lies the Scottish border.

Sporadic yet continuous pine plantations are home to this special upland roe; genetically unique, its light construction, abrasive pearlings and straight-up antlers identify it as

“The smell of pine on its antlers gives away the postcode” North East roe. The smell of pine on its antlers gives away the postcode of this upland resident.

Nature has a way of keeping the balance; ticks are also stalking prey and I am on the menu. This particular ground is infested with ticks; in my opinion, they are as numerous here as they are in the Highlands. Clothing and tick care are paramount. I make sure I tuck in my trousers and Al Gabriel heads along a Northumbrian forest ride as the sun begins to set

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 19

Stalking ensure my long sleeves are covered with gloves. My beloved deer dog is sitting this one out at home. She rarely comes up here during tick season.

Last time she was here, I removed 16 ticks from her.

In my arsenal today is an 85gr Federal trophy copper in .243. I have agreed to help my good friend, Tim Pilbeam — whom many will know from his show on the Fieldsports Channel — with his project on going lead-free and I have been kindly gifted 40 cartridges from GMK to help test them on roe.

summer months. In the distance, I can hear grouse, as well as crows and ravens cawing. It is building up to be an evening of simple pleasures — what philosophers call Epicureanism: “The greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquillity.”

Thankfully, the dreaded midges are nowhere to be seen. After half an hour of observation, I decide to leave the area and head into dense wood.

Roebuck are more active at this time of year. Even several hours before

“Adrenaline is pumping in my veins. Where there is one roe, there is surely another” I quickly deploy my Pulsar Helion 2 thermal scanner towards a hill ahead of me. It is a warm day and everything seems to radiate heat. I lower the intensity on the scanner and make my way onto my favourite boulder, which overlooks a vast clear-fell. On my way to the hill, I monitor the wind turbine on a farm nearby. The turbine is a good way of gauging the direction and speed of wind — who needs a weather app? It is a deer-rich area and a favourite with my guests. I had shot a decent six-pointer there just a week earlier. To my surprise, it is unusually quiet, no deer to be seen. The odd marauding sheep grazes away on the periphery of the ground.

April is an exciting time to stalk roe; winter has just relinquished its grip on vegetation, and fresh growth is everywhere. The ubiquitous heather has a tinge of green, an indication of what is to come in the

sunset you can see them mooching about. The ride I chose was covered in wet sphagnum moss. It is like walking on a sponge. I select a vantage point and rest my rifle on shooting sticks, waiting to catch a passing roe.

Unfortunately, nothing is moving. At this point, I am struggling to keep the sun out of my eyes and the wind on my face. Forestry blocks have weather of their own, and wind swirls and scent dissipates differently.

Sitting tight

As I approach the last two hours of daylight, I decide to sit tight in front of a treeline on a hill. I have pre-marked tree stumps that I use regularly for an evening ambush. When it comes to cover, I much prefer to sit in the open among the tree stumps of a clear-fell.

My guests, who are often not used to stalking in such an environment, always ask if sitting in the open is

A single shot cracks the evening silence and finds its target

20 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Al rechecks the position of the carcass with the thermal imager

a wise choice. The answer is y it is absolutely worth it. Unlike lowland environments, clear-f has a dispersive pattern. As lo as one keeps sudden moveme to a minimum, it is as good as a high seat. It takes me about 2 minutes to get to my favourite stump. It is exactly 150 yards away from the trees. Not coincidentally, my rifle is zeroed at 150 yards.

An advantage of having pre marked distances is that it tak out the guesswork. The major challenge I face now is the pot risk that the beast might colla

Stalking

The smaller spent .243 calibre casing next to Al’s regular .270 calibre casing

e thicket. Tracking in harsh environment will re great skill. For that t reason, I normally fer my .270 spitting out 0gr bullet. My 85gr llet is sufficient for e but it does carry that creased risk of having track the beast towards tland. Copper is harted territory. fter half an hour or so of tivity, I suddenly notice ent 300 yards away. the general direction ermal and, behold, the cover, I cannot ut it goes deep into the disappears. Adrenaline ing in my veins. It is that ay; where there is one roe, there is surely another. Some 20 minutes later, my thermal picks up a gravid (pregnant) doe right in front of me emerging from the treeline. She is ever graceful and content. I examine her movement and condition carefully. She is moulting her winter coat, a hint of that chestnut fur just peeking through. It will not be long before I get to see her kid or kids. Suddenly the floodgates seem to have opened. Around 200 yards away to my left appears a less graceful, The three-year-old roebuck with the non-toxic ammunition used for the shot

rambunctious buck. His movements seem haphazard, as if he is in a bit of a hurry. I get up slowly and mount my rifle on my shooting sticks. I dial the scope to 16x to get a good look at him. He is a six-pointer but not a big boy. For a split second, he seems to stare at me, but then loses interest and carries on feeding. I let him get closer and closer. He’s now only 165 yards away; it is now or never. In front of the buck is dead ground. If he moves any further, he will be out of sight.

Suddenly I feel fear. Is this copper bullet going to deliver the message?

I muster the courage to believe in the ballistics of the cartridge, and suddenly he presents a quartering broadside shot. My finger pulls the trigger instinctively. Without a noticeable recoil on my shoulder, the beast disappears from sight.

My last memory of him is kicking his legs out. I know he was shot well and that he did not run back to the woods. I continue to scan with my thermal; I see no movement. A few minutes later, I pack my gear and start searching for him. My heart is beating and the excitement is brewing. I get to the location and... nothing. No sign of blood or fur. There is a small burn not too far away; this cannot be good.

Only 20 minutes of daylight is left.

Blood trail

As far as location goes, this would be the worst place to lose a beast. The moss and vegetation is over knee-deep and, without a dog, it is a tall order.

After 15 minutes of searching, finally a blood trail. I feel a sense of elation.

I knew I had him. One blood drop after another, I follow the trail meticulously while losing daylight, all the while trying to avoid those ticks clinging to tall grass. Suddenly I spot the carcass just five yards away.

There it was in all its glory, the elusive Northumbrian roebuck. The shot went through his shoulders at an angle and right through the heart.

My copper bullet has done its job. I gralloch the animal quickly and make my way to my truck across the tough clear-fell terrain. That evening I went home with a sense of a new beginning — I had transitioned fully to lead-free stalking. Even so, I cannot help but feel emotional; my love affair with lead has ended. My new relationship with copper does feel rather like an arranged marriage but, in a way, new is always exciting.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 21

Wild bird shoots

How keepers will nurture change The radical stewardship revolution brings new opportunities, says Richard Negus

STEVEN TAYLOR; DUNCAN IRELAND; DAVID TIPLING; SARAH FARNSWORTH

C

ould Flea Barn wash its face financially as a wild bird shoot?”

I asked my business partner Richard Gould as we partook of our usual lunchtime break from laying a Flea Barn hedge — philosophising, watching for grey partridges and munching our packed lunches seated on our trucks’ tailgates. His reply was delivered in the usual to-the-point way: “No, we’d need another 500 acres.”

I paused for thought and a mouthful of sausage roll. “Not even if we put a covey or two of greys over paying Guns?” I persisted.

“No,” Richard responded.

“We’ll be grey ourselves before we have a shootable surplus.”

Such is the pragmatism of a wild bird keeper; it is in their nature. There are no guarantees with wild birds: the wrong weather, a loose dog, a rogue

badger, and all is for nought. Wild birds have rarely paid the bills.

Move to stewardship

It seemed settled then but I was left wondering, just how expensive it is to create and sustain habitat for wild birds and can such habitat ever pay for itself? Ed Nesling, the farmer who owns Flea Barn, is a fellow pragmatist. He has moved out of the comfort zone of the farming methods he used to use, choosing instead to place well over 20% of his holding into stewardship. This is a financial risk to his business, but one he has taken because he loves this land.

The field of oilseed rape that lies on one side of the hedge where we worked now has a 60m-wide strip of AB8 (flower-rich margins), which pays £539 a hectare, and plots of AB9 (winter bird food mix),

22 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

paying £640 a hectare and AB11 (cultivated areas for arable plants), paying £532 a hectare.

On the other side of the hedge, another wide strip of AB8 leads on to a swathe of AB9. There is not one land parcel on the farm without some form of new or improved food or habitat provision. Old pasture, woodland and banks of scrub remain religiously maintained. Comparing the field map of the Flea Barn of today with that of merely one year ago is stark. There is now a mosaic of blocks and breaks, from wetlands to lapwing plots (paying £524 a hectare) and beetle banks (paying £573 a hectare) to new covers.

Ed is not a lone wolf. Flea Barn is but one example of a slowly emerging

Wild bird shoots

agricultural enlightenment.

Hedges, edges, wetlands and woods are improved, created and maintained, providing food and habitat for game and wildlife, while the business of farming goes on in the middle of fields.

Overwhelmingly, this work is funded by grants from Defra. It helps to pay for seed, trees and hedging plants. These schemes, however, are not like the generous subsidies of old — in many cases, the grants only cover the costs. In some schemes, there is barely enough left in the kitty to pay for the labour that goes into sowing all of this; rarely is there sufficient surplus to pay for its ongoing management.

From plans to reality

But what happens once it all starts growing? Who will be responsible for turning the plans on paper into vibrant, wildlife-rich reality? Who has the skills to ensure that a landowner’s profits forgone are not wasted, nor for that matter taxpayers’ money? My suggestion is simple: a farm wildlife manager, more commonly known as an old fashioned gamekeeper.

The stewardship scheme at Flea Barn was devised by keeper’s daughter Sarah Brockless, from Oakbank Game & Conservation, with input from Ed covering the farming angle. I put in my two pennyworth on hedgerows. I asked Tim Furbank, one of the founding directors of Oakbank, if he believed keepers have a potential role in supporting stewardship schemes.

“It always comes down to money,” he replied. “It would also depend if farm stewardship is included in the whole farm enterprise or it is separated into a different cost centre.

In the latter situation, it is feasible for a case to be made that a keeper could be employed to manage the stewardship options.”

This idea does come with a few problems, the largest being that, currently, stewardship grants pay for the provision of habitat and food.

A grey partridge makes the most of the cover provided by farm stewardship grants

As every rational naturalist knows, you only achieve meaningful conservation results if a balance is maintained. All the lapwing plots and beetle banks created or AB9

“All this hard work would be for nothing if predators are allowed to go unhindered” The third leg of conservation’s stool, predator control, isn’t covered by any Government funding.

However, there is a strong likelihood that under the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs), payments may not simply be made for habitat and food provision, but also for results.

sown largely would be for nothing if abundant predators are allowed to make merry with this smorgasbord of prey. There is no guarantee that predator control will be funded in the future, but Defra has been made aware of the issue by the GWCT and I am told that it is ‘under consideration’. A keeper would

It is a fact that wild bird shoots rarely pay the bills

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 23

Wild bird shoots therefore become a useful member of farm staff if a lapwing plot, for example, only receives funding once it produces lapwings.

There are a number of challenges presented with payment by results, as highlighted by arch conservationist farmer and keeper Graham Denny, who explains: “Wildlife is wild, it doesn’t respect boundaries. The

than for the percentage of land taken out of cultivation, thus putting farmers like Graham at a financial disadvantage. This size disparity boosts the case for farm clusters. While one average-sized farm would struggle to find the salary for a keeper funded via whatever surplus was left from grants, such a cost spread across a cluster does start to make sense.

Funding for predator control is being considered by Defra

“It is a golden opportunity for keepers to be at the forefront of this revolution” turtle doves that thrive on my farm may feed here, but what if they decide to nest on my neighbour’s? Who gets paid for all my hard work?

“I am unsure how we can ‘prove our truths’ to the Rural Payments Agency (RPA). We need evidence, provided by people who know what they are looking at. The RPA cannot count nests from a satellite image, [which is how it assesses activities such as tree planting, wetland creation and stewardship plot sizes].

And if it does pay per nest, what is the point of that if that nest is predated before fledging?”

Keeping the keeper

Could one of the new roles be that of ‘trusted evidence provider’? Doubtless such a job would enrage those who delight in demonising keepers.

Graham’s farm is not big, but because of his endeavour it punches well above its weight in biodiversity. Currently, stewardship schemes pay per hectare, rather

A senior Defra figure told me the farm cluster model is not the only way of spreading human resource costs for a role such as keeper. She spoke of instances where experienced individuals are directly helping farmers boost biodiversity by taking on the wildlife management of individual holdings. Each farm is then linked with its neighbour via wildlife corridors, allowing each landowners to remain autonomous while landscape-scale environmental change goes on about them.

ELMs is going to happen and we must embrace the idea that the countryside will become a mixed economy. Producers will be working with wildlife managers more collaboratively in the near future. No longer will farmers be able to pay lip service to conservation. If they are to be supported by grants, it will require them truly to embrace the idea.

Stewardship cannot simply be regarded as another income stream.

Tim is adamant that the best farmland

conservation schemes he comes across are those that are funded to a greater degree by private money — and he visits many such farms as a Purdey Awards judge.

Bringing in expertise

This is true at Flea Barn. Ed is utilising the current grant schemes, but he’s prepared to spend his own money in order to maximise biodiversity on the farm, thereby improving his shoot as a bonus. He believes that when enlisting the help of a keeper like Richard Gould, he is simply bringing in expertise to support his farm.

It is, he thinks, no different to utilising an agronomist or hedge layer for their areas of specialisation.

ELMs will bring about a radical metamorphosis in how Britain’s countryside is managed. I believe it offers a golden opportunity for naturalist keepers to be at the forefront of the revolution.

Producers will be working with wildlife managers more collaboratively in the near future

24 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Game days

How to ensure your Guns have a field day From high birds to hot sausage rolls and modest bags to a friendly y host, George Browne discovers what paying ng guests g t rreally want

I

have been shooting since I was 11, but it is only since August 2019, when I began working as editor of Guns on Pegs, that I’ve really started to get a feel for how the shooting community actually thinks.

I’ve had some of my assumptions challenged and I’m often surprised at ngth of opinion, the diversity and stren nocuous topics. even on seemingly inn I confess that before it was my job to think about these th hings, I never considered what it is th hat makes people want to go out shooting, s or what they might want from a day.

I am, however, learnin ng quickly y,

in part because Guns are never sshy of voicing their opinions on social media m and in our inbox, but also because role gives me a unique perspective.

With more than a decade’s worth of data generated by our 120,000plus members and several years of Game Shooting Census data at my fingertips, I can build a fascinating piccture of what really matters to the pi sho ooting community.

B Bag sizes are a perennial talking poin nt. You might think that with my jjob b I now flit around the country from fancy shoot to fancy shoot, accounting for scores of birds, but the reality is that I rarely shoot on days with bags of more than 200. The majority of my shooting takes place on our family shoot, where a bag of 50 is a red-letter day. The truth is that the size of the bag has almost no impact on my enjoyment of the day.

Having fun with like-minded people trumps the size of the bag every time, but Guns do value ‘good birds’

DUNCAN IRELAND; ANDY HOOK; STEVE MAGENNIS

“A shoot with a grumpy captain is unlikely to see repeat visits, no matter how good his birds”

26 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Game days n our family shoot, it is not On ommon to be a specctator on at least unco drive. I can derive great g one d pleasure from watching our guessts and d my brothers shooting well, and even more if they shoot badly. For m me, shooting is about the day ‘in the rround’: the company, being in the countryside, the b badinage and the sense of belonging.

Having a few birds in the game cart at the end of the day is a bonus.

Analysing the demand for different bag sizes is of debatable value, since ultimately it is just a v proxy for the cost. For what it is worth, our data reveals that sub-200bird days represent three-quarters of all searches made by Guns on Pegs members. When we include a shoot offering bags below 150 in our weekly newsletter, the interest is huge, and walked-up days are also popular.

Achilles heel

The world of commercial shooting sometimes gets a bad rep. Before joining the shooting industry, I perhaps subscribed to the view that if shooting had an Achilles heel, it wa as too great an obsession with making the bag, driven by commerciality, and not enough on the ‘peripheral’ elements that bring me so much joy.

However, Guns on Pegs has repeated dly asked members what they love abou ut shooting, and it seems they think the same way as me; having fun with like-minded people trumps the size of the day every time. So if the bag is not important, what does matter to Guns?

Our research shows that Guns do value ‘good birds’, but what that means is hard to pin down. My own view is I want birds that are just

e hosts. My younger having multiple brother, who manages the shoot, is harge, my dad thinks nominally in ch h in he’s i charge h an nd my mother is actually in charge. My other siblings and I chip in, do oling out the elevenses, showing Guns to o their pegs and heckling during g the morning briefing.

Food and drrink

More than 50% of respondents said they were keen or had plans to trial non-lead alternatives

challenging enough that bringing one down with a clean kill gives me a sense of accomplishment, without them being way beyond my skills.

I’m not an altitude junkie, and no one wants to blaze away in futility all day, but birds that are too easy get dull quite quickly. kl That h said, d my y shooting is nothing special and on so ome days even the most average of ph heasants sails over me, blissfully una aware that I’m even carrying a gun.

Beyond this, it all comes down to atmosphere and hospitallity. The reviews that our members leave l reveal that hosting is all-imp portant.

A shoot with a grumpy g py capt ptain is unlikely to see repeat visits, no matter how good his birds, but Guns will forgive a dodgy drive or two if the hosting is done right.

No matter the shoot, the shoot captain sets the tone that allows the fun atmosphere to flourish. Our family shoot has the advantage of

Speaking of elevenses, elev for me this is a key part of the day. We don’t have a Gunbus, so this is often the first time in the day when one gets to chat with our guests. We usually shoot through, which makes it all the more welcome to have one of my dad’s ever-popular game and chorizo sausage rolls. It therefore came as something of a surprise to me that only 67% of Guns expect to be served mid-morning refreshments when on a commercial shoot.

Though we don’t have a Gunbus at home, I do prefer them, so I was also surprised to learn that a majority of Guns prefer to get around shoots in 4x4s. The consensus in our office is that we’re happy to forgo luxury in favour of the ribaldry and bonhomie of the wagon. Are we all becoming too comfortable in our leather-upholstered, air-conditioned Chelsea tractors?

When it comes to the main meal of the day, our research shows that Guns are fairly evenly split on when the shoot lunch takes place, but I find that shooting through allows one really to enjoy the festivities. On one occasion our shoot lunch was still going strong when I, accompanied by my sister’s other half, conducted a midnight raid on the wine cellar, resulting

Above: Atmosphere, hospitality and camaraderie are all important aspects of a shooting day Main: Sub-200-bird days make up three-quarters of searches by Guns on Pegs members

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 27

Game days While 23% of Guns prefer a pub lunch, 47% are looking for a three-course meal

Not all Guns want dressed birds

in one of us — I shall not say which — taking a tumble down the cellar steps in the dark.

This is not to say that all shoot lunches need to be uproarious affairs.

According to our data, 16% of Guns’ appetites are sated with sandwiches and 23% like a pub lunch, while 47% are looking for a three-course meal.

Around two-thirds of Guns believe

encouraging the consumption of game, either by providing preprepared game to take home, or by offering demonstrations for those who don’t know how to dress a bird.

Whenever we have a novice Gun shooting with us at home, I make a point of showing them how to breast out a pheasant as a bit of post-prandial entertainment, before sending them

“The joy of shooting is that it is a broad church — there’s something for everyone” that shoots should always serve game, either at elevenses or at lunch.

Feathered or dressed?

Continuing on this theme, according to the 2020 Game Shooting Census equal proportions of Guns would prefer birds in the feather and readydressed birds, but a larger proportion would like to be given the choice as to what they take home.

A significant cohort would like shoots to be more proactive in

home with a few brace to practise on and some recipe ideas.

When it comes to choosing where to spend their shooting budget, conservation and a shoot’s management practices matter to Guns. In last year’s Game Shooting Census, 70% of respondents said that they would be more likely to buy a day’s shooting from an estate that had been audited for best practice.

Interestingly, when we asked shoot owners the same question, only 37%

Walked-up days are popular with Guns on Pegs members

28 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

felt that being audited for best practice was important to their customers.

Lead transition

If you spend much time on social media, you could have the idea that the shooting community is furious over the move away from lead, but our data suggests otherwise. More than half of respondents to the 2020 Game Shooting Census said that they were keen or had plans to trial non-lead alternatives last season. Only 6% said that a move away from lead would see them shoot less or stop altogether.

The shooting world is not a homogenous group, so these stats must be taken with a pinch of salt.

We’re talking averages and wider trends, not hard and fast preferences that apply across the board. The joy of shooting is that it is a broad church, with room for those who take their pleasure walking-up a few hedges and those who like the pageantry of a formal day. Between these two extremes, there’s something for everyone.

George Browne is an enthusiastic game Shot and fly-fisherman with a passion for the countryside, conservation and loud tweeds. He is the editor at GunsOnPegs.com, and writes about all aspects of shooting.

Pigeon shooting

A very different field A lot has changed since Archie Coats’ heyday, but one thing remains constant — the threat to crops posed by pigeons, says Tom Payne

SARAH FARNSWORTH; ANDY HOOK; PA IMAGES

A

s I turned the pages in Archie Coats’ book, Pigeon Shooting, I came across the phrase ‘rabbit clearance society pigeon poking programme’ — quite a mouthful and certainly something you wouldn’t hear in the 21st century. However, it got me thinking about how things have changed for the modern Gun. Archie’s book is regarded by many as the pigeon-shooting bible. The tactics Archie used have become the basic skills for all pigeon shooting and the phrases he coined are still used as part of the pigeon shooter’s idiolect.

Old Shooting Times articles and books such as Archie’s are the only forms of literature that offer an insight into pigeon shooting back in the 1940s and explore how things have changed over the past 75 years.

Though there have been many changes throughout that time, the effects have been both positive and

negative for pigeon populations and the shooting thereof.

Habitats and breeding were affected by the cutting down of large areas of woodland to support the war efforts in the 1910s and early 1940s.

At the time, there would have been an immediate effect on the rural populations of woodpigeons, with the removal of large blocks of woodland,

“The introduction of winter rape was transformative” but the recovery of those populations was swift. The planting of young fir woods provided superb habitats if they were mixed in with hard woods, such as oak and beech. Certainly, the modern forestry methods of the time really helped improve habitats for the woodpigeon. Indeed, in Archie’s day,

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there was a big shift in agriculture, with a swing away from livestock and towards arable farming. This improved pigeon numbers and made certain counties pigeon ‘hotspots’.

Ever adapting

Some regions are simply better suited to pigeons than others and these tend to be counties that offer plenty of arable farmland, high urban populations, good roosting and breeding woodland. The everadapting woodpigeon also finds itself with new roosting grounds in the form of the suburbs and urban gardens: safe from predation, with easily obtained bird feed to help support successful breeding. The 21st-century pigeon also enjoys the added bonus of surrounding arable farms supplying food throughout the year.

In Archie’s heyday, cereals were the main crops of growth; predominantly wheat and barley.

Pigeon shooting With more land being farmed for cereals after the war, woodpigeon numbers exploded

Pigeon shooting legend Archie Coats, with George Ross Starr Jr and Peter Whitaker (Petrel), their dogs and the day’s bag

With regards to green crops, many of the pigeons’ favourite weeds were found growing in among cereals and on livestock farms. Post-war, and prompted by an ever-growing human population, farming saw huge changes, with more land being farmed for cereals, introductions of w farming methods and farming a much larger scale. Birds, such the grey partridge, were starting be affected by these changes, but oodpigeons were booming.

The introduction of winter oilseed pe in the late 1960s would bring out probably the biggest change all for the UK’s woodpigeons. That believable winter food source and lding crop saw numbers increase amatically. I would go as far as say that it was the biggest crop troduction to have changed pigeon ooting as it became the staple inter holding and food source.

The farming landscape continued evolve. From the 1980s, the UK was longer a patchwork quilt of farming actices. Massive block farming d become the norm, with the two main crops being winter wheat and oilseed rape. Interestingly, this had

no negative effect on the woodpigeon and we wouldn’t see a change to this approach to farming for quite some years. In fact, we have only seen real change in the past five years or so, during which there has been an almost 40% reduction in the area of oil seed rape grown due to a ban on insecticides making it far less profitable.

Off the blocks

Lately, we are starting to find ourselves, in some parts of the country anyway, beginning to look like a farming nation that Archie would recognise. With the introduction of various Government schemes and the move towards habitat enrichment and farming to improve biodiversity, we have seen a move from block farming to a far more interesting rural landscape on the cropping front.

From a pigeon shooting point of view, far more ‘restaurants’ are open throughout the year. The move away from oil seed rape has been followed by a move towards growing peas as a break crop. As a pigeon shooter, I’m all for it because it allows me to employ different tactics over lots of different crops at different times of the year.

As pigeon numbers continue to rise, the role of the pigeon shooter is more important than ever

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 31

Pigeon shooting Also, because of the varying crops, it is easier to manage pigeon populations on farms and estates, as shooting in the block-crop format made controlling pigeons on winter rape incredibly tricky.

Major asset

In Archie’s day, there would have been only a handful of pigeon shooters, and certainly very few professional pigeon Shots, quietly going about their business. The Government understood the importance of crop protection, so cartridges were supplied to farmers and pigeon shooters for free.

But now pigeon shooting has never been so popular. The number of pigeon shooters in this country today is quite amazing. The big difference, in the 21st century, is that we find ourselves trying to show the importance of crop protection and having to defend a general licence that was so wrongfully removed by the

“Pigeons are good at adapting and know how to survive” Government in a period when crops were at their most vulnerable.

However, playing devil’s advocate, I was shocked at the number of people who either didn’t know there was a general licence or who didn’t fully understand it. Hopefully everyone is now fully aware and acting in accordance with these licences, following best practice.

Tactics and terminology used by Archie Coats are still being used by modern pigeon shooters today

a healthy living. It’s not as easy these days. The bird is highly respected for its eating qualities, and it is still sought-after on the Continent, but it is difficult to get a decent price for the bird. There are lots of pigeon shooters, but I’ve seen the price that some chefs are willing to pay for pigeons — there’s certainly a healthy profit there for the game dealer, based on current prices.

Formidable

A lot has changed over the years, but what hasn’t changed is the fact that pigeons are still a formidable agricultural pest that is highly adaptable to change. They know how to survive and know how to be successful. This constant

change and resilience to our farming practices suggests that woodpigeons have one of the fastest learning capabilities of all the animals and can adapt and survive on an annual basis.

Policy changes

Areas of the UK that are predominantly livestock based continue to hold smaller populations of pigeons, but density in certain spots can be high — and will inevitably get higher — due to the increase in arable and forage crops available.

It is going to be interesting to see how pigeon shooting continues to evolve over the forthcoming years with the impending changes in agricultural policies and farming.

Solitary pastime

I can say this of Archie, having met him and knowing many of his friends: he would not be able to get his head around social media and its negative impact on fieldsports, particularly pigeon shooting. Archie saw pigeon shooting as a solitary pastime, taking on a formidable agricultural pest, albeit one of the finest birds we shoot, and doing so to the best of his professional ability. He wouldn’t understand the conceit of showing off bag sizes to the world with no actual education involved or even any explanation as to why it was important to manage a large number of pigeons on a particular crop.

He certainly saw the pigeon as a fine food source and it made him

The pigeon is still respected for its eating qualities, but it is hard to get a decent price these days

32 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Duck flighting

Creating the perfect pond Open water is a magnet for ducks and all manner of wildlife, as Graham Downing finds when he restores his two flightponds

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CALLUM MCINERNEY-RILEY; JOHN ALEXANDER; PAUL QUAGLIANA; STEVE TAYLOR; IONA NICOLL

ifty years ago, my father and a bunch of his shooting mates bought a bit of marsh.

They realised quickly that, while there was plenty of wildfowling action there when the winter floods were up, the key to providing some sport in the early part of the season was creating a duck magnet.

To do this, they needed to establish what would become a decent-sized patch of open water when the neighbouring marshes were dry.

So they hired a man with a dragline, pulled out a pond roughly 80 yards by 40 yards, with a long island in the middle, planted some willows around the outside and some Norfolk reeds in the shallows. Then they waited to see what happened.

It took a couple of years before the bare soil greened up, but by that time the ducks had already taken a liking to the new pond. Modifications followed: a feeder channel to allow water in and an exit channel to allow it out again, sluices to control the flow and hides dug into the ground and lined with pallets.

I did a good deal of my early and formative duck shooting around that pond and it is still there. The pallet hides rotted away long ago, the willows have grown up and some have fallen over, and it has been cleaned out many times over the years by a succession of digger drivers, but the basic shape of the pond still exists.

And it still provides some wonderful early-season shooting. Indeed, I shot a very satisfactory bag of four mallard and a gadwall there at morning flight on 1 September last year.

It serves to underline the old rule of duck shooting that if you have water and others around you do not, then you stand the best possible chance of shooting ducks.

Ideal position

If it is to hold water successfully, a flightpond is best dug into wet, lowlying ground, maybe in a river valley — the sort of place where you might expect to see regular wildfowl traffic overhead in autumn and winter.

These days, pond-digging projects may well require permission. Before

A design with curved lines and shallow edges helps to make a new flightpond attractive to wildfowl

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Once a pond is finished, the only thing to do is wait for the first ducks to arrive

even thinking of digging a hole in the ground and filling it, or allowing it to fill with water, you would be well advised to consult both the Environment Agency and your local planning department.

Ponds, however, are acknowledged for the enhancement that they can provide to local biodiversity and if a project is proposed in the right way, there is often no reason why it shouldn’t get the thumbs up.

When I put forward a plan to restore two old ponds on my small Suffolk farm, for example, the woman from Natural England was positively enthusiastic. When I say ‘restore’, really I mean ‘dig’, as one of these ponds was totally silted up with decades of mud and sludge, while

Duck flighting

the other was no more than a damp depression in the corner of an arable field where, according to a 1920s Ordnance Survey map, a pond had once been.

So it’s worth checking out old maps. Even if it was filled in years ago, the fact that a pond formerly existed

Instead, I found a man with a tracked 360-degree digger. Together, he and I planned out the shape and profile of each pond, where the little bays should be to provide shelter and seclusion, deciding where the water needed to be shallow and where it had to be deep.

“If you have water and others do not, you stand the best chance of shooting ducks” on the site could provide you with the ammunition you need to get all the right boxes ticked. It probably also means that the soil there is capable of retaining water.

Unlike my father half a century ago, I did not hire a dragline.

How that driver made his digger dance. In a couple of days, he had scooped and sculpted those ponds, creating a bund to hold back the water along a ditch line. Through this miniature dam, I inserted a 4in drainpipe with a 90-degree bend and

an upstand to maintain the water level and act as an overflow.

After the digger driver had spread the spoil on the adjacent arable ground, I had the bright idea of going over it with a metal detector. The first thing I found was a bag of blackened coins that must have been lost in the pond years earlier. Unfortunately, they turned out not to be a hoard of Saxon treasure, but a collection of old ha’pennies.

More recently, I have made a duck-nesting tube and sited it in the more secluded of the two ponds, and I have been rewarded by regular visits from a pair of mallard. No nest yet, but I’m hoping that the birds will take up residence in due time. Of course, it is possible to augment the wild

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 35

Duck flighting Shallow edges are also perfect sites for putting down grain in autumn and winter to attract birds into the pond.

Straight edges are best avoided, though it has to be said that there are plenty of farm reservoirs that are well patronised by wildfowl. If you want a natural-looking pond, then incorporate plenty of little bays, especially on the side that is sheltered from the prevailing wind. If the pond is large enough to accommodate them, islands will offer roosting or nesting wildfowl at least a degree of protection from predators.

population with a few hand-reared mallard. For several years, a longstanding shooting buddy and I rented the shooting on a flooded gravel pit on the Essex/Suffolk border.

My friend had always enjoyed raising wildfowl and poultry, so he got hold of a batch of mallard eggs and hatched them off. We created an enclosure that incorporated an area of shallow water on the edge of one of the many islands and when they were old enough for release, we let them loose on the pond.

Feeding and looking after them was a lot of work and there were the inevitable losses. But we added to the mallard population and our efforts appeared to attract wild birds to our water as autumn turned to winter.

Bedding in

Secluded spot

Careful siting and design of a pond are crucial. Wildfowl demand quiet and seclusion and will not care for a place that is regularly disturbed. So look for a remote spot on your shoot if you are thinking about creating a new pond and avoid places regularly visited by farm traffic or where there are public rights of way nearby.

Ducks and their young will benefit from cover offered by additional planting around a pond

act as a windbreak, while allowing plenty of sunlight on the water.

Phragmites australis, or Norfolk reed, is an excellent marginal plant that will grow up to 8ft tall around the edge of a pond, offering additional shelter

“Islands will offer roosting or nesting wildfowl at least a degree of protection” Additional planting can create the shelter that ducks appreciate. Willows will take root quickly from fresh cuttings provided the soil is moist, and a bundle of wands a couple of feet long and half-an-inch thick, cut from last year’s growth, will soon have the makings of some useful screening.

Planted around the north side of the pond, the resulting trees will also

and seclusion. Once the reeds are established, you will have to ensure they are managed regularly and do not choke the pond with excessive growth from the spreading rhizomes.

Ducks appreciate shallow water ‘loafing areas’ on the edge of a pond where they can preen and feed, so avoid having steeply sloping shorelines around the entire pond.

One advantage of designing a pond from scratch is the chance to build hides in the perfect position for approaching wildfowl

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These are all features that can be discussed beforehand with whoever is operating the earth-moving gear.

Likewise, you can decide on where to dump the spoil. Perhaps it is best spread over an adjoining field, but there can be benefits from creating an embankment on the outside of the pond, which will both provide shelter and allow you a degree of invisible access.

A new flightpond will take a few years to bed in to the landscape.

There will be plenty of opportunity for conservation planting, both around the margins and in the shallow water areas, and all this will help to create space for wildlife, as well as for ducks.

Then, on a quiet autumn evening, you can stand in a hide beside your new pond after the sun has dropped below the horizon and watch with pleasure and pride as the first little party of ducks appears against the darkening sky, then turns and side-slips down towards the habitat that you have created. It’s a great feeling.

Foraging

Let’s show respect for our elders Sambucus nigra is the star of Britain’s hedgerows and a standout favourite for forager John Wright

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GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY

e all have our favourite foods and many will have their favourite foraged food. For the latter, with stinging nettles, sea buckthorn and horse mushrooms in the running, it is a tough call. The winner, for me at least, is the glorious elderflower.

The elder is a very common shrub, one that is unquestionably native to Britain, with records going back to before the last Ice Age. It has a rather patchy distribution that defies description without a map, but it should not be hard to find.

Elder trees (or shrubs — you choose) do not seem to be particularly fussy where they grow, requiring only sunny situations to flourish.

It is certainly a common tree of the hedgerow, though no farmer would ever plant them due to its habit of having bits of itself die off, leaving gaps. However, it is generally tolerated beside gateways.

The elder (Sambucus nigra) comes into flower in late May to early June.

Twice (in west Dorset) I have seen it

flower in April, though this is rare and will require a warm, dry spring.

It is helpful to pick all of your elderflowers for the year as early as you can. Having often put the matter aside, I have needed to spend hours in mid-July driving from lay-by to lay-by, picking a few sprays here and a few there, for the season is a bare six weeks. Pick only when all or most of the florets are open and still fresh, with the yellow centre of the stamens.

Heady fragrance

I always leave it to 1 June, which to me is Elderflower Day. The first sniff of the flowers brings thoughts of summer.

Elderflower sparkly, cocktails or (if you must) cordial on the lawn, surrounded by family and friends.

The fragrance is heady, quite unlike that of the rose, and its strangely musky scent stimulating to more than simply the nose and palate.

The etymology of both Latin and common name are of some interest, if a little obscure. Nigra reflects the black colour of the berries. Sambucus is most likely named after an ancient

The elder is a common sight in hedgerows across Britain, bursting into full flower from late spring

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type of Greek harp that was made of elder, the harp itself being named for its inventor, Sambyx. But there is also a wind instrument called a sambuca.

Speaking as a former cabinet maker with 30 years of experience and knowing elder wood well, the timber of elder — though it can, rarely, grow to a foot or more in diameter — seems to be an unlikely choice for a harp. It is, however, entirely suited for the wind instrument, as the branches sport an easily removed pith that leaves the requisite smooth bore.

Fatal for my hypothesis is the fact that it dates only from the Middle Ages, so I suppose we are stuck with the improbable harp. There is also sambuca, a frequently foul aniseflavoured spirit that was once made from distilled elderberry wine.

Some modern producers have,

Foraging The sprays of flowers can be harvested from hedges from late May to early June

The common elder, Sambucus nigra, can be mistaken for similar plants, including rowan and dogwood

made their way into a putative elderflower sparkling wine. The wayfaring tree is sometimes mistaken for earlyflowering elder. Rowan, whitebeam, guelder rose and dogwood are also vague lookalikes. All of them make a wine that tastes, more or less, of cat’s pee.

One fellow complained that his wine tasted of carrots, or possibly parsley, and my guess is that he had used hogweed flowers. An unconfirmed report relates that someone was seriously ill from their elderflower sparkly and it is possible, probable even, that they had collected hemlock flowers.

To avoid cat’s pee sparkly or respiratory arrest, do check all the identification characters in your favourite book. There are several cultivars that produce usable flowers, but their bouquet can vary wildly in character and strength, delivering notes such as almond, lemon and others not so nice. For the wild elder, remember the absolute clincher that people inexplicably miss: they smell very strongly of elderflowers.

Combing the corymbs

The tiny florets need to be detached from the green and very slightly poisonous ‘corymb’ on which they form. This is best done with a dinner fork. Hold the stem between your

thumb and forefinger, with the corymb of flowers laying in your palm. Drag the fork towards your wrist, gently, repeatedly and at a very shallow angle through the corymb, collecting the florets in a bowl.

I can manage 150 before I start to draw blood. Do weigh the florets and count the number of corymbs you have combed as all recipes will tell you how many of these are needed.

Divide the weight by the number of corymbs and use multiples of this for the recipe.

There are a few classic delectables that can be made with elderflower — cordial (with or without lemon), sparkling wine, panna cotta or similar, ice cream, sorbet with lemon, as a syrup and, again with lemon, in

“The first sniff of the flowers brings summer thoughts” a Turkish delight. This last is, I believe, my own invention and my greatest contribution to world culture. I make a strong, plain cordial/syrup to use in all recipes throughout the year.

Assuming you have not stripped the tree bare of flowers, in August the berries will appear. These can be made into a not particularly nice sweetened juice, a cordial, an interesting vinegar and, best of all by a very long way, elderberry wine.

While it does not matter with the wine or vinegar, it is essential to boil the juice and cordial as the raw berries contain glycosides that can release hydrogen cyanide. I am sticking with the wine. Cheers.

Elderflower and lemon cordial is a perennial favourite

I understand, reverted to the less anise-infested variety of the original.

The common name — elder — has less of a story to tell, meaning fire. The hollow stems once formed a useful tool for blowing life into a fire.

I speak to a lot of people about elderflowers and have always been astounded at how many truly terrible amateur botanists there are lurking in the hedgerows. Many plants produce little sprays of white or whitish flowers and I suspect that all, at one time or another, have SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 39

LAMP TEST

Leading lights of pest control A reliable lamp is vital when tackling foxes and rabbits after dark, so Barry Stoffell puts four to the test

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ith paddocks full of vulnerable lambs and the rabbit population on an upward curve, this is always a busy time of year for staying on top of pests and predators. Despite the rampant advances in handheld thermalimage devices and night-vision optics, the vast majority of us still rely on a trusty lamp to get the job done and ‘traditional’ lamping remains by far the most cost-effective way of dealing with nocturnal vermin.

With this in mind, I was delighted to put a selection of hardware to the test this month. Whether you are a serious long-distance lamper with a fox problem or simply out for the occasional bunny for the pot, there’s something for everyone here.

1 Night Master NM1 SL RRP: £149.95 nightmaster.co.uk ThelatestofferingfromNightMaster is animpressivepieceofkit,asyouwould expectfromoneofthemarketleaders inhuntinglights.

The NM1 is reassuringly solid in construction and in use it becomes clear that this was designed with utility in mind.

The controls are all housed at the rear of the unit, from the rotating beam focus to the smart rheostat ‘dimmer’ control on the lamp brightness, obviating the need to faff around with a series of noisy double-clicks to adjust light intensity. The fully scalable brightness is

9 /10

A GEARD

3 Streamlight Waypoint 300

40 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

particularly handy when in infrared (IR) mode and there’s even an active light indicator to let you know that the beam is on.

The unit can be mounted via a simple double-clamp universal lamp mount or via the Night Master Picatinny rail adapter and quick multi-directional (QMD) mount, which not only makes for easy mounting and removal, but also offers simple zeroing of the beam. Helpful for long-range work.

In terms of performance, I took the NM1 out on a number of occasions and found no trouble picking up Charlie’s eye-shine at 500m. The fully focused beam provided plenty of light for positive ID to 250m. The 3.7-volt 18650 lithium-ion battery (two are supplied, with charger) gave a little under three hours of continuous use at full power.

Buy with confidence

The Night Master NM1 is easily mounted on Barry’s Sako Finnfire II .17 HMR

2 LED Lenser P7 Core

RRP: £69.95 Find your local retailer: bisley-uk.com This offering from the extensive P-series LED Lenser range was an interesting addition to the review list.

As you’d expect from a high-end Not designed as a shooting-specific lamp, various different LED pills are light, it doesn’t have an interchangeable available, including red, green, amber LED pill, but it still has some decent and, of course, an IR pill, and the lamp features at a lower price-point than the is also covered by Night Master’s threemore custom units. year warranty.

The brightness settings of 450, If I had to go looking for faults, it would 250 and 40 lumens are cycled by be nice to have a remote switch that could double-clicking the power button be brought to the fore-end and a 12-volt at the back of the lamp, which feels car adapter for the charger, but these are a bit clunky. niggles. I could find precious little not to However, the maximum like about this smart piece of kit. brightness is quite respectable and the simple sliding beam focus Best for: Serious lamping; makes a nice change from the everything from bunny-bashing more typical twist design. to long-range foxing It produces a beam that is perfectly serviceable There is plenty to shoot with, though to admire about the the tightest focus is impressive Night Master still quite wide and NM1 SL, which is a smart, solid piece of kit with a host of clever, user-friendly features

4 Walther Tactical XT2

gives a workable ‘shooting’ beam to about 80m on a clear night.

Housed in a well-constructed all-metal case and weatherproofed to an IP54 rating — dust and rainproof, but don’t submerge it — the P7 Core weighs 175g. As a back-up or safety light, you’d barely notice it in a pocket.

The unit is supplied with a power pack containing four AAA batteries and these can be easily and inexpensively replaced for rechargeable ones of your own.

That wouldn’t be a bad idea, given the burn time on maximum power is only around one hour.

I confess that I actually had a lot of fun twinning this light with a cheap double-clamp mount, bunny-bashing with the rimfire out to around 60m.

If that’s the limit of your nocturnal outings, then this might be a reliable, inexpensive piece of kit to consider.

Best for: Close-range bunny-bashing or as a back-up light

8 /10

2 LED Lenser P7 Core

1 Night Master NM1 SL

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 41

Buy with confidence

LAMP TEST

10

Theunithas three power settings—1,000 and 550 lumens forspottingand a low setting of /10 35lumens,perfect for navigating treacherouspaddock margins without destroyingyournightvision. At full power, theWaypointisveryimpressive indeed. The advertisedbeamdistance is a staggering 1kmand,ingoodconditions, I was able to pickupeye-shineataround 600m.

IfIhadtofindsome faults, it would have beennicetohavea12-volt car charger in thebox,butmylamping gear usually lives inavehicleforagoodfew months of the year, soImightbebiased.

As night falls on the hill, the rugged Streamlight Waypoint 300 comes into its own with a beam that reaches 1km

Best for: Rough conditions, longdistance spotting, lamping à deux and making farmers jealous 3 Streamlight Waypoint 300

RRP: £149.99 vikingshoot.com Ofalltheunitsreviewed,thiswasthe onethatmyregularlampingpartner— aneighbouringfarmer—triedtopilfer,which tellsitsownstory.Unfussyandextremely rugged,theWaypointiswaterproofedallthe waytoIPX8(2msubmersion).

Accordingtotheinformationsupplied, itevenfloats.Unflinchinginmydutytobring youthebarefacts,I—verybegrudginglyand muchtothehorrorofmycovetouslamping partner—threwitinaditch.Icanconfirm thatthisstatementis100%true.

4 Walther Tactical XT2

RRP: £49.99 Find your local retailer: bisley-uk.com The lowest-priced unit reviewed here, this neat little number from Walther nonetheless has some nice features, including an all-metal weatherproof case (IP44 rating).

It has a respectable maximum brightness of 600 lumens, which

TheWaypointisasolidpieceofkit weighinginatalmost700g,butthe rubberisedgripiscomfortableandthe balanceisgood.Intermsofpower,theunit containsanon-removable,rechargeable powerpackthatrancontinuouslyformore thanthree-and-a-halfhoursatfullpeltwhen tested.This,forme,wasmorethansufficient foranight’swork.

Thepistol-gripdesignincludesalanyard and,thoughthetriggerisquitenoisy,the Waypointhastheoptiontohalf-depressthe onswitchandholditforsilentoperation.

Bothredandgreenfiltersareavailable, thoughthesearenotincludedinthebox.

is interchangeable with a lower setting of 150 lumens with a single click.

The beam, though bright, is nonfocusable and set quite wide, making it a very useful general-purpose light, but not appropriate for gunmounting. Walther does, though, make shooting-specific torches.

Two 3-volt CR123A batteries are supplied, but these are

The well-balanced Waypoint 300 is a super-tough unit

non-rechargeable and not as easy to replace as more standard battery types.

Great value for money and well constructed, this little unit weighs only 122g and makes an excellent utility or back-up light.

7

/10

42 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Best for: Finding your way home or as a backpocket back-up

Megan Rowland is the assistant land manager on Gordonbush Estate

NEW COLUMNIST

Stalking Diary

The Scottish government’s acceptance of the key recommendations of the Deer Working Group means change is on the horizon for stalkers

A

s the Big Yin once said, “There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter.”

I am writing this column at the end of May while clutching a hot-water bottle and contemplating lighting the fire, so I think he may be right.

It’s been a peculiar start to the year.

Weather wise, it is still Baltic, despite being dry and sunny over the past week. Even the brief spell of lambing snow didn’t add much moisture to the ground. It’s not often you reach the end of winter and have to keep the windows wound up due to dust when driving on hill roads.

In and of itself, the cold doesn’t bother deer too much, the dry weather even less so.

The problems start when the cold weather hangs on and delays the growing season.

Misconception

There is a common misconception that it is the winter that kills animals, and while there may be a few mortalities due to hypothermia — usually older and poorer animals — the majority of deaths occur in the spring. This can be for two reasons.

The first is where the weather warms and the grass grows quickly but, due to the rate of growth, it is deficient in certain minerals — particularly magnesium. This causes hypomagnesaemia, or magnesium deficiency. This is commonly known as grass staggers due to the characteristic

While older and poorer animals may struggle to survive a bad winter, most deaths occur in the spring

I will enjoy the brief interlude before the midges and clegs appear.

The start of the year was also unusual in that it brought with it the Scottish government’s response to the Deer Working Group report. Now, I won’t lie —

LAURIE CAMPBELL

“The only way to get a handle on deer numbers is to manage hinds and calves” uncoordinated gait or ‘staggering’ seen in affected animals. While cattle, sheep and even farmed deer can be treated for this, wild deer have to fend for themselves.

The second reason for spring deaths is what we are seeing so far this year, where due to the constant cold and lack of moisture in the ground, the plants just can’t grow. This is understandably hard on animals that haven’t had a good, nutritious bite to eat since October, and some just don’t quite make it.

But the weather will change, June will arrive, winter will fade to a memory and

I was nervous about this report and what the Scottish government would make of it.

It contained 99 recommended changes to the way deer are managed in Scotland and the legislation surrounding them.

If you’ve been paying attention, you may have seen some of the suggestions: removing the close season for stags, changing the hind season, allowing the taking of deer with thermal scopes for night-time culling, and many more besides.

While I was braced for the worst, after some time to ponder, my view is that many of the suggestions are actually quite sound;

they tidy up pieces of legislation, for example, or provide useful tools for deer managers.

But — and I must stress again that this is purely a personal view — I have to wonder about other suggestions; for example, how useful a year-round open season on stags will be. Heaven knows, I’ve written enough articles for Shooting Times by now that the only way to get a handle on populations of deer is to manage hinds and calves. I don’t know what to say, other than we shall just have to wait and see.

The Scottish government has either “agreed” or “agreed in principle” to nearly all of the recommendations for the initial report, so we can expect to see many changes over the next few years. However, this is not an instant process and legislative changes will also require consultation. So, keep an eye out and get ready to have your say when the time comes.

TostalkonGordonbushEstate, visit gordonbushestate.com

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 43

Conservation

Northern Nature Notes W I T H L I N D S AY WA D D E L L

Wading in on habitat loss The battle to manage agricultural landscape for breeding waders is doomed to failure unless there is a change of policy at national level

CRAIG MCCANN-MCMILLAN; GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY

S

hooting Times has quite rightly given a good number of column inches to the plight of waders, but what has really gone wrong for these birds? Despite the dedication of a smattering of landowners, farmers and gamekeepers, breeding wader populations have collapsed in the lowlands due to habitat loss, changes to farming practices and a huge increase in predators.

What of the uplands, where many would think little has changed? How wrong could they be? The main driver for habitat change in the uplands is Defra and its ‘family’ member, Natural England. I’m afraid they do not emerge with much credit from my summing up of their track record.

From the days of the catastrophic headage payment, driven by the EU, to the current Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) schemes, they have lurched from one extreme to the other.

44 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Destocking of agricultural land is a catastrophe for waders, such as lapwings

Conservation On the high side of the moorland wall, destocking and restrictions to heather management have already led to tree encroachment and loss of wader habitat to increasing vegetation height. Before we get too excited at the thought of more trees, these are not natives that will catch more carbon — quite the opposite. They are needle-covered foreign pines, Sitka and Norway spruce.

If nothing is done, parts of the uplands will end up like many lowland heaths and require remedial work if they are not to end up as pine-covered forests, with the loss of thousands of acres of wader habitat.

Knee-jerk reaction

The knee-jerk reaction from Natural England to high stock densities was to require stock to be reduced down to what I would call a ridiculously low level. The result is that the grass sward has grown and become very dense, not only making it too tall for waders, but also smothering a whole suite of plants.

In many places, farmers are now having to fork out to purchase more stock in order to redress the balance.

This is all happening over a very short period of time in the moorland timescale but requires a great deal of energy and effort and funds.

Much of this is due to those responsible for policy having no practical experience of the numbers and type of stock needed to produce the desired result. I have had reports from farmers and gamekeepers about university graduates with no knowledge of their field of work.

It is almost as if they decided that they could remove driven grouse shooting and farmers with changes to stocking and habitat management, but have found out already that they actually need them and that not having them can be deeply harmful for the very species they claim to be protecting.

Below the moorland wall, things are no better — in fact, they are worse.

I can point to scores of acres that used to contain a very high density of lapwings, snipe and redshanks, but are now so overgrown with soft rush that there is not one single bird in there. Reed buntings were breeding in it, but much of it is now being weed wiped with glyphosate to kill the soft rush. It is all because of destocking.

Increasing vegetation height and encroaching non-native trees are squeezing out wading birds

Natural England dictates how many of what each farmer can keep and in places there is simply not enough stock of the correct species.

Either a lack of cattle or the wrong density and breed of sheep. To resort to chemical warfare instead of using

“Subtle changes in farming practices are playing havoc with some species”

the most natural solution, grazing, is shocking in my eyes. Subtle, and not so subtle, changes in farming practices, either not covered by schemes or not being enforced, are also playing havoc with some species.

Wholesale changes

Defra needs to have a long, hard look at how it is arriving at its current management prescriptions and what it is actually managing land for. It would do well to look at what management was in place when it designated many of these sites in the first instance.

They were, after all, the best in the country and yet, once designated, it set about changing that same management. There is wisdom in the saying, if ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Some minor adjustments were necessary on some sites, but not often wholesale changes. Defra should not, for example, be allowing quite large-scale losses of fringe agricultural land for tree planting, simply so a farmer can meet his points tally to attain status for the HLS. It all removes breeding land for waders, including curlew. That is without increasing encroachment by buzzards, kites and badgers.

Unless there are some changes, don’t expect the next generation to enjoy the spring chorus of wading birds as we do. For the rewilders, if we do not manage this landscape with more thought, there will be little left.

But manage we must.

Swathes of perfect curlew habitat will be lost if farmers are permitted to use large amounts of fringe agricultural land for tree planting

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 45

SHOTGUN TEST

Beretta 12-bore Ultraleggero £2,495 In an exclusive review for S ootin ti ss, Matt Ma Hunt puts the roundbreaking new superlight over-and-under through its pacess

The Ultraleggero will be available in 12-bore and 20-bore, with three barrel lengths and proofed for 3in magnum steel cartridges

OUR VERDICT

CALLUM MCINERNEY-RILEY

I

t cannot be denied that sportsmen and women are going through a period of uncertainty concerning their guns following the move by shooting bodies and game dealers to support the phasing out of lead shot.

I often find myself staring into the gun cabinet and pondering this change, how an increase in steel shot usage could affect my current guns and how it will inform my future purchases. My conclusion is that, with a 12-bore, I see no great change in shooting steel over lead. My main concern is when I look at my muchloved small bores. What of the .410 I was taught to shoot with and is now used by my own children; the 28-bore boxlock I shot my first driven day with; and, most importantly, the 20- and 16-bores that have accompanied me on wild adventures over moor, dale, bog and forest.

So, looking to the future, what gun will be light enough to walk with all day? What calibre will it be? What ammunition will I use so I don’t have to consider a shorter killing distance?

The Beretta tta Ultraleggero gives the walking Gun, as well as ladies and juniors, an out-of-the-box solution to their sporting requirements in these changing times

The action is made from prehardened steel but has been skeletonised, reducing weight

Well, the answer is simple: a British or continental side-by-side will cover all these requirements and most are still capable of shooting standard pressure steel cartridges.

But what if I want to use an over-andunder that still only weighs 6lb, has balance and handling characteristics similar to my other clay and game guns, with the option of using highperformance steel loads, and is of a quality and ruggedness to last?

but its ambitious design does far more than just fill the Ultralight’s shoes.

For a start, this gun will be available in 12-bore and 20-bore with three barrel lengths: 26in, 28in and 30in. Both calibres will also be available with the Vittoria stock dimensions making the gun ideal for ladies and juniors.

Unlike the aluminum Ultralight, you will not be compromising on action strength. The Ultraleggero action is made from pre-hardened steel but lightened by milling away the sides and bottom of the action, creating a skeletonised frame to

Compromise

NEED TO KNOW

This used to mean looking at guns with aluminium actions that used various methods of strengthening the action body and having to compromise on barrel length to achieve even halfsensible balance and handling. This is all going to change with the new Beretta Ultraleggero over-and-under, which arrived with UK dealers last week.

The Ultraleggero is the replacement for the now discontinued Ultralight,

46 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Manufacturer Beretta Model Ultraleggero Calibre 12-bore Barrels 30in Chamber 3in (76mm) Chokes Optima HP Rib Vented top-rib with no mid-rib Grip Pistol Weight 6lb Importer GMK RRP £2,495

Buy with confidence

mount stock and barrels to. The areas that have been milled away are then replaced by a plastic polymer insert.

Groundbreaking

This is a groundbreaking design for an over-and-under, but skeletonising an action to reduce weight is far from a new concept. The likes of Dickson and MacNaughton have been using this design since the 1880s — of course, their guns used a bar-in-wood concept rather than a plastic polymer insert.

The weight reduction does not stop at the action; the inside of the stock has also been milled away, the fo fore-end iron is made from plastic

and the mid-rib on the barrels has been removed. The combination of these changes has a dramatic effect on the weight, but aside from this the Ultraleggero still looks and feels like a Beretta.

You can also be assured that this gun is as strong as any other gun in the Beretta range as it has passed a CIP 3in magnum for steel proof.

Despite its light weight, the Ultraleggero is as strong as any other e ame gun

NCLUSI The Ultraleggero was tested at Holland & Holland Shooting Ground, which was recently acquired by Beretta Holding.

The gun is just one of the new products being launched to celebrate the 50th anniversary of GMK. Aesthetically, the Ultraleggero is striking with its matte black action and gloss black polymer inserts. The dark walnut stock and fore-end completes the look of the gun beautifully.

Picking the gun up, you are immediately struck by its lightness. The test gun had 30in multichoke barrels, and when shouldered it felt like a 28-bore. The weight is distributed perfectly between the hands and though slightly barrel heavy, it had a wonderfully balanced and quick-handling feel.

Operating the top-lever, the gun feels tight on the action as it hinges open. This

bearing s c fore-end pressure, which can be easily adjusted on the b loop as the gun wears. It also gives the option of easing this pressure when new to reduce operator fatigue on opening and closing if required. The lock-up on close was precise and solid, and the safety catch and barrel selector are operated with ease.

a 30in 12-bore.

As the test contin d we star to use heavier cartridges, up to a 28g fibre wad Eley Blue. Though recoil was increased slightly, the gun did not move from the shoulder and it was still comfortable to use after firing 100 shots in quick succession.

“This is an exceptionally light gun with no compromise in strength, quality or handling” The first cartridge we fired was a 21g felt wad school cartridge loaded by Hull. Felt recoil was negligible and the only variation from shooting a standard Beretta game gun was a slightly different harmonic feel from the ribless barrel. The gun was fast to handle and required little heft in moving it to the

With the Ultraleggero, Beretta has achieved an exceptionally lightweight gun with no compromise in strength, quality or handling. It gives the walking Gun, as well as ladies and juniors, an out-of-the-box solution to their sporting requirements in these changing times.

19

19

19

19

17

93

Action and barrels Strength and reliability you can count on

Handling Very fast with superb balance

Trigger Simple, crisp and reliable

Stock Durable finish with options to fit all

Value Not the cheapest but represents good value

Overall score An exceptional gun that is fit for purpose

/20

/20

/20

/20

/20

/100

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 47

Ferreting

Let’s cut to the chase — you can’t catch them all On an unfamiliar piece of ground, pressure may outweigh pleasure but it’s an important lesson for young Dotty, says Simon Whitehead

CRAIG MCCANN-MCMILLAN

W

hen your lifestyle and livelihood are intrinsically linked to the lives of the animals around you, at times, your lives seem to mirror one another’s.

Not everything goes to plan and, from time to time, we find ourselves visiting places we would rather not.

We all have a different perspective to others. We may think we don’t, but we do. From time to time, we all need a helping hand to point us in the right direction. Dotty is no exception to this rule. This is what we call experience.

The natural calendar has turned a new leaf. As Dotty celebrated her first birthday, I was keen to squeeze in one last session at the farm and so I hatched a simple plan to take her somewhere she had never visited before; a place she needed to learn intrinsically, as she will be visiting it a lot over her lifetime. It is a place where things rarely go to plan and where pressure will outweigh pleasure; the result matters, not the experience.

I was keen to see how she would react. I have been cementing her skills and building her confidence during training and days in the field, but it was

“Her neck sloped and her front paw was slightly raised; the full stop was the slow wag of her tail — someone was at home”

now time to put her under a little more pressure. While I was confident that, whatever the day chucked at her, she would cope and instinctively alter her behaviour to counter any pressure, distractions or disappointments. The aim of the day was to start successfully avoiding them.

Fistful of ferrets

The Yorkshire sky was grand, big and blue and filled with the cacophony of curlew, lapwings and oystercatchers.

Lambs bleated in the distance as Dotty and I set forth with nothing more than a fistful of ferrets, a spade and plenty of enthusiasm.

To begin with, the earths that I thought looked tasty were ignored

by Dotty, who just walked right on by. Every now and then, I would play devil’s advocate and drop a ferret in, just to check if my inexperienced companion was wrong. She was not.

When she did stop abruptly, I knew she had picked up some scent. Her neck sloped at 45 degrees, with her front right paw slightly raised. The full stop was the slow wag of her tail — someone was at home.

This was exactly what I had in mind. Her demeanour left me with what would either be the hardest or easiest job in the world. I had to honour her mark and positively reinforce her actions by producing the rabbit one way or another.

I opened the box, removed a large white hob, gently lowered him into the hole and stood back to let the drama unfold. Seconds turned into minutes — a lot of them.

I got the flask out; I emptied it. The clock ticked away as fast as Dotty’s concentration. She was getting bored.

Disinterested in the stagnancy of the situation, she started to scan Simon Whitehead inspects the harvest of hard-earned rabbits before calling it a day

48 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Ferreting

ABCOF FERRETING In this column, Simon outlines the essentials of good ferreting

THE IMPORTANCE OF DRIVE IN FERRETS

Ever alert, Dotty stands guard in case a rabbit bolts while Simon is digging down to his ferret

the horizon for something more appealing. She was in unknown and unfamiliar territory. The ferret finder came out and this kickstarted her concentration. As I started to dig, she watched intently.

Mental strain

This intense mental strain, the pressure of always having to be ready for action, and how it can drain her mentally and physically, is something that she has to get accustomed to. This is her life now, and it isn’t scripted. When the curtain raises, however long the break, she must be on cue. I pulled out the first rabbit of the day, filled in and cracked on to the hill. She marked, I produced, she absorbed the experience.

Dotty has the exuberance and enthusiasm only a youngster can produce. Her step had a spring in it, one that increased the more we walked over the rough ground. The further we

explored, the more on her toes she got.

She marked some small but ancient warrens with a lot of blindsided holes.

Of course, a rabbit bolted and ran up the hill before she caught sight of it. It had got the better of us.

As my charge returned, another rabbit bolted up the other side. It was unseen by Dotty; she was looking elsewhere. I momentarily failed to realise how different our line of sights were. I felt at that time I could not give her away, but I was wrong and quickly realised that. Welcome to the ups and downs of working with and being among nature.

A few shallow digs followed as the ferrets started to get on top of the locals, but the next warren was to prove to be pivotal for Dotty.

The rabbit bolted towards a small warren. Dotty was in hot pursuit, and I watched the rabbit turn her inside out several times before escaping, by a length, down a rabbit hole.

Having located and extracted the ferret, Simon reaches for his prize

A

question I am often asked at this time of year is why does drive rank so highly on your list of desirable attributes for ferrets?

It is a thought-provoking question and one that I hope to answer in full without going off topic.

I have said a thousand times that there is no point in breeding any animal if you cannot better what you already have. The question is, how do you define better? It’s a tricky one as it is wholly down to personal opinion based on your experiences and what you have been used to working in the past.

Over the decades, the infusion of good and great ferrets that form my line have always had a good prey drive.

This is then reinforced in how the ferrets are raised, fed and worked. Do not underestimate how your ferrets are fed when it comes to how prey drive is cemented into their DNA. Of course, I am looking at this from my point of view and not my friends’. I manage rabbits, whereas they catch rabbits — it is a completely different mindset.

Much has been said on the subject of size. Small ferrets with a high drive will always be better than larger ferrets with a lesser drive, but the line between drive and social skills and being too wild is a thin one. Only you know what size you prefer and how driven you like them. Somebody working a hawk would not want to be digging, as they have a hawk on their fist, so does that make their ferret worse than mine?

No, they simply have a ferret that suits their needs. This is the conundrum, as everyone is different. My ferreting brain is wired based upon my livelihood, and so I would be asking why the ferret is ignoring a rabbit. Whatever its size, a ferret has to be able to fend for itself in a warren, be great to handle and be astute in how it uses its energy while working,somethingexperienceteaches them, as it does us and our dogs.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 49

Ferreting

Dotty is on the heels of a bolting rabbit but is thwarted by its cunning, speed and athleticism (inset)

This was the ultimate ‘glass half full or half empty’ conundrum. Should I be disappointed that Dotty failed to catch her rabbit, or pleased that she kept twisting and turning silently to the best of her ability? Should I be disappointed that the rabbit escaped, or delighted that Dotty saw where it went and then marked it strongly?

Essential skill

Like us all, she has to learn. She must learn not to underestimate the rabbit’s cunning, speed and athleticism. That is why the marking dog is the king of the hill, just like her mother, Tawny, and grandfather, Dan. Reinforcing this essential skill, she learnt more from those few seconds than from weeks and months of training, proving the old adage that you’ll learn nothing in the kennel.

When I studied the photographic evidence of this chase, I saw

exactly y how and when the rabbit stoppe ed in its tracks at full speed and, as Dottty overshot, ran off 180 degrees from where w it was originally heading.

I wa as determined it was coming out, as Dotty stood marking where it went in. The ferret went in; in fact, I entered two. In no time the rabbit bolted but, yet again, the inexperienced dog underestimated

first rabbit twisted and turned my athletic young dog inside and out. You cannot catch everything; I wouldn’t want to. It is the pleasure one gets from watching two athletes duel each other and how the loser reacts to the next one.

Another rabbit headed the same way, straight towards the gate.

This time, Dotty got on the rabbit’s

“Dotty learnt more from those few seconds than from weeks and months of training” the sheer athleticism and acceleration of her rabbit.

Had I started to make her believe every rabbit she chased she would get? Of course, this isn’t the case in reality and she must learn to realise this, as must I. The rabbit headed towards the aging farm gate. Dotty was gaining stride by stride but towards this immovable object. To my relief, and my wallet’s, the rabbit ducked under the gate and Dotty swerved to avoid a collision.

Common sense prevailed, most unlike her mother.

Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences. The

Simon praises Dotty after she pulls off a textbook retrieve

50 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

right-hand side, blocking the escape route under the gate, and herded it into the field before moving in with a low strike and textbook retrieve alive to hand. It was obvious that she had quickly learnt from the experience a few minutes prior and corrected her approach.

Sound advice

If the many trainers I know have taught me one thing, it is to quit while you are ahead. With this advice ringing in my ears, we walked back a little more jadedly than we had walked out a few hours earlier.

Walking off the hill, however, we both felt a massive sense of achievement. Dotty had gone from a dog you couldn’t give away to a world-beater in the space of 60 seconds. This was probably her last serious — if I could call it that — day out of the season.

As we both hydrated, my thoughts turned to a summer of polishing her training, hopefully at shows and events around the country as well as on the hill somewhere in North Yorkshire.

Gundogs Sprocker spaniel Emma leaps up a tree trunk in a vain attempt to catch her first squirrel

The squirrel hunters

DAVID TOMLINSON

With numbers of these bold and bushy-tailed tree-dwellers always on the rise, David Tomlinson examines what makes a good squirrel dog IT’S EASY TO BELIEVE that pet dogs lose their hunting instincts, but they don’t. For evidence, simply visit an urban park and watch how most pet dogs, from poodles to pugs, react when they see a squirrel.

The great majority will chase any squirrel they encounter, yapping or barking furiously when the pesky rodent gains sanctuary in the nearest tree. Older dogs may ignore the squirrels, but only because they have learned from experience that squirrels are not rewarding animals to chase as they usually, though not always, escape.

Over the years, my spaniels have caught the occasional squirrel, invariably when the latter has been surprised too far from the nearest tree for it to get to safety. Despite being soft-mouthed gundogs they’ve killed the squirrel, too. Instinct clearly kicks in and they don’t take the risk of being bitten, for squirrels have razor-sharp incisors.

I speak from experience as, many years ago, I picked up a wounded squirrel — I thought it was dead — and it sunk its teeth into one of my fingers.

It’s the only time I’ve been bitten by a wild animal and it wasn’t pleasant.

My sprocker, Emma, is squirrelobsessed, but unlike all my previous springers she has yet to catch her first one, though it’s not for lack of trying.

Her usual morning walk takes her through woodland with the highest density of grey squirrels that I’ve ever come across.

The wood is part of a nature reserve belonging to the local county

reluctant to try to reduce the numbers of squirrels for fear of upsetting both its members and the general public.

Public relations take precedence over sound conservation practice.

Remarkably bold

Though not as bold as squirrels in a town park — they are far from hand tame — these animals are usually remarkably bold, which makes Emma’s lack of success in catching one surprising.

She is bright enough to ignore those that are clearly too distant to be worth expending energy on, but

“Bella spends much of the time looking upwards, scanning the trees for squirrels” wildlife trust. Earlier this year, I wrote to the trust’s conservation officer, asking if there were any plans to control the burgeoning squirrel population. I’m still waiting for a reply. I’ve no doubt that the trust is

she has come within inches of many a bushy-tail and, as my photograph shows, is quite prepared to continue her pursuit up a tree if need be.

The truth is that she is not quick enough. The best squirrel-killing

In association with Chudleys: over forty years of highly nutritious food for working dogs 52 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

www.chudleys.com DAVID’S VIEWPOINT

KEEP FAITH IN CLUMBERS

Morris aims to master art of retrieving and quartering

M

y recent article, ‘Putting on a good show’ (Gundogs, 14 April), discussed the fact that show-bred dogs can make satisfactory workers. This prompted a reader, Sarah, to email with her experiences of both show and working strains of clumber spaniels.

Five years ago, she acquired a clumber puppy from working stock and from a knowledgeable and experienced breeder.

Sarah was really looking forward to training him but, frustratingly, he proved hopeless. He was taken to gundog classes and also back to his breeder for lessons.

Nothing worked. Only now does he show any interest in retrieving, but Sarah says there’s no guarantee he will come back.

This led to Sarah questioning her ability as a handler. However, she decided to buy

dogs are generally whippets or lurchers with the explosive acceleration needed to be able to cut the squirrel off before it manages to climb the nearest tree.

I have met dogs that have accounted for numerous squirrels, though such individuals are rare. We could do with more of them.

Highly prized

Squirrels aren’t, of course, regarded as a game species in this country, unlike North America, where squirrel hunting is widely practised as a sport and good squirrel dogs are highly prized. What, you might ask, makes a good squirrel dog? From what I can gather, it’s a dog that scents squirrels, possibly unseen by the hunter, and indicates where they are so that the latter can get a shot.

I’ve read discussions as to whether “shooting fur over your bird dog” is sensible, as it might distract the dog from the proper business of finding birds, but as one hunter remarked: “There is probably some validity to this, but for me, the advantages outweigh this cost.”

He went on to explain that, in his part of Indiana, wild game such as pheasant and quail is in short supply, so he is quite happy to put a squirrel or

another clumber, though this time the dog, Morris, was from show stock.

The difference in Morris’s attitude has been remarkable. He has proved to be an enthusiastic retriever and is learning to quarter. He is also as steady as you would expect from a young dog that’s still in training.

Sarah adds that “he is still a clumber and can wander off course if not corrected”, but he shows much genuine potential. Sarah is convinced that you can train a show-bred dog to work if you start from the beginning. Judging by Sarah’s photograph of Morris in action, he is coming on well.

Remaining on the subject of clumbers, I was pleased to hear from James Darley that his long-awaited book, Rebirth of the Royal Spaniel: the Clumber in the Field, is now in the hands of designer, printer and bookbinder, and that copies will be available this summer. James promises that the book will be worth the wait, as it is profusely illustrated with “wonderful old paintings, many never seen before, as well

two in the bag, as squirrel meat can be used as a substitute for chicken in lots of dishes.

A friend of mine owns a 20-acre bluebell wood that adjoins his house.

It’s mainly hazel with a scattering of oak standards, so is perfect greysquirrel habitat. He wages constant war against the squirrels, but as soon as one is killed another moves in.

My friend shoots them with a shotgun, aided by his springer spaniel, Bella. She has become

Another squirrel eludes Emma by scrambling up the nearest tree

Morris the clumber spaniel in working mode

as photographs bringing renowned dogs back to life”.

James has done more than anyone to re-establish the clumber as a serious working gundog and I do know that he has researched his book meticulously.

Intriguingly, he promises that it will contain “new information that takes the breed further back in time” — the clumber’s origins have always been shrouded in mystery. I’m looking forward to reviewing the book and learning more.

Email: dhtomlinson@btinternet.com a highly skilled, self-trained squirrel hunter. When she walks through the wood, she spends much of the time looking upwards, scanning the trees for squirrels. This is such unspaniellike behaviour that it has to be seen to be believed.

She is also adept at circling round the tree to ensure that any squirrel she has spotted presents a clear shot for her master. I’ve watched Bella in action and she is remarkably effective.

I’m sure that the Americans would rate her as a top squirrel dog.

If you do take your dog squirrel shooting, it’s wise not to let it pick up shot squirrels, as a wounded rodent can inflict nasty wounds on an unsuspecting retriever. Experienced dogs invariably give wounded squirrels a quick, lethal nip, but there’s a worry this will encourage the dog to become hard-mouthed.

I’ve known several dogs that wouldn’t hesitate to bite fur, including rabbits, but remained gentle retrievers of anything with feathers. I’ve promised Emma a squirrel-shooting session, as I now have permission to shoot in a wood adjoining the nature reserve. Watch this space for a report as to how we get on.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 53

C

ATING OUR BEST WRITE R B E RS EL

Going on a boar hunt When a young sow pulls off a Houdini act, it falls to Peter Carne to track her down before she does too much damage to Hampshire

ALAMY

T

here is a village called Boarhunt in Hampshire, but the term has had no local significance for centuries — until recently. This is hardly surprising as wild boar died out in Britain several hundred years ago, and all attempts to reintroduce them have, so far, been signally unsuccessful.

This being so, there is a certain amount of mystery about the origin of a genuine wild boar that gave itself a few months ago to a Hampshire village policeman, who found it strolling in his back garden. Accepting captivity with a surprising lack of protest, the beast was found a home in a wildlife park close to where I live.

Another wild pig was known to be at large in the same locality as the first one. This second beast, less cunning or less wise, was also less fortunate.

After being seen in various places, among them a shoot where it shared the pheasants’ food and a motorway across which it was prone to jaywalk, it fell to the rifle of a man whose culling activities are normally confined to the local wild deer.

Thus ended the first act of the play; not quite the drama nor a farce but perhaps a tragi-comedy. Act two opened with the arrival of a yearling sow as intended consort for the boar, which preferred the cosseting of captivity to the hazards of freedom.

Instead of settling down to a life of wedded bliss, within a few hours of her arrival, the bride broke out of her married quarters without so much as a consummation by squeezing under a supposedly pig-proof gate. She capped this Houdini act by somehow negotiating the perimeter fence of the wildlife park itself. Beyond lay freedom and the assorted fruits of the Hampshire countryside.

A fortnight later she was still at large, and I set out on a ‘pig hunt’, which proved to be the first of a series.

On my way to the wildlife park to obtain an up-to-date situation report, I glimpsed something very odd through a field gateway.

Fellow fugitive

“One captured wild boar was found a home in a wildlife park; a second beast was less fortunate”

54 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Getting out of the car and creeping back, I saw what looked vaguely like a cross between an oversized goat and a deer — a long-legged brownish beast with a short, thick neck, high shoulders and tapering hindquarters.

We exchanged stares for several seconds before the animal turned and jogged away out of sight behind some bushes. It was another wildlife park fugitive, a female nilgai antelope from India, which had been at large for several months.

Since the nilgai did nobody any harm, no one was greatly bothered about it, though there were hopes that it might eventually be recaptured by narcotic darting.

Vintage Times There were plans to try to recover the wild pig by the same method. In this case there was greater urgency because the farmer, on whose land it spent most of its time, was only prepared to put up with its opencast mining for a strictly limited period.

One particular downland pasture was already pockmarked all over with shallow pits scraped by the pig in its search for beetles and other delicacies, as I saw on my first reconnaissance. Having learned the lie of the land, I set out next evening across some fields towards a wood where the wild pig was known to harbour more or less regularly.

Nocturnal foragings

In the muddy ground along a field edge some way from the wood, I saw rounded slot marks indicating where the pig had roamed on its nocturnal foragings. In the wood itself, I crept noiselessly to a ride junction facing a tangle of scrub where the pig was probably lurking. Behind me was a disused pheasant pen where chopped carrots and other dainties had been put out as bait for the beast.

The last of the tractor sounds on a nearby farm had died away, but it was still quite light when I saw slight movement among the hazels to my left-front. Questing the ground for hidden morsels with its long and sensitive snout, a greyish, hairy but still youthfully slender European wild boar slowly emerged, completely unaware of my presence. The cat-like silence of its progress was surprising for such a creature — until it passed to leeward of me, got my scent and tore off like a train.

straight towards us. At the aviary corner by the open gate she turned sharply at right angles, paused, then was seen to follow the aviary fence right-handed. Whether she had actually gone inside I was not quite certain.

Resounding crash

“One particular pasture was pockmarked all over with shallow pits scraped by the pig”

ended and the reluctant bride restored to her thwarted groom in the nuptial chamber.

On my next foray, I took a friend who has spent a lifetime pitting his wits against various creatures and has learned a trick or two in the process. We took up position behind a tree facing the open gate of the pheasant aviary.

Minutes ticked away and daylight slowly faded. Nothing happened. Had I known the previous day a group of people had gone through the wood with a toothcomb, putting out foxes, roe deer and heaven knows what else, but not the pig, I might have felt thoroughly discouraged, packed up early and gone home — or perhaps not bothered to go there at all.

It was late dusk when the now familiar silhouette of the wild sow emerged from the thickets, coming

At my friend’s suggestion we crept forward to close the gate, just in case.

As I was securing the latch with some string brought for the purpose, my companion said: “She’s inside.”

A moment later the wild pig rushed the gate, found it closed, and at once retreated. We glimpsed her near the far side of the aviary, then she turned and charged at full throttle. Fence posts snapped off like so many matchsticks and one complete side of the fence was flattened as, with a resounding crash, the pig regained its liberty. As it rushed off into the night, we felt we had learned another lesson about wildlife and its potential, though, for the moment, all we could do was to split our sides with helpless laughter.

The end of the tale can be told briefly. Darted twice, the pig refused to flake out and be carried back to the wildlife park. Eventually, it had to be shot. Yet, after all that has happened recently, I am far from convinced that we have heard the last of wild boar in Hampshire.

This article was first published in the 9 June 1973 issue of Shooting Times.

“One complete side of the fence was flattened as the pig regained its liberty” After several boar-watching sessions had produced a similar sequence of events, it dawned on me that the chopped carrot lure was working as intended. All that was needed was to creep up while the pig was enjoying its carrot supper and close the gate of the pheasant pen.

Hampshire folk could then sleep easily with the wild boar menace

“Since the nilgai did nobody any harm, no one was greatly bothered about it, though there were hopes that it might eventually be recaptured”

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 55

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Soldier Palmer

There’s no quick fix in black grouse quest This once common gamebird is in desperate need of a helping hand but reintroductions are hugely complex, as Soldier Palmer discovers

MICHAEL FIRTH

H

aving written about rearing grey partridges in a recent edition of Shooting Times (Making hens meet, 28 April), I can’t ignore a similar project that took place soon after that based around black grouse.

Everybody is aware that black grouse are sorely declining and this once common bird has become little more than a rumour in many parts of the UK. There was a time when these birds were well known to gamekeepers and shooting folk, but a catastrophic collapse over the past century has reduced them to a marginal figure in the sporting world.

It’s still legal to shoot them, but they are killed in tiny numbers on a handful of estates where there are enough to sustain a small harvest.

When black grouse first started to collapse, observers often wondered

if their populations could be shored up by artificial releases. The Victorians brought thousands of black grouse eggs from Scandinavia to support British populations and there was a steady traffic of black grouse eggs around the UK into the 21st century.

Frustratingly, the birds were still so common that they were deemed

these projects were. I feel sure that some worked, but subsequent black grouse have been driven out by massive and accelerating habitat change. It’s hard to gauge the success of reintroduction projects when birds were later driven out by other factors.

Black grouse are similar to pheasants in several ways. They are

“A catastrophic collapse has reduced them to a marginal figure in the sporting world” rather boring to the mainstream sporting press. Nobody thought to record these projects for the sake of public interest, but I’ve seen letters and diaries to show that dozens of black grouse reintroduction projects took place before World War II. However, there is almost no evidence to show how successful

58 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

about the same size and they occupy a comparable niche in the food chain.

It’s easy to make the assumption that the birds can be reared in captivity and released for shooting, but the reality is crazily complicated.

Hot on the heels of my grey partridge project, I sourced some black grouse eggs from a breeder

Soldier Palmer in Lincolnshire. He kept a captive stock of birds and even a brief visit to his aviaries demonstrated that black grouse — like all grouse — can be reared and kept in captivity.

We often speak of red grouse as being purely wild and that’s part of their appeal as a sporting quarry.

Grouse species have always enjoyed an element of natural prestige above pheasants or red-legged partridges, but a little extra care and attention allows them to be bred in pens like any other gamebird.

The breeder in Lincolnshire had all four British grouse species, along with several other species of grouse from Europe and the US. It isn’t easy or cheap to breed these birds, but it can be done. The difficulty arises when you try to release captive-reared birds to form a wild population. That’s when things get tricky.

Grouse have an enlarged appendix and this is like a fermentation tank where really rough plant matter can be digested. Heather is a good food source during the summer, but when it turns brown during the winter months, it has very little to offer birds. A grouse’s appendix allows it to survive on poor-quality vegetation, but this digestive system is formed on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis.

In the wild, birds develop the guts they need to survive. If they are reared on pellets and man-made

Sprightly chicks

Around a month after my visit to Lincolnshire, my broody hens reared three batches of black grouse chicks. They were sprightly and bold, and it was fascinating to watch them bounce around and play in their custom-made pens.

Within three or four weeks, it was entertaining to watch them playing a game that involved fanned-out feathers — a miniature imitation of a lekking display. At a casual glance, it was hard to tell these birds apart from pheasant chicks and they were very little hassle when it came to feeding.

I dug up turfs of grass and gathered ant nests, which proved to be popular.

It was a pleasure to watch them dust-bathing and pecking for insects in the bare soil and it felt important to give them a really wild upbringing.

It’s possible to raise grouse on crumb or pellets, but I tried to go the extra mile with natural food sources and stimulation. The broody hens did a sterling job and soon I had two-dozen healthy and well-grown poults at around 10 weeks old.

When it comes to releasing grouse, one of the main pitfalls is linked to food and natural forage. In the wild, chicks grow up on a mixed diet of insects and plant matter. As they go into the autumn, the vegetation quality fades and the birds are forced to work harder for their energy.

Black grouse chicks can be reared in captivity but releasing them into the wild is a challenge

foods, captive birds have no need of an extremely efficient digestive system, so it doesn’t develop.

Released into the wild, many grouse starve to death when the winter comes. I’ve read reports of grouse that have starved to death despite having their crops full of juicy heather — they simply can’t digest it.

Knowing all this in advance, I tried to make sure my black grouse chicks had access to the best heather and scrub branches I could find, but I was also conscious that I was choosing vegetation for them on the basis of what looked good to me.

Studies have shown that grouse are able to detect the best and most nutritious parts of a plant before eating it, even when there is no visible difference. I tried to give them what they wanted, but it was hard to be

sure. In an ideal world, they would have a choice — but in an ideal world, they would be wild.

An additional problem is that black grouse move over vast areas during the course of the year. Female birds can disperse over 25 or 30 miles during the autumn or spring and they might go further if they fail to find what they are looking for. During an attempt to reintroduce black grouse to the Peak District during the 1990s, one female bird flew 20 miles and was found wandering around the runways at Manchester Airport.

Males are less flighty, but there is a horrible worry that carefully reared chicks will simply starburst and vanish into the middle distance when they are released. If they are not hooked up as part of a much bigger programme of releases across an entire county, release projects are almost doomed to failure.

It’s tempting to cut corners and hold birds on the ground as you might with partridges, trickling a few out now and again, but this raises questions around your objectives. Shooting is so closely linked to conservation and the only decent objective is to use releasing as a means to establish a wild population, at which point it should then become possible to crop that population by shooting a surplus. It’s short-sighted to release black grouse simply in order to shoot them a few weeks later and techniques that are suited to pheasants will only take you so far in this direction.

Useful lessons

My chicks started to show their adult colouring and then were released gently into some good, rushy moorland near home. From 19 poults, a single cock remained to display the following spring. He lived on for two years, but a lack of other birds in the vicinity seemed to doom his enthusiasm to failure.

I learned some really useful lessons from the project, but as with the grey partridges, success would depend upon working at scale with persistence and dedication over many years, combined with habitat management work and a great deal of predator control.

It’s tempting to think that releasing black grouse is a quick fix, but the reality is far more complex.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 59

60 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Game Cookery

Venison

Red deer meat might not be top of everyone’s list, but Tim Maddams has a buttery trick up his sleeve to transform it into a firm favourite

R

ed deer is my least favourite of the deer species, so a recipe for pan-roasting a haunch steak is the ideal place for a tasty lump of melty seasoned butter.

I have nothing against red deer meat and I am sure that, at the right time of year, a well-handled carcass can provide excellent fare, but whenever I have had the opportunity to eat red, I have been less than overwhelmed with the result.

This leads me to ask why we call all deer meat venison when each species is so different. But we sell beef as beef when you may have Dexter or Longhorn, which will be as different in flavour as roe and red deer. Perhaps I need to accept what red deer meat is like and adapt my cookery

Ingredients

JOHN PAUL

FOR THE BUTTER 250G UNSALTED BUTTER, SOFTENED 2 TBSP KETCHUP 2 TSP FRENCH MUSTARD 20G GOOD-QUALITY OLIVE OIL 1 TBSP SHALLOTS, FINELY CHOPPED 4 LARGE CLOVES GARLIC, FINELYGRATED 6 ANCHOVIES, FINELY CHOPPED 2 TSP CAPERS, FINELY CHOPPED A GOOD SPRIG OF MIXED PARSLEY, TARRAGON, CHERVIL ANDCHIVES,FINELYCHOPPED 2 TSP LEA & PERRINS WORCESTERSHIRESAUCE 1 TBSP BRANDY 1TSPCHOPPEDTHYME ½ TSP SALT ATOUCHOFGRATEDNUTMEG A TINY, BUT VERY IMPORTANT, DASH OF SHERRY VINEGAR PLENTY OF FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER

to get the very best from it, rather than comparing it unfairly with other species.

Café de Paris, the West End London nightclub that was bombed in the Blitz and was the location for the first Charleston danced in England in 1924, has apparently closed its doors forever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily for us, the recipe for the world-famous Café de Paris butter comes from the Café de Paris in Geneva, rather than the London version.

The story goes that, in 1930, Monsieur Boubier decided that his son-in-law’s restaurant needed a new dish and came up with serving entrecôte steak, with frites and salad but with a twist — the awesomely flavoured butter known as Café de Paris butter. Over the decades, the recipe has

PAN-ROASTED RED VENISON HAUNCH WITH CAFÉ DE PARIS BUTTER How to make the butter

1

Warm the butter to a little above room temperature, so that it is soft enough to whip. Whip it with a whisk until light and fluffy. Whip in the ketchup and mustard, then the olive oil.

proliferated through the folk network of cooks and chefs and is now found all over the place. No recipe notebook is complete without a version, I hope you will agree.

Once made, this butter can be stored in the fridge or freezer for use whenever that extra unctuous, super-savoury, indulgent box needs ticking.

This recipe will win me no favours with those who complain about how many ingredients us food-writing types require.

But if you must, it could be pared down to the bare bones using only shallots, anchovies, herbs, pepper and sherry vinegar.

METHOD FOR THE STEAK (SERVES TWO) 200G RED DEER HAUNCH STEAK (AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, WELL SEASONED WITH SALT) A LITTLE LIGHT OIL 10G PLAIN BUTTER 30G (OR GOOD DOLLOP) CAFÉ DE PARIS BUTTER A SPRIG OF THYME (OR STALKS FROM THE THYME USED FOR CAFÉ DE PARIS BUTTER) 1 Heat a trusted pan until it is not quite smoking hot, but close enough to be thinking about it.

Lightly oil the steak and place it in the hot pan. Leave it to sizzle and colour nicely, without moving it. After a minute or two, add the plain butter and the thyme.

2

2

After another minute, cook the steak on the other side, allowing for it to continue cooking a little as it rests.

3

Set the steak aside on a warmed plate. After a five-minute rest, pour the resting juices into the still-warm pan and slice the steak. Place the Café de Paris butter atop the sliced steak and pour over the resting juices warm from the pan. The flame of a blowtorch can be played over the butter, which gives a nice smokey aroma to the dish.

Now, using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, beat the rest of the ingredients into the butter, taking care to add the liquids a little at a time so the butter doesn’t split.

Scoop the seasoned butter out of the mixing bowl on to a piece of fresh baking parchment and roll into a sausage shape. Chill this in the fridge for a few hours until set.

Alternatively, use what you need now while it is still soft and then wrap the rest to freeze for use at a later date.

3

4

Serve with crispy French fries and a bit of salad.

5

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 61

SPORTING ANSWERS The experts THE ULTIMATE SHOOTING QUIZ TEAM

The wood mouse is the most common rodent found in Britain

BILL HARRIMAN BASC’s head of firearms and global authority on guns MAT MANNING Airgunner and journalist from the West Country DIGGORY HADOKE Vintage gun expert, firearms dealer, author and journalist BRUCE POTTS

Shooting Times rifle reviewer and stalker DAVID TOMLINSON Highly regarded writer and ornithologist LIAM BELL NGO chairman, Shropshire gamekeeper and keen wildfowler GRAHAM DOWNING Shooting consultant and sporting author TONY BUCKWELL Veterinary surgeon with a special interest in gundogs TOM PAYNE Professional shooting instructor and avid pigeon shooter

Odd-looking wood mouse WILDLIFE

Every winter, we have a small invasion of wood mice in our loft. Last winter, I trapped an unusual-looking individual with a pronounced white band across its back. Was this simply an aberrant wood mouse or something else?

Though I have seen hundreds of wood mice, they have all been conventionally coloured.

However, David Macdonald’s Mammals of Britain & Europe mentions

SPORTING EPHEMERA OF THE WEEK

ELLENA SWIFT

MAT MANNING; ANDREW SYDENHAM; IONA NICOLL; ANDY HOOK; ALAMY; GETTY IMAGES

Award-winning gundog trainer and canine behaviour specialist TIMMADDAMS Former head chef at River CottageandrunsashootinDevon SIMON WHITEHEAD Author, professional ferreter and rabbit controller IAIN WATSON Keen stalker and senior CIC international trophy judge

Contact the team Email: stanswers@futurenet.com By post: Shooting Times, Future, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP

that “silver-grey, piebald, semi-hairless and melanistic forms are known”.

This suggests that you are right in your assumption that your mouse is simply an aberrant specimen.

The wood mouse is the most numerous and widespread small rodent in Britain, but is easily confused with the similar yet much less widespread yellownecked field mouse, which is restricted to southern England (though not the West Country).

The latter has a longer tail and a distinct yellow collar and is apparently much less prone to variation. DT

BROOKS PATENT SIGHT Fitting devices to the muzzles of shotgun barrels is nothing new. These aids to getting your eye on target are still widely touted and sold. The Brooks Patent Sight was a little more ambitious in its claims because it was intended to address the needs of a right-handed shooter with a damaged right eye, or one with left-eye dominance. A reverse version was available for left-handers.

It claimed to avoid the necessity of making a ‘cross-eyed’ gun for people with these issues. It consisted of a close-fitting muzzle attachment with a securing bolt, the arm of which led

62 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

The Brooks Patent Sight is an early 20thcentury shotgun sighting aid

outtoalignwiththemastereyeofthe shooter and replace the actual muzzle as a sighting point.

They sold in the 1930s for £1.1.0d, which was a lot less than a new stock or a new gun, so it was worth a try. DH

Expert tips and advice

Buck caught on camera STALKING

I have set up three trail cameras in a wood I shoot to see how many deer might be about.

A mature muntjac buck regularly appears on all three cameras. He never comes too close and always stamps his feet when he is in view — not always the same foot, but always a front one. Is this normal behaviour and why does he do it?

I wonder if this buck is sensing or detecting your cameras as much as they are being triggered by him. Are they the sort that has a light on them? Are they placed in such a way that he may have located them? Is it likely that they have a strong residual scent on them, or are the fastenings attracting his attention?

There could be any number of triggers, but it seems as though you have a territorial buck that knows something is not quite right. IW

Native Britain

Plants, flowers and fungi of Great Britain at a glance Latin name: Vicia orobus Common name: Wood bitter vetch Other names: Bitter vetch, upright vetch, wood pea, wood vetch

This behaviour is often seen in deer and sheep, and is a way of warning others of danger. Red hinds can often be seen doing it. The buck you have seen on camera has detected something he is not happy about.

Foot stamping can also be a sign of territorial behaviour or aggression when an animal has detected a threat and gives out a warning.

Value of thermal spotters AIRGUNS

I do a lot of after-dark pest control, mostly shooting rats and rabbits with an air rifle. The night-vision sight I use is an infrared model, but I’m thinking about investing in a thermal spotter. Is it worth the outlay?

Thermal spotters are not cheap, but they can be useful tools for airgun shooters who can afford the investment — upwards of £1,000 for a decent unit — and who do enough shooting to justify the cost. My favourite way to use a thermal

spotter when targeting rabbits or rats at night is to keep it on very low magnification (usually only 1x) to ensure a wide field of view.

This enables me to scan a wide area for heat signatures before swapping to the narrow view through my sight (usually infrared), which will be zoomed in for precise shot placement.

A good thermal spotter is also useful for finding shot quarry in the dark.

These devices aren’t only handy for night shooting. By day, they can be effective for spotting grey squirrels up in the treetops and for picking out rabbits that are obscured by cover. MM

A thermal spotter can be an asset when carrying out serious pest control with an air rifle

How to spot it and where to find it: This upright perennial favours grassy banks, well-drained hillsides, the edges of fields and among stones, rocks or bushes. Its flowers are usually pink and around 15mm long. The tubular inner petals, or corolla, surround a pinkish white tube and the outer petals are crisscrossed with darker purplish veins.

The pinnate leaves are hairless and oblong in shape.

Interesting facts: Wood bitter vetch is a member of the pea family and is unusual in that it doesn’t throw out tendrils, but is selfsupporting. There are about 160 species in the genus Vicia, which gives the English common name vetch. It has suffered decline in the past 50 years, thought to be due to either overgrazing or undergrazing.

Its status is considered ‘near threatened’ in Great Britain as a whole, ‘vulnerable’ in England, but of least concern in Wales, which has the largest occurrence. It was one of the first domesticated crops grown

by Neolithic people. The leaves can be cooked like a green vegetable and, unsurprisingly, taste rather like peas. However, only the top 8cm should be collected; the larger, mature leaves can leave a bitter aftertaste — hence the name. The seeds or fruits, which appear when the flowers die off, can be eaten, but must be cooked first. NJS

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 63

SPORTING ANSWERS

What’s the time then, Mr Fox? PESTCONTROL

I remember reading about an ingenious way of telling what time a fox was travelling in a certain area that involved it taking a bait attached to an alarm clock. Does it work?

I also remember reading about this, but have never tried it myself. The idea is that you tie a dead rabbit or some other bait to the batteries of a cheap clock that is concealed out of sight up a pipe.

The fox comes along and pulls the rabbit, which, in turn, disconnects the batteries of the clock. With foxes being creatures of habit, it is then simply a matter of seeing what time the clock has stopped.

You then know to be there an hour before to sit and wait for it to turn up the next day. Trail cameras do the same thing, with the more expensive ones emailing you a picture with the time and date, too. LB

My lab is choking on lead GUNDOGS

I have a rather enthusiastic 32kg young labrador. He is generally very good on the lead, but is so keen to go to meet other dogs that he chokes himself on a collar or slip lead. I have tried a figure-ofeight lead, which was better, but he spent a lot of time trying to scratch it off his face. What else can I try?

The issue here is not the equipment, but how it is being used. These gadgets are only as good as the person using them.

I do not like harnesses unless I want to encourage pulling. A figure-of-eight lead can be a good temporary solution for a strong dog simply to get it from A to B, but it will not cure pulling.

The slip lead will work well if positioned and used correctly.

First, it must be put on correctly.

This will depend on which side you would like to heel your dog.

The lead must come up and over the dog’s neck, so that when you relax, the lead relaxes. If put on the other way, it will remain tight, too. Secondly, the lead needs to be positioned high up the dog’s neck, as close to the ears as possible. This will give you greater control of their head — and where the head goes, the body will then tend to follow.

Start by training in an area where there is only one other dog. Build up slowly and, if possible, use a treat or toy as a lure into position. If the dog ignores the lure and leans, turn the dog’s head using the lead. As soon as the focus is back on you, praise and reward. Keep the lead loose as much as possible so your dog learns to remain in position with minimal input from the lead.

Slowly build up the time you ask for heel and introduce new distractions.

Remember, take it one step at a time — do not run before you can walk. Having lessons in a controlled environment will help immensely. ES

A slip lead can be a useful training tool, but only if it is put on and used correctly

Foxes are creatures of habit, often appearing in the same place at the same time every day

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64 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

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Expert tips and advice

Carrying a gun licence FIREARMSLAW

I have been told by a gamekeeper that it is the law to always carry my gun licence with me when I am shooting.

However, four months ago, I sent mine to the police for renewal and they still have it. This means I can’t carry my licence with me.

Where do I stand legally?

The gamekeeper is entirely wrong because the law does not require you to carry your shotgun/ firearm certificate while shooting.

However, it is good practice to do so because, under Section 48 of the 1968 Firearms Act, a constable can “seize and detain any firearm(s) and ammunition” you are carrying if you cannot produce a certificate when required to do so. It can be inconvenient to go to a police station to show a certificate to reclaim guns.

The law does not admit a photocopy, but any sensible officer will accept sight of one, particularly when verification can be easily made through the control room.

It is never a good idea to send an expiring certificate back to the licensing department because you need it to prove authority to possess firearms as well as to buy ammunition. The law does not require you to return it.

In the case of shotguns, the 2014 Firearms (Amendment) Rules state renewal applications should be accompanied by the expiring certificate “if it is available”. A need to buy ammunition and show lawful possession means the expiring certificate is not available. BH

Great spotted on the rise BIRDS

In recent years, great spotted woodpeckers seem to have become much more numerous. Has the population increased and, if so, what has caused it to do so?

An increase in the numbers of these handsome woodpeckers was first noted in Britain in the 1970s and the current population is probably the highest it has ever been.

The reason for the increase isn’t known, but it seems likely that Dutch elm disease may initially have played Numbers of great spotted woodpeckers in the UK are as high as they have ever been

Best age for a stud ferret FERRETING

How old should my hob be before I breed from him?

Firearm certificates need not be carried by law, but it is a sensible idea to carry a copy

a part, providing a greater availability of invertebrate food. However, these woodpeckers are adaptable and seem to have also benefited from the growth in garden-bird feeding, for they are readily attracted by peanuts.

Great spotted woodpeckers are serious nest predators and will hammer their way into tit nest boxes.

There is a theory that the rise in their numbers is one of the main reasons behind the dramatic decline in numbers of lesser spotted woodpeckers, with the larger species not only outcompeting its smaller cousin, but also raiding its nests. DT

A good working hob is worth its weight in gold in a planned and constructive breeding programme.

Last year’s young hobs should be OK for use as a stud ferret this year, but I normally wait until the second year.

Not too long after the days start to lengthen, the hob’s testes will descend

from the abdomen and begin to produce spermatozoa. This usually occurs at the beginning of January and the testes take around two to three months to develop fully, bringing them into fertility between March and April.

Along with this physical change comes an increase in odour and an attitude you would expect from a breeding male. Because of this, when hobs come into season, I isolate all my entire hobs, so there is no argument or shenanigans in the hutches. SW

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 65

SPORTING ANSW

Knives for butchering

It is important to consider quality of life when old dogs become ill

STALKING

When butchering deer carcasses, I have been using basic kitchen knives that are not ideal. I would like your advice on what knives I should be using for which jobs.

Dilemma over euthanasia VETERINARYCARE

Our 12-year-old retriever is arthritic and has kidney problems. We are starting to come to terms with the fact that we may have to consider having her put to sleep at some point. Can you provide some advice, so we know when the time is right?

This is never an easy question to answer and a lot depends on the dog, as well as your individual circumstances. Nevertheless, I can try to provide guidance that will help you come to an appropriate decision.

First, age is not a disease and simply because a dog is 12 or 14, or even 16 years old, does not mean we should give up easily. But if neither pain management nor medical and surgical treatment can help, then it is time to consider euthanasia.

What is paramount is the concept of ‘quality of life’. Does your dog

seem happy and is she enjoying a meaningful existence, free from pain and discomfort? Her basic needs must be met, including the ability to eat, drink, breathe, walk, urinate, defecate, groom and sleep, all in a pain-free manner. This list is debatable and we could add being free of loneliness, fear and boredom, but it’s a good starting point when it comes to medical conditions.

If any of these basic bodily functions don’t take place, or if it is associated with any degree of pain or discomfort, then your dog has a decreased quality of life. If the situation cannot be ameliorated and is likely to endure, it is reasonable to consider euthanasia to be in the best interests of the animal.

Enlist the help of your vet in any decision-making process. A vet cannot make a decision for you, but can be an impartial source of informed advice and opinion, to help you determine what is best for your dog. TB

Start with three knives. You will need a skinning or boning knife, with a stiff blade and about 12cm or 15cm long by 2.5cm wide. This is ideal for skinning carcasses.

I would recommend a filleting knife.

This should have a flexible blade about 15cm in length that is narrow, curved and tapering. You will need it for removing loin fillets, dividing haunches and general butchery work. I find this the most useful of my knives.

Then, for cutting steaks, I would recommend a butcher’s steak knife, which will look a bit like a miniature machete, with a broad blade about 30cm in length by 4.5cm in width.

You can buy all these knives online from any butchers’ supply company and I would particularly recommend the Victorinox range, for knives with a comfortable non-slip handle. GD

How to use venison offal GAMECOOKING

Can you recommend any recipes for venison offal?

First, check the liver for fluke and make sure it’s healthy. You can then use venison offal pretty much the same as lamb’s offal.

If it’s super fresh, I love the liver fried with a little spice. If you have a lot to use, make faggots, cook them and freeze in batches for lots of happy

suppers. Use some fatty minced pork to make sure they aren’t dry. You will need a mincer and some caul fat, a few onions, spices, wine and breadcrumbs, but aside from that, it is very straightforward.

I’d suggest around 900g of venison offal to 450g of pork fat and 225g of breadcrumbs. Once you’ve made the faggot mix, you might like to bake it in a tray, much the same as a meatloaf, or spread a thin layer on toast and cook it under the grill. Delicious. TM

66 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Three basic knives are a must for butchery work

Expert tips and advice BE ASTS BEYOND OUR SHORES

NORTH AMERICAN BEAVER (CASTOR CANADENSIS) Beavers are much in the news now, but the species being released in rewilding projects in the UK is the European beaver (Castor fiber).

The North American beaver has been introduced into Europe in the past and is well established in Finland and Russia.

In South America, where they have become established in Chile and Argentina, they have been an ecological disaster, destroying swathes of forests. Efforts are now being made to get rid of these invasive animals.

In appearance, the North American and European beavers are similar. The former is slightly bigger and heavier.

Beavers have long been valued for their fur. Felt hats made from beaver fur were popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Beavers were also hunted for their castoreum, a substance collected from the anal glands for use in medicines and for flavouring food. Once close to extinction, beavers are now widespread in North America. DT

TO CATCH A FISH When All Else Fails A classic stalking nymph designed by Bill Sibbons many years ago, this is an effective pattern that relies on lead wire to suggest a segmented nymph body.

It is much like the Phantom, but substitutes a tuft of white deer hair for the badger hackle. Many large trout have fallen to this pattern over the years. The white tufts enable it to be visible

at depth. It also works well for grayling or trout on running water, where you are targeting an individual fish.

Andrew Sydenham

Crossword / Compiled by Eric Linden / 1510 Across 1 Parking beside devotees of golden birds (7) 7 Among Roman ruins, we find Swedish ammunition (5) 8 With a roof over our heads, shooting insurance is in place (7) 9 As scarce as white roe deer when seen through infrared (4) 10 A pigeon family member on a mass of stone dived the American way (4,4) 11 The very essence of a wildlife reserve (6) 13 Played a woodwind instrument featuring such barrel design (6) 16 Does a pig seem curious about meaty pastry recipes? (4,4) 18 Ruin a large pit (4)

20 Justification for shooting venues (7) 21 An example of flora at the industrial site (5) 22 See Fred get upset about those catering to reared animals (7)

Down 2 The juvenile hare has a bit of a clever ethos (7) 3 Is the name behind FOB cartridges on the outskirts of a village in Missouri? (4) 4 They keep listeners entertained with communication devices in the field (6) 5 Twisted cork around one German rifle (5) 6 Northern terriers bringing sales spiel to the valleys (11)

Solution 1508 / 12 May 2021 Across: 6. Peanut butter 8. Cumbria 9. Clock 10. Eyas 11. Skeins 14. Damson 16. Hair 19. Ruddy 20. Driving 21. Border collie Down: 1. Species 2. Farmland 3. Burrs 4. Stolen 5. Brace 7. Blackpowder

7 A bit of loose change for Americans gives guns a metallic finish (6) 8 A timely device for measuring ballistic velocity (11) 12 There’s a story when guns go bang (6) 14 The gundog instructor puts his foot in it! (7) 15 Snoopy type of hound? (6) 17 See 19 down 19 & 17 down Is an awardwinning deer trophy what Olympic shooters are aiming for? (4,5)

12. Spaniels 13. Trigger 15. Alders 17. Jumbo 18. Bipod MYSTERY WORD: PRESSURE WINNER: L STEELE, WIGAN

How to enter To enter our crossword competition, identify the word in the shaded squares and you could win a Fur Feather & Fin Anti-Corrosive gun sleeve (suitable for barrels up to 32in).

Due to COVID-19 we are only accepting submissions via email Please email the solution with the crossword number in the subject line, and giving your name, address and mystery word answer to: ollie.harvey@futurenet.com All prizes will be despatched as soon as possible.

Rules: Entries must be received by 2 June 2021.All usual conditions apply. Solution and winner will appear in the 9 June 2021 issue.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 67

Trophies

May’s medals A stunning gold sika is one of 19 outstanding trophy heads this month, says James Sutcliffe

A

nother flurry of great heads passed through our measuring service in May. All in all, there are 19 medal-quality heads to present this month, with a good mix of roe, muntjac, fallow, sika and Chinese water deer.

I usually struggle to pick out a couple of outstanding trophies, but being a proud Lancashire lad, my eye was immediately drawn to D Smith’s stunning sika stag, which cruised into the gold-medal bracket.

Meanwhile, the Dumfries roebuck submitted by P Jones also grabbed my attention. An eye-catching malform, it earned a silver medal. y Things are certainly eason looking good for the se ait to come, and I can’t wa to see what the summer months will bring. o As always, I’d like to extend a huge thanks g to all of our measuring team and to everyone who submitted heads to us this d month. Stay safe — and happy stalking.

1 2

BASC AND BDS HEADS ROE Name

County

Av Length

Span

Wght

Vol

Score

3 4

Silver P BLACK

SHROPSHIRE

27.3

8.6

420

170

117.6

McANDIE

MORAYSHIRE

25.3

11.7

410

170

117.15

P JONES

DUMFRIES

20.85

9.4

480

150

116

P BLACK

SHROPSHIRE

25.9

11.8

360

140

105.9

FALLOW

M BOWER

WORCS

24.35

13.1

420

135

108.6

Name

P BLACK

SHROPSHIRE

26.4

12.7

360

160

113.2

Silver

P BLACK

SHROPSHIRE

24.85

10.5

405

145

110.9

M MOORE

McANDIE

MORAYSHIRE

24.4

7.3

365

165

107.7

Bronze

D MENTE

OXFORDSHIRE

23.35

11.8

410

125

105.92

B ORGAN

1. S White, Chinese water deer, 212 — gold ld 2.

2 P JJones, roe, 116 — silver il 3. J Rawson, muntjac, 63.7 — gold 4. D Smith, sika, 258.8 — gold

Bronze

MUNTJAC Name

County

Antler Lgth

Palm Lgth

Palm Width

Score

DERBYS

63

41

16.3

170.9

WARKS

61.2

31

14.15

165.28

County

Span

Length Left

Length Right

Score

LANCS

57.5

50.5

51.5

258.8

SIKA County

Span

Length L/R

Brow L/R

Score

Gold

Name Gold

J RAWSON

LINCS

11.5

11.1/11.1

2.1/2.1

63.7

M HANBROOKE

CAMBS

10.2

10.5/10.1

1.5/1.5

56.9

D SMITH

CHINESE WATER DEER

Silver T BOWEN

WORCS

11.8

11.2/12.1

1.1/1.2

60

Name

D BOWER

WORCS

10.1

13.5/12.8

NA/NA

59.3

Gold

J RAWSON

LINCS

8.6

12.2/10.5

1.2/1.5

59.6

S WHITE

Length Left

Length Right

Score

BEDFORDSHIRE

81

81

210

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

75

73

198

Silver

Bronze S WHITE

County

BEDS

10.3

11.9/11.0

1.7/2.0

56.7

R PEACH

If you have a head you would like to submit for measurement, or require more information, email BASC’s deer team at deer@basc.org.uk

70 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Gamekeeper

Charles Grisedale runs, owns and does the keepering on a legendary duck shoot in South Wales

Having emerged from the drought and late Arctic chill, the mallard broods are on the move and the focus switches to predator control Mallard broods are heading for the bogs and ditches, and the chicks will be on the water at 19 days old

I

like to think I am a bit of a weather prophet, but lately I’ve started thinking that my prophesying is not what it once was. I saw the drought coming and dammed up the bog, but my second sight missed the Arctic weather in April and the frost in May. It’s all changed now, however, as we revert to mud in West Wales. As I write, we have barely a blade of grass and the trees still haven’t really come into leaf – at least spotting crows’ nests is easy but it’s all rather gloomy and the trap line is quiet as the grave.

It’s easy to become insular as a gamekeeper and to focus only on your own patch, but over the past few weeks I’ve been worrying about those who have planted cover crops. At Cefn Gwyn, the pheasants on the shoot are wormed ready for nesting, but there’s precious little for them to actually nest in. As ever, nature reacts intelligently and the cold is delaying laying.

There is truly nothing more disheartening than seeing a broody hen pheasant or partridge with gapes, those awful worms that choke the bird’s windpipe.

Controlling numbers

ALAMY

We did a fair job shooting the drakes in lockdown. Maybe too good a job, as each drake has an average of four females. At least the mass attacks that take place on every village pond will be reduced. Usually

in these situations, the hapless female either escapes when a fight breaks out or ends up killed — certainly something that we tend not to see anthropomorphised in Disney films. In any event, gulls, magpies and crows will have eaten her brood.

The buildings are full of mallard nests and we’ve started to see a few taking their freshly hatched broods down to the bogs and ditches, despite feed stations being left for them. I assume they know what’s best.

It will not be long until the first lots are on the pools — with warm weather, they’ll go on at 19 days old.

As a commercial duck shoot, we can’t afford to have big losses and, in theory, there are no otters inside the fenced 250

Round here, it seems there is an endless supply of foxes. Two more were shot this week, one a barren vixen with suture marks on her belly — a vet’s time well spent, I’m sure. Last April, I was, as usual, looking out of an upstairs window with a thermal before going to bed.

Just outside the house were two foxes.

They were playing together, moving right-handed. I thought there was no point in getting the rifle as they would be gone, pointless walking for them as the moon was bright and the night was still. I felt certain I’d meet them again and, in truth, they were quite charming. Their joy for life was evident, one climbing a low thorn and his mate quite impressed.

“The otter drives terrified ducklings off the water and then foxes come down” acres. Otters and foxes work in tandem. The otter drives terrified ducklings off the water in the middle of the night and the foxes, hearing the din, come down for a bit of slaughter on the land. If Billy Brock is about, as he so often is, he will also join in.

Luckily, aerial predators cannot get them on the water in significant numbers.

I do leave a tractor with lights on the first night, covering the release point. Until they sleep on the water, they could be in trouble.

I was mesmerised, actually, until grim reality took hold. These were not wild foxes because, at that time of year, this loving scene would not be enacted outside my window. Food would be a priority for growing cubs, not playful rest with a sibling or mate. My joy and wonderment turned dark — these were poor urban foxes that had been repatriated to my part of West Wales. As it happens, I never saw them again.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 71

Alasdair Mitchell

Sharpshooter It’s time to celebrate a positive of going lead-free — the delight of testing new ammo that turns out to be more accurate than your normal load

O

h, the joys of moving to non-lead rifle ammunition.

No, I’m not being sarcastic.

I had forgotten how much fun testing new ammunition can be. Especially when it goes well. I have been trying out some new stuff for my 7mm-08 deer rifle.

First, I searched the barn and found my old Chrony F1 chronograph. I worked out that it was last used about 18 years ago, when I used to home-load for my .30-06.

On opening it and blowing out the dust, I found the remains of a battery that had died in unfortunate circumstances. With a new battery, the thing came alive and proved to be in full working order. Amazing.

I took it, with some paper targets, to the zeroing range I have set up in a gulley on the farm. The ammunition I was testing carries a Fox Classic Hunter bullet, designed and made in Slovenia. The complete rounds are factory-loaded in the UK by Edinburgh Rifles, which is, of course, based in Sturgeonia. The 7mm-08 brass cases are head-stamped RP, which I believe stands for Remington Peters, and are of good quality.

After an initial fouling shot, I proceeded to fire my first three-round group. I use three rounds rather than five because

my rifle has a very light, fluted barrel that heats up easily. I’m after acceptable hunting accuracy, not fancy benchrest performance. Whenever I am tempted to believe my own PR, I am reminded of the time in Canada when I missed a moose.

The bullet deflected on a spruce branch.

Or, at least, that’s my story.

Anyway, I was startled when the first group came in at only half a minute-ofangle (MOA). Hallelujah. Further groups

nine rifling twist, has no problem stabilising the Fox bullet. As for copper fouling, I haven’t noticed any. This might be due, in part, to the shank of the Fox bullet having driving bands, which reduce friction.

So, this particular rifle and ammunition combination works very well on paper. It is demonstrably more accurate than my normal factory lead load. But how will the new stuff work on deer? Fox bullets have a good reputation and I have no reason

“I’m after acceptable hunting accuracy, not fancy benchrest performance” widened slightly as the barrel heated, but by no more than MOA. As for the velocity, the chronograph showed it averaging only 15fps slower than the manufacturer’s data. This is highly encouraging, because my rifle has a 19in barrel, whereas official test barrels tend to be at least 22in.

The Fox Classic Hunter is made of monolithic copper/zinc alloy. My customary lead-based 7mm-08 ammunition uses a 140gr bullet, whereas the Fox, being made of less dense material, is 130gr. The barrel of my gun, having a relatively fast one-in-

to suspect that they won’t expand properly at normal deerstalking distances. I simply want to see for myself.

While at Edinburgh Rifles, I was shown a box of .243 rounds they have loaded with Peregrine bullets. These come from South Africa, where they are machine-turned from copper, with brass ballistic tips. The .243 ammunition is awaiting proof certification.

The key thing is that it has 100gr bullets and thus satisfies Scottish deer legislation.

It might be worth a try for anybody worrying about the non-lead future of their .243.

DOG BY KEITH REYNOLDS

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE, ISSN 0037-4164, is published weekly, incorporating Shooting Magazine, Shooting Life, British Sportsman, The Angler’s News & Sea Fisher’s Journal and Field Sport, by Future PLC, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA, United Kingdom. © 2021 Future PLC. Printed by Walstead UK Ltd. Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU; tel 020 3787 9001; marketforce.co.uk We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from responsibly managed, certified forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification and accreditation All contents © 2021 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/ or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/ all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions. Subscription rates for 52 issues: UK — £143. Priority Service (5-7 days): Europe — ¤234, ROW — £199. The US annual subscription price is $305. Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE, Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscription records are maintained at Future PLC, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA, United Kingdom. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. All prices include postage and packing. Enquiries and subscription orders: Future PLC, PO Box 272, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3FS. Cheques payable to Future PLC. Tel: +44 (0)845 845 123 1231, fax +44 (0) 1444 445599.

74 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE