Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2021 i Shooting Gazette

If there’s one thing many of us have missed since 23 March, 2020, it’s the ability to get out and about. And not only to our local shoots, I’m talking about getting out of our own counties and even the country for game shooting. Shooting Gazette has long crossed paths with fieldsportsmen and women in places they do not call home and hopefully it won’t be long until the field is open to us all once more. In the meantime, we thought we’d treat ourselves (and you) to three shooting trips: St Clair’s in Hampshire, Prestwold Hall in Leicestershire and Garynahine on the Isle of Lewis. I hope they will give you something to ponder next time you and your team are looking for somewhere new. On the travelling theme,…

Adrian Lemmon of Cambridge Gun Repairs at Fordham in Cambridgeshire has announced his retirement. In a statement to Shooting Gazette, Mr Lemmon said: “I started my career as an apprentice gunsmith in 1963 with Gallyons of Cambridge and enjoyed many years there until the Cambridge business was closed in the 1980s, at which time I was in charge of the workshop. I started Cambridge Gun Repairs in1982, first in the village of Milton on the outskirts of the city before moving four years later to Fordham with a workshop at my home address. “Specialising mainly in work on classic best English side-by-side shotguns, I have been blessed with fantastic customers from the fieldsports community and have been proud of the fact that for the last almost 40 years my business…

The chance to shoot one drive on four different shoots in the Chilterns in a single day is the mouth-watering prize being offered in a raffle in aid of the GWCT. The prize will see the eight Guns enjoy a drive on each shoot on a date to be agreed between the winner and the donors from the Bix Estate, Hambledon, Greenfields and Woodburn Tickets are £100 each and there is a limit of 200 at the time of writing. The draw will take place on 6 July 2021. For more information, email: chris@oxfordmeditech.co.uk…

Watt gun have you got there? I enjoyed the Great Guns article by Donald Dallas [February issue] regarding the Watts gun. It was of particular interest as I was lucky enough to secure the gun at auction late last year. It has had a good clean and a service and has accompanied me on a few rough shooting sessions locally. It handles beautifully and I look forward to using it to control the pigeons in a few months’ time. I thought your readers might like to see a photograph of it in the field. Name and address supplied…

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes COOK TIME: 15 minutes SERVES FOUR PEOPLE Ingredients • 1 tbsp vegetable oil• 200g couscous• 1 chicken/vegetable stock cube• 1 large red onion, halved and thinly sliced• 600g partridge breast• 4 tbsp tagine paste or 2 tbsp harissa• 190ml pomegranate juice (not sweetened)• 100g pomegranate seeds• 100g toasted flaked almonds• 1 large handful mint, chopped Method 1. Boil the kettle and heat the oil in a large frying pan. 2. Put the couscous in a bowl with some seasoning and crumble in half the stock cube. 3. Add the onion to the pan and fry for a few minutes to soften. 4. Pour boiling water over the couscous to just cover, then cover the bowl with a tea towel and set it aside. 5. Push the…

The right land: If you’re looking to make the leap and become a game farm owner, then finding the right location is crucial. Many years in the farming industry has taught me that there are three must-haves that every successful game farm needs: free draining flat land that is reasonably accessible with suitable rearing fields away from rivers and streams. You should always be looking to the future and aiming for a steady increase in capacity, so consider field rotation and facility expansions also. The right price: I’ve seen new game farms make the same mistake over and over again. And that’s pricing yourself too cheap. While it is tempting to do so for a sure start, you’ll find this very quickly sets a precedent and leads to poor profitability.…

The fame of St James’s Street rests upon its association with the coffee houses and clubs that for some 250 years had made it and Pall Mall the social rendezvous of much of the aristocratic society in London. St James’s Street thus became a centre of fashionable trade rather than a fashionable residence. Several gentlemen’s clubs such as Whites, Boodles and Brooks opened in St James’s Street and it was to these members that many gunmakers hoped to sell their wares. Charles Jones opened a shop at 26 St James’s Street around 1832. He had the shop front on the premises but shared the building with Bromley’s Auction Rooms. St James’s Street was such a good location for trade that several gunmakers opened up premises in the street in the…

Taking Bernard Moss, retired headkeeper and West London instructor, with me, we grabbed a selection of cartridges, from 28g to 35g, and started at the 40ft towers. We were unsure how the test would go as when you pick up the Dominus it’s a bit of a lump. These concerns were dispelled when we started to shoot – the handling is absolutely on the money. With three-quarter and full fixed choke the clays dissolved. Results were the same on the 80ft tower. On the 130ft tower, with 35g No 5s, the combination of weight and balance delivered outstanding results.…

Beautiful guns have been a permanent fixture in Shooting Gazette since we were founded in 1989 and in this issue we’re asking the trade what anyone who is thinking of becoming a gunmaker needs to take into consideration before applying for an apprenticeship. We’ve received comments from some of the biggest names in the business and we hope you find it useful. Oh to be a gunmaker 46 As anyone who has ever gotten into a tight spot on a let day will tell you, a good sporting agent is worth their weight in gold. Whatever their role, be it adviser, diplomat or even nanny, these troubleshooters will be going about their duties calmly and with a professionalism you can only admire. Roderick Emery explains why you need them in…

Teams of four are now being invited to participate in The Countryside Clay Shoot 2021, which will take place at the West Wycombe Estate in Buckinghamshire on 17 July. The day will comprise six simulated drives across the estate, with the winners taking home The Hugh van Cutsem Challenge Cup. There will also be prizes for the teams in second and third place. All proceeds from the day, which is sponsored by BASC and includes breakfast and lunch, will go to support the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust (GWT). For more information on the event, email: countrysideclayshoot2021@basc.org.uk…

Dear Uncle Giles, I have taken over as captain on a shoot whose former skipper was a larger-than-life character and it’s been suggested that I should try to “fill his shoes”. I’m more Jack Dee than Liberace and don’t want to try to be something I’m not. Thoughts? OGL, via email Uncle Giles writes Blimey! Jack Dee as Liberace? It’s going to take a while for that vision to dim. Listen, it takes all sorts to make the world go around, and most of them have their good points and – how best to put this – their less good points. It is only important that the good outweigh the bad. You do not explain in your letter how you came to inherit the mantle of captaincy but we must…

I’ve been waiting a long time for my chance to share my team with readers. It’s only now, though, that I realise how difficult it is to conjure one up and I can fully understand why so many people have turned down our invitations over the years. It would be a four-drive, 200-bird day on pheasants at Vaynor Park, Powys, in mid-December. My team would be assured of a good day thanks to Richard Crofts of Bettws Hall, whose hosting talents I’ve been fortunate enough to witness on a number of occasions over the past few seasons. My first Gun is Alex Stroud, who hosted the first ever day’s shooting I covered for this magazine back in 2006. The welcome I received from his team in Leicestershire is one of…

There can be no doubt that travel broadens the mind. I have probably met more people from a wider range of backgrounds and nationalities since I joined Shooting Gazette 15 years ago than I had in the previous 25 years of my life, and I am all the better for it. My experiences of everywhere from Clovelly to Clitheroe, Cambridge to Crieff have made me realise just how diverse our great British countryside truly is, and anyone who tells you any different hasn’t been further than the end of their own back garden Now, I fully appreciate that I have met these people and visited these places with a press pass in my cap rather than as a paying guest, but whether it’s the 90-year-olds on the game cart, the…

May is my favourite month of the year, not as a pigeon shooter but as a countryman who thrives on all that nature brings us through each season. The longer days with the warmth of the sun are both relaxing and invigorating, depending on your mood. In ancient times I would have been a sun worshipper because, as well as warmth, the sun brings light and life. There are so many wonders to stimulate our senses everywhere we go: there are bluebells in the woods, cow parsley lines every country lane, the smell of freshly cut grass as you mow the lawn and then sitting outside with a beer in the evening, as blue and great tits whiz backwards and forwards with little green caterpillars to feed their young. Swallows…

THE FIELD delivered to your door for just £20.99 The Field is delighted to announce that from the June 2021 issue Shooting Gazette will join our best-selling, iconic, 168 year-old publication. “I hope that the Gazette’s keen sporting readers will find a natural home within our pages, with our emphasis on everything from gundogs, to gunmaking, exceptional shoot reports and much, much more. You’re sure to find some familiar names within the bylines, too. I look forward to welcoming you all to The Field. Enjoy these subscriber benefits: • Conveniently home delivered • Save up to 40%* and never miss an issue • Join more than 92,000** people who love and read The Field every month THE DIRECT DEBIT GUARANTEE This Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies…

We have all experienced days when we set off for the shoot in the morning and it is bucketing with rain. The forecast is not good and the rain continues to descend with increasing saturation. Drops fall off your eyebrows, the water begins to trickle down your back and wellies and your tweed jacket takes on the weight of the heavens. By lunchtime, you are secretly hoping that someone will suggest calling it a day, claiming that it is too wet for the pheasants to fly. But the one thing that won’t even enter your mind is whether your gun will continue to function in the wet. The self-contained centrefire cartridge and hammerless gun have for a great many years reached such a pinnacle of perfection that ignition is guaranteed…

I have no idea why it took so long for gunmakers to develop the waterproof pan but it seemed to take around a century. Even then it went through a period of gestation, beginning with the semi-waterproof pan around 1795 before the fully waterproof pan c.1810. Around 1795, the semi-waterproof pan came into existence, with grooves cut on either side of the pan to allow the water to escape. They were a vast improvement but not a complete answer. Some 15 years later, around 1810, the fully waterproof pan evolved and was fitted by all the best makers in the last vestiges of flintlock development. The actual priming pan was raised up on its own with two large sloping drains cut on either side. The pan itself was made smaller…

Engineering The engineering on AYA guns has been tried and tested; they are as indestructible as any gun can be. We use a number of AYA No 4 boxlocks at the shooting school and I cannot recall sending one to the gunsmith for repair. Numerous customers use them and their reliability and longevity is legendary. The occasional firing pin replacement is about as far as you will get. Looks and finish The figuring of the wood is as you would expect on a gun at this level: some rich colours with dark black figuring. Importantly, the grain through the hand was carefully selected to be straight and have maximum strength at potentially the weakest point. The finish for both the wood and the action bear the hallmarks of first-class attention…

Porsche has brought out the first fully electric car for the shooting community. From the company that developed the Jagdwagen (‘hunting car’) back in the 1950s and built a Cayenne, now in the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, that was so specifically designed for stalking that it has a drip tray for blood in the boot, the Taycan Cross Turismo is an A6 Allroad type of estate car on stilts but is all-electric, very cool and very fast. It goes into production in May, with UK deliveries starting in June.…

Q I am thinking of taking my young labrador out during the forthcoming season as I think he is ready. What is your advice about the right time to take a dog on a shoot for the first time? A That depends on a number of things. The worst scenario, of course, is a well-trained dog that is ill-prepared for the experience. This can ruin the dog and spoil the day for everyone, including yourself. Training is not necessarily a guarantee of performance in the field. It also depends on what your expectations are around being on the shoot and what your dog’s role will be, whether it is on the peg, beating, working the boundary, picking-up or all of the above. Consider your dog’s capability in these situations and…

This begs the question, of course, about the impact that the pandemic has had – and will continue to have – on the availability and accessibility of game shooting by the start of the next season. My judgement is coloured by the fact that I have been very fortunate in this regard because, while I lost some days to the pandemic, I did not lose any money. The estates where my visits were frustrated either returned my deposits or agreed to roll them forward into the forthcoming season. At the time of writing, I have not heard what the impact of mass cancellations on prices might yet prove to be, so it may be the case that the true cost of the pandemic has not been dodged but only deferred.…

Putting things into perspective I feel compelled to add comment to the lead/steel shot/plastic debate. Firstly, I am appalled by how our shooting organisations have rolled over on this subject without the necessary debate or consultation from our sport’s participants. I am so angry that I will not be renewing any subscriptions. The plastic situation is a no-brainer: it’s unsustainable and unnecessary, so let’s get back to paper cases and environmental acceptability. As far as steel shot is concerned, I challenge any of our shooting associations or cartridge manufacturers to show that steel will perform as well as lead. I feel I am on very safe ground here, because in my view it does not. If we adopt this policy, it will be in full knowledge that we will be…

It was great to hear that more than 100 country tourism businesses in Scotland have received a £1m boost recently thanks to lobbying by BASC and the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group (SCSTG). Representations were made by the two groups to the Scottish Government back in February when it emerged the country sports tourism sector had been excluded from funds to help businesses hardest hit by the pandemic for a second time. The funds, which were authorised by rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing, were made available to sporting agencies, game shoots, sporting estates and a host of other businesses connected to fieldsports. Alf Sorensen, owner of an Aberdeenshire-based sporting agency, and one of the beneficiaries of the fund, said: “The Scottish Country Sports Tourism Restart Fund has been a much-needed…

Having spent several years dancing around the idea, I finally invested in a trail camera. I cannot understand why I didn’t take the plunge sooner. Several different models of trail camera have been on the market for years and many are now so cheap that it’s hard to avoid them on financial grounds. Mine cost less than £50 and was delivered complete with batteries and a memory card. It took around five minutes to set up and I have been addicted ever since. It is amazing what trail cameras allow you to discover about your patch, particularly in the close season when predator control rises in importance. I have been thrilled to discover a hidden world of intrigue in the hedgerows around my home. I have always been an enthusiastic…

On a late January afternoon, M and I set off with Cecil and her golden labrador Maisie on our third and final maraud after a very ‘dry’ shooting season. It was so good to slide the gun into its slip, pop a few cartridges into my jacket pocket and set off with Cecil for a destination that hopefully offered wild pheasants as opposed to bread and milk. It was seriously cold, the fields badly poached, each ice-filled hoofprint threatening to turn an unwary ankle. A sporting pigeon whizzed between us, too low for a shot, and was followed by a rabbit making a hasty exit towards the safety of the railway line. Three partridges went back and a pheasant flew low over a footpath. The shooting gods giggled. Quit smirking…