Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2016 i Sporting Gun

For once, I was not particularly looking forward to a day out shooting. Even at the best of times rape-field pigeons are seldom the most co-operative of birds. And going by past experience, decoying this particular field would provide an added challenge. The 400 yard strip of rape lies right along the farm perimeter, with the only ambush points along its downwind boundary edge. A shade too close to the roosting woods, the hedge is backed by a low-lying thicket of tall alders, ash, scrub willow and impenetrable brambles, an area strictly out of bounds. With no option of a hide elsewhere in the depths of winter, this usually means shooting directly into a cold and predominantly southwest wind – not a great help towards getting a decent bag. Today…

“The ground staff make full use of the steep hillside to show targets for all abilities” Easy to find? I got to it first time of asking so there can’t be anything too complicated in this department. The club is 10 miles from the seaside resorts of Filey and Scarborough just off the main A64 York to Scarborough road at Staxton village. You will find the ground signposted to the left, two miles out of Staxton at the top of Station Hill on the B1249. 8 Disciplines: English Sporting, English Skeet and Compact Sporting. There used to be an excellent Universal Trench layout here some years ago but the discipline didn’t prove as popular as hoped, so ground owner, Terry Harper dismantled it. Pity. 7 Traps: Fully automatic. 8 Target…

During the previous months we have not only been building up both your gundog’s skill levels and confidence, but we have also been putting in place certain foundations that will prepare him to enter the shooting field. Now we are getting to the stage where we can start to put in some refinement to the training. Earlier in the dog’s training, we used a rabbit pen to develop the young dog’s hunting drive and we have steadied him to thrown dummies. By now he should also be on the “stop whistle” and it is time to put the brakes on him and steady him to the flush of a pheasant or a rabbit. Keep control Some handlers do not consider this a necessary part of a young gundog’s training and…

What sort of threats will shooting face over the coming year? Undoubtedly there will be further ill-informed calls to ban lead ammunition. In addition, consultation rumbles along on the Law Commission’s overhauls of both Wildlife Law and current firearms legislation. Set against this background it is vital that the shooting community has the very best representatives to protect our interests. To this end both BASC and The Countryside Alliance (CA) have been working tirelessly to ensure the voice of shooters is clearly heard in both Westminster and Brussels. The CA has just beefed up their front line team with the appointment of Liam Stokes as the organisation’s new head of shooting. Regular readers of our sister magazines will be familiar with Liam from his writing in Shooting Times and Shooting…

WHERE THEY WERE SHOT Name: Colwyn Thompson Location: County Tryone This photo shows Colwyn Thompson and his cousin Wayne Cunningham in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Colwyn said: My cousin and I had a mixed bag of 50 birds altogether on our first successful day decoying. The pigeons turned into a lovely pie” Name: Jack Freeman Location: Nottinghamshire Jack Freeman had a good day out shootng 28 pigeons in just three hours. He said: “I’m Jack Freeman, I’ve been pigeon shooting for more than 30 years. This photo shows the 28 pigeons I shot in three hours. I do hope you can use it.” Name: David Muldrew Location: West Sussex David Muldrew had a successful day’s pigeon shooting with his young spaniel near Crawley, West Sussex. David said: “There was just…

I consider planning to be one of the most important factors in keeping my fox success ratio high. While there are occasions when we’ll just go out “on spec” – looking over hedges, through gateways and so on, in the hope of seeing a fox, we have much better results when we have a proper plan. This often starts when a farmer tells us he has a problem; anyone losing livestock always goes straight to the top of the list. Once I know where we’re going, I have to work out how we’re going to hunt the ground. Some places we know so well that little homework is required, but for any others I go straight to an online mapping facility. At the same time I bring up a detailed…

“Hedgerows become vital to the success or failure of the many drives around the shoot” Habitat management is vital to the sustainability of the countryside and its wildlife, as well as creating a successful sporting shoot. It is a key role for many gamekeepers across the country to improve drives, create suitable breeding sites and ease of access. To complete the Tree Planting Unit of our Countryside Management course at the Northern School of Game and Wildlife, we have been undertaking multiple practical sessions around the college estate. The lowland shoot at the college is mainly focussed around the releasing of red legged partridge, however some pheasants are also released. For this reason, hedgerows become vital to the success or failure of many of the drives around the shoot. Partridge…

Those of you that read these articles will know that I often mention in the Tasks in hand section to get out there early in the season, just in case the winter weather arrives and disrupts the time available on the ground. Up here in Northumberland and Cumbria the weather has certainly given us an unwelcome surprise, not from the expected winter weather – it has been unseasonably warm, but that has resulted in wind and rain regularly sweeping in from the Atlantic in biblical proportions. The torrential rain followed by massive flooding assisted by the unusually constant strong winds have certainly held us back here at Greenlee. The doe cull is well behind the numbers for our cull to date and we can only hope that in the New…

Ingredients Serves: Loin of one hare (half per portion) 125g goat’s cheese Crushed black and white pepper corns 2 or 3 juniper berries Sprig of fresh rosemary 1tbsp peanut oil 1tsp white wine 2tsps balsamic vinegar COOKING METHOD 1 For this and any other recipe for loin of hare, I remove the meat in a long fillet from the saddle and the loin. Coat the loin with crushed black and white peppercorns plus a hint of juniper (one or two crushed berries is enough). The peppered loin can be wrapped in cling film and kept in the fridge ready for cooking. 2 Sear the loin briskly in a hot, well oiled frying pan. Add chopped rosemary for flavouring. Seal for two minutes each side. Set to one side to rest.…

GUNS FOR SALE AYA no.2, sle, 28in barrels, full chokes, semi-pistol grip, 14½in stock, mint condition, as new. £1,995 ono. Also AYA no.3 blne, 29in barrels, ¾ and full choke, beaver tail fore-end, 14½in stock. £350 ono. Tel 01603 743248 (Norfolk). Browning B725 Game, 12-bore, 30in barrels, mc, vgc, 15in LOP, 3in chamber, £1,450 ono. Also, Beretta Perennia 3, 28in, 12-bore, mc, game gun, 14¾in LOP, 3in chamber, vgc, £1,500 ono. Also Beretta Xtrema 2, semi-auto, 3½in chamber, 26in, 12-bore, red tree camo, four chokes, £700. Tel 07765 257469 or 017684 86114 (Cumbria). Midland Gun Co, 12-bore, blne, 2¾in chambers, sbs, 32in barrels, ¼ to full chokes, border engraving, nice gun, £350. Tel 01621 779488 (Essex). Blaser F3 - (Field), 12-bore, 28in mc barrels, left hand, 15’in stock, c/w additional…

“Remarkable as it may seem, this everyday accessory was still in its infancy in 1914” Sometimes in this modern age of computers and the microchip, it is very easy to forget how far we have advanced in such a brief time. The 20th century saw huge leaps in the design of new and existing technology, thanks mostly to two world wars. When Britain entered World War I, she had a powerful and well-trained army, probably the equal of any other country at that time. Unfortunately, despite being equipped with a modern bolt-action high-velocity rifle that was easily capable of killing at a mile range, the tactics insisted on by the commanders were still based on those used in Napoleon’s day. Stalemate ensued and all participants dug themselves in and came…

“It’s something to look forward to in the winter when we’re not shooting many pigeons” You’ll all know Peter Theobald as our resident pigeon shooter and also as a world-class Skeet shooter in his day, but not too many of you will know that he also runs his own driven pheasant shoot, squeezed into his 90-acre farm in Essex. This is not a commercial venture: “You can’t just book a day with us. We choose who we want to shoot and ask them to pay,” said Peter. Well that’s for the first of the four days that the farm is shot over. The following three days are even harder to get invited to. The second shoot day is a “thank you” and is saved for local farmers who give Peter…

“Above the sound of the howling wind, another spine-tingling noise could be heard – greylags!” Like a greylag coming in to feed, our small aircraft was buffeted from side to side by the strong wind as it descended towards the tiny airport of Kirkwall, on the Isle of Orkney. With a bump and a huge sigh of relief we were safely down to begin our three days’ of goose shooting with Rob Frampton of Orkney Shooting Holidays. We had looked forward to the trip for months, having rebooked early in February 2015, after enjoying a fantastic time with Rob last season. Whereas last time, we had used borrowed guns, this time, my son Chris volunteered to drive the 800 miles from Essex with all of our guns on board, hoping…

GUNDOGS: GRAHAM WATKINS A professional gundog trainer for more than 35 years and runs Gamegoer Gundogs. VETERINARY: NEIL MCINTOSH A practising vet in Scotland. TUITION: JOHN BIDWELL 6 times World FITASC champ and pro shooting coach. LEGAL: DAVID FROST Author of Sporting Shooting and the Law. TECHNICAL: MIKE GEORGE Engineering author with a deep love of gunmaking. GUNDOGS: LEZ GRAHAM Gundog trainer and author of the Pet Gundog books. PIGEONS: PETER THEOBALD Author of Woodpigeon: The Ultimate Quarry. STALKING: GEORGE WALLACE Former National Gamekeepers’ Organisation’s firearms consultant. FERRETS: ED COOK Professional rabbit catcher working over 30,000 acres. PEST CONTROL & WILDFOWL: TOM SYKES Passionate wildfowler and pest controller…

So here we are at the end of another season, stories to be told, jibes to be had and a bit of head scratching as to what to do to get us through the next seven months. Hopefully you and your dogs got through it with nothing more than aching knees, bramble scrapes and a bit of nettle rash. It’s a time when we, and especially our dogs, can get a bit twitchy through lack of physical exercise and mental stimulation as well as a little bit portly around the middle. It doesn’t have to be that way, and to be honest it shouldn’t be. Our dogs have worked hard over the season, have built up stamina, muscle and a need to work; to turn them straight back into sedate…

Where staff have not been trained, there is a risk that decisions taken are wrong. (HMIC 2015) …it is recommended that staff receive the appropriate training… (HMIC 1993) …the training of those officers involved in firearms enquiries was inconsistent and in some cases wholly inadequate. (HMIC 2002) In September 2015, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) published a report into the way the police manage firearms licensing. It was the third report since the present bureaucracy was introduced in 1988. HMIC identified numerous shortcomings, many of which echoed those found in 1993 and 2002. Training, as the quotes (right) show, is just one factor amongst many. Staffing is another. The Dorset course It’s no longer possible to find out what was done about training in the wake of the 1993 recommendation,…

“Positioning is vital, traps should be set at bottlenecks where you know squirrels will pass” So we’ve made it through another game season, now is the time to get on top of all those pest control jobs. With much greater access to the woodland areas we can now make a serious dint in the squirrel population before the ground-nesting birds start to lay. As a pest controller, I get some of the strangest of phone calls, from squirrels around pheasant feeders, to squirrels in swimming pools. Each requires a specific form of control. This is where an armoury of techniques comes into its own. My personal preferences fall into two main categories: trapping and shooting. Within each of these categories I have a range of sub-techniques to ensure the job…

Running a 4,000-acre shoot is hard enough without factoring in deer management. Keeping on top of a deer population that may be affecting the shoot, tenant farmers and forestry operations is a full-time job in itself. As the saying goes: “many hands make light work”, so a few years ago I decided to set up a stalking club. Not only would it bring in some revenue for the shoot, but with several stalkers out in the same night it would raise the chances of one or more deer being brought to the larder as the man hours involved in successful stalking can be high. I would stress that although the estate is large, all the stalking, if you can call it that, is from high seats that have been strategically…

HÄRKILA FORESTER This hard-wearing dark olive green rubber boot has a 3mm thick neoprene lining insulates down to -30degrees, so it should keep you warm. Its thick 90degree Vibram sole will also give you a good grip, while its heel kicker ensures for an easy take off after a long day’s hunt. Price: £159.99 Web: www.harkila.com MUCK BOOT FIELDBLAZER Muck boot’s best-selling wellie will keep you warm and dry whatever the weather and terrain. The stretch-fit top fits snugly around the calf and the 5mm neoprene lining within the boot stretches four ways for extra warmth and comfort. Price: £90 Web: www.muckbootcompany.co.uk LE CHAMEAU CHASSUERNORD This neoprene-lined wellie is great for the cold. A double layer of cushioning on the sole makes for extra warmth. A full-length zip…

I’ve lamped rabbits throughout various parts of the UK with a variety of calibres. Some places are suited to certain firearms more than others. These days there are a lot of options when choosing your calibre for a night’s lamping. The first question should always be: “What is the safest option?” Followed by: “What is going to be the most effective?”. Roads, housing and public footpaths are a big factor in how or if such an activity should be carried out. If there is a risk of a bullet going astray, then the shot should never be taken. And just because it’s dark, it doesn’t mean the bullet or shot can’t reach such areas. Rifles for rabbits are generally categorised into four calibres in my eyes. The airgun; FAC airgun;.22…

BETTINSOLI X-TRAIL SPORTER One of the questions we are frequently asked on the forum section of www.shootinguk.co.uk is whether it is best for a newcomer with a limited budget to buy a second-hand gun or something budget-priced and new? Our experts usually advise the purchase of a good second-hand gun, yet there are some newcomers who prefer the idea of owning a gun which has not had a previous owner. For them, the Bettinsoli X-Trail Sporter is a gun to be seriously considered, because it costs around £750. Therefore, you should get a good second-hand example for £600, or even less. Historically, I have always been a bit wary of the brand, but when gunsmith Jason Harris reviewed a new X-Trail more than four years ago he allayed my fears.…

GUNS adj — adjustable ble — boxlock ejector blne — boxlock non ejector brls — barrels c/w — complete with cyl — cylinder db — double barrel dt — double trigger ej — ejector ex con — excellent condition fac — firearms certificate fc — fixed choke gc — good condition grd — grade hg — hammer gun imp — improved ltwt — lightweight m/c — multi-choke mod — modified o/u — over and under ono — or near offer ovno — or very near offer p/x — part exchange pa — pump action rf — rimfire rnds — rounds (ammunition) sa — semi-automatic sb — single barrel sbs — side by side sle — side lock ejector slne — sidelock no ejector sst — single selective trigger tge —…

There are big benefits to living in a beautiful part of the countryside where the nearest small village is two miles away. For starters, you wake to the sound of birdsong, not traffic, and you can walk the dogs last thing at night under an inky black, starlit sky, not light pollution. In between dawn and dusk, you breathe clean air and get the sort of daily exercise health conscious office bods would happily burn their sweaty leotards for. Until switching to the “good life” two years ago, I was laid flat by painful back problems every couple of months. But since then, touch wood, nothing, only an occasional twitch to remind me of the days I spent glued to an office chair. Yet there are downsides to living in…

“To manufacture a gun like this at this price is very impressive” This new Franchi Alcione One O/U has thrown itself into the market place for the under £900, with a price of £865. And on initial viewing, they have not done a bad job either. As a gunmaker, I would struggle to supply a block of wood for that price, though admittedly I would choose a very attractive piece of wood! The test gun I have to play with is a 30in 12-bore supplied by GMK. Good manufacturing This new Franchi comes in either 28in or 30in barrels. These guns are fitted with multichokes as standard. I have one gripe: the muzzles are flared like a Browning to fit the multichoke system in, which can put some people off.…

Chris Green is a well-recognised face in the shooting community with his position at many country shows, his collection of DVDs and decoys. I’ve known Chris for more than 10 years now from game fairs and I’ve spent many an evening swapping fowling stories with him, his son James and our good pal Shane Robinson. Some of you may have also seen our “banter” when I interrupting Chris’s wildfowling demonstrations in the arena by calling back to him to help tell the story of the foreshore fowler. Well every time we meet, we always discuss a “boys on tour” road trip over the border to shoot geese and get some footage for Chris’s DVDs. Due to the logistics and work commitments we’ve never managed to pull it off, but at…

I was refereeing at an England Sporting Selection shoot at Beverley years ago. Quite a few top names were there and I was impressed by the performances on my stand – a high tower, left-to-right pair on report, over the trees. There was a small group waiting to shoot and a gentle buzz of studied conversation. A chap who I had not seen before in the north arrived with a little entourage of followers. Usually the new arrivals would watch the targets and consider the challenge ahead for them. I was busy scoring, but I didn’t see much target observation work. When it was my new customer’s turn to shoot, he asked if he could see the targets, obviously trying to impress his followers. However, the request was to see…

The weather over the past few weeks has not been easy for anyone involved in gameshooting and as I stood on the side of a ploughed field in a gale-force wind with driving rain, I realised I had just witnessed the best piece of gamekeeping in more than 35 years of being involved in the shooting field. Along with four other beaters Harry, my older cocker and I had just blanked-in a field of maize, two woods, a couple of hedges and then negotiated a claggy ploughed field to stand in freezing cold conditions while two other teams of beaters blanked-in a couple of other strips of woodland and some cover strips. Why was this such a good piece of keepering? Well everything was wrong, strong winds threatened to whip…

When gundogs injure themselves, they tend to do it in style. The ever-present barbed wire is often responsible for long, triangular, flapped tears that can be awkward to suture and the risk of wound breakdown is high. Broken branches and other sharp dangers abound, so that injuries involving skin loss are common. Frequently, vets can struggle to deal with these, as tension occurs in the wound, resulting in the opposed edges of the skin pulling apart. But help is at hand… When the Swiss electrical engineer, Georges de Mestral, invented the original fabric hook and loop fastener in 1948, he could scarcely have realised its considerable uses. Originally called Velcro (a combination of the French “velours”, meaning velvet and “croche”, meaning hook), the idea for it came to him after…

“A low proportion of hen pheasants manage to fledge broods of their own” There are likely between two and three million hen pheasants on shoots up and down the country in February, but unfortunately they will gradually dwindle away through the spring and summer and a relatively low proportion manage to fledge broods of their own. Why so? Our research reveals a rather complicated picture with behaviour, physiology, disease, predation and habitat all contributing to a heady mix of causes. The good news is that with effective springtime predation control, a thorough spring feeding programme and adequate habitat, released hens can contribute a significant number of wild poults – but if one factor is not up to scratch then success is unlikely. When it does work, around 68 wild poults…

By the time you read this it will have been almost 10 years since I last wrote a series of articles for Sporting Gun describing the techniques for accurate shooting with a sporting rifle. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since, and even though the rifle and its ammo have not changed, we’ve all got a little older and SG will have many new readers. Almost any sporting rifle built in the past 120 years is capable of hitting a target the size of an old penny at 100 yards. (For those too young to remember, the old penny was almost one and a quarter inches (31mm) in diameter; noticeably larger than the modern 2p piece). Such precision is truly wonderful and a credit to the manufacturers…

Kate Gatacre tries the Expedition Down Jacket by Härkila The early winter this year, with it’s T-shirt temperatures and drenching downpours, wasn’t exactly the right weather for a jacket that is essentially a duvet with sleeves. But we had a few nippy days over Christmas – cold enough, at least, to try the coat. Sitting in the high seat in winter can be a torturous business, and it doesn’t take long for you to be shaking too much to take a shot. Now I know I will never have to miss an opportunity again. Light and wonderfully warm, the Expedition Down is the perfect high-seat wear for those cold, clear dusks and dawns, or for lamping. It is a windstopper, too. I was really amazed, though, that I didn’t overheat…

PROFILE NAME IAN PHIPPS AREA RAINHAM, KENT MEDIA OILS PROFESSION RETIRED BUILDER/ ARTIST Ian Phipps has been wildfowling for as long as he can remember. “I used to see my neighbour disappearing with his waders on, so I persuaded him to take me out on to the salt marsh. I’d already started shooting with an airgun so I was keen to upgrade to a shotgun and wildfowling,” says Ian. That was in 1960 and by 1970 he had joined the Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association, Britain’s largest wildfowling club. He is still a member today, shooting regularly. As a youngster Ian had always admired Peter Scott’s work and was keen on art at school. On leaving school he went into the building trade, but he always dabbled in art on…

One of the aspects of gun auctions that doesn’t get much coverage in the shooting press is the arms, armour and militaria scene. And that’s a pity, because the auction catalogues feature some fascinating stuff. When I first started thinking about this month’s subject I decided to spend a few minutes flicking through the catalogue of a London auction held late last year by the prestigious Thomas Del Mar Ltd, in association with Sotheby’s. I got fascinated by the variety and quality of the lots, so my “few minutes” stretched into the best part of an afternoon. Admittedly, there was a lot of stuff which was not a lot to do with shooting. The sale included Japanese armour and swords, plus the swords, knives and armour of many other countries.…