Table of contents for December 2020 in Sporting Gun

As a picker-up, we all know it’s wonderful to have our own dog, but why stop at one? How about your own picking-up pack? Many shoots now prefer their pickers-up to have more than one dog each, which is the perfect excuse. However, training dogs to work together – and as part of a team – requires careful training and a definite need to instil discipline early on. Our gundog trainer, Fran Ardley, discusses how to train a young dog to work well as part of a team, offering a number of useful excises that you can try at home. Twos company – a pack is a party!…

Despite me banging on constantly about how essential regular reconnaissance is to ensure that you never miss an opportunity to shoot a decent bag of pigeons, sometimes pure luck can achieve the same outcome. I was on my way to investigate a couple barley stubbles that had already produced two big bags, and was fairly confident there was enough food left for at least one more outing. En route I got caught in stationary traffic and became frustrated that I might miss the optimum time to see any pigeon movement to and from the fields in question. “The woodies crossed the road in that determined ‘I’m going out to feed’ flight” However, while sitting there, I noticed a couple of woodies cross the road in that determined “I’m going out…

Anyone who works or trains gundogs will tell you that they are addictive. Once you have one you will want another, and this will be the case most especially if you want to go picking up. In fact, many shoots will insist that if you aspire to join their picking-up team, more than one dog is a requirement. As with any form of gundog training, there are going to be varying degrees of what a handler deems acceptable in how their dogs work. Some are content with keeping their team on leads during a drive and then letting them all go when the horn is sounded. I prefer to have my picking-up dogs off the lead (once they are trained), as that way I can send individual dogs for any…

Letter of the month A nose for the job When I returned recently from a successful day’s flight on the duck with my older dog, I thought I’d give Cooper, my six-month-old lab, the chance to see what he’d make of the scent of wildfowl, and an idea what my Friday evening fusses were all about. He spotted my van when I arrived back in the yard and commenced his usual jumping for joy routine. I hung a few of the duck before preparing them for that evening’s dinner and then stashed one in the cover at the side of the yard. After he calmed down, his nose detected the whiff of something different and the hunt was on. He is still a little young for certain commands, but I…

In the October issue of Sporting Gun you talked about the use of dogs and hawks for rabbit control. Do you mean you work the dogs and hawks together? Ed says: A timely question, as I have written about the subject in this issue (see page 33). To summarise, I fly a seasoned female Harris hawk, which has worked with my dogs for some time. They all respect one another and don’t take liberties, which makes for good teamwork. My dogs won’t touch a rabbit that the hawk is pursuing, which helps to avoid problems. The hawk knows that a dog at a point means a rabbit is nearby and providing the bird’s weight is correct, she will move to a suitable tree and pre-empt a bolting rabbit. When it…

Are dog jackets essential for wildfowling with dogs in winter? Tom says: I always used a dog jacket on my spaniels in the past, as they have more of a tendency to shed heat when wet and sitting still. Neoprene jackets were ideal for these conditions and kept the dogs warm during the flight. I didn’t have the same issues with labradors Goose and Hugo as they aren’t as susceptible to the cold. I have, however, recently invested in jackets to make the flights more enjoyable for them when the weather gets colder. Messing with the decoys in the icy water will soon give you an idea of the temperatures that the dogs endure while retrieving quarry. The jackets also aid with Goose’s concealment as they are typically camouflage. They…

PHEASANT BALLOTINE WITH QUINCE AND CHESTNUT PREPARATION TIME: 30 MINUTES (+ 2 HOURS CHILLING TIME) COOKING TIME: 10 OR 15 MINUTES SERVES 4 AS PART OF A MULTI-COURSE DINNER OR 2 VERY HUNGRY PEOPLE Ingredients ● ½ onion, finely diced ● 2 tbsp rapeseed oil ● Pinch each: cinnamon, coriander and cumin ● ½ small quince (about 300g when whole), grated and mixed with juice of ½ lemon ● Knob of butter ● 50g cooked peeled chestnuts, chopped ● 4 pheasant breasts ● 4 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon ● 150ml sherry ● 1 tbsp quince jelly Method 1 Soften the onion with a big pinch of salt in half of the rapeseed oil over a low heat and when it is translucent add the spices. Allow them to cook for…

Nitehawk Neoprene Hunting Dog Vest I would struggle to retrieve most of my fallen quarry on the foreshore without the help of my trusty labradors, Goose and Hugo. We owe it to our four-legged companions to look after them to the best of our ability. Wildfowling can be cold and wet at the best of times and the icy water from a tide retrieve can leave dogs cold as they wait for the next piece of action, possibly for hours. I have been using the Nitehawk Neoprene Dog Vest for the past season or so to help the boys retain their body heat in-between retrieves. It comes in a range of six sizes from XS-XXL, which should fit most breeds. Goose and Hugo both fit snugly into the XL for…

My friend Robin knew what he wanted in life. At school he would always talk about the Beretta Silver Pigeon he was going to buy himself when he started work. Sure enough, he achieved that goal and I remember a happy afternoon busting clays with him and that fabled gun on his dad’s farm. Since then I have always had a soft spot for the Silver Pig, but when I went to buy one many years ago I found the stock was too low on the standard guns, so I went for an easier option and got a gun that fitted me. Now the Silver Pigeon is back in a new incarnation and one of the improvements is a stock with a higher comb. That is about the only practical…

Email us now (shopfronts@futurenet.com) to place your FREE* gun advert or click on gunsforsale.shootinguk.co.uk and have it advertised ONLINE as well! HOW TO ADVERTISE IN SHOPFRONT Fill in each field of the coupon and post or Email it to us to place your FREE* gun advert in Sporting Gun. Also, click on gunsforsale.shootinguk.co.uk to advertise it online, too. To place your online advertisement (guns only), do the above digitally and add a picture of the gun you are selling. * Please note that there is a fee of £5 for online advertising for guns costing more than £1,000. This facility is not open to members of the gun trade. IF YOU DON’T HAVE EMAIL If you don’t have access to Email or the internet, send details and information about the…

The importance of high ground in military strategy has been a given for millennia. Those who control it normally have the advantage, be it for defensive or offensive purposes. Gaining or holding it in the crucible of battle most often determines the outcome of an engagement; the way forward. The charity HighGround also points the way forward for members of the Armed Forces, be they injured serving personnel, or veterans and service leavers. Many are in the midst of their own very personal battles and this is where Anna Baker Cresswell and the charity she founded in 2012 comes in. Seed of an idea She describes it as the child of Gardening Leave, HighGround’s forerunner, which was set up in 2007 with the aim of using horticultural therapy to help…

Rabbits are prey to a long list of predators: foxes, badgers, cats, stoats. Rabbits also play an important role in a bird of prey’s diet in the wild, but what ‘make’ of bird or hawk do people use in falconry to hunt it? The breeds Birds of prey in the falconry world come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, many of which will catch rabbits if employed correctly with patience and care. The three main breeds of bird that people favour are the Harris hawk, the red-tailed hawk and the goshawk. I have been lucky to see some really good specimens hunt rabbit to good effect in a variety of habitats from open downland, bramble-filled woodland and reedbeds. Some of the rabbits were presented to the birds via the…

I told you last month how I start to train my dogs to the standard I need in the field when pigeon or game shooting (Dog whistle politics, November 2020). I covered steadiness, recall and stop. These are essential lessons that your dog has to comply with and the very foundations of training a working dog. An unruly dog is both annoying and distracting. It can also be dangerous with loaded guns around – for human and dog. If your dog sees a pricked bird lumber across the field and land in a hedgerow next to a road, and it sets off of its own accord to retrieve it, you need to be able to instantly stop your dog and call it back. So, work on steadiness as long as…

You must set up this training exercise to ensure you limit the chance of failure with the younger dog. To start with, put the trainee on a lead and sit the dog right next to you. Throw out a dummy and send the older dog. Keep your eye on the restrained dog and as the retriever comes back just give a quick tug on the lead and give the command: “Leave it.” Use your body to block the sitting dog from being able to snatch or lunge at the incoming dog.…

Starting a new shoot is a risky business at the best of times but during the current circumstances its challenging to say the least. It has been a testing year for anyone running a game shoot and as we all know there are plenty of shoots that decided they would not go ahead this season. With all the COVID-19 restrictions, some Guns and syndicates have understandably been unwilling to commit to bookings and deposits. As game farmers need commitments from shoots to plan in regard to the supply of birds, and deposits to secure the orders, it is no wonder that confidence in this season has not been very high. For Michael Ricketts, 30, this season has been the challenge of a lifetime. Michael is a third-generation gamekeeper, following in…

I’m booked to shoot on a couple of rape fields. I would like to know if it is better to have the wind in your face or the sun? Peter says: Before Paul and I decide to shoot a field, we have to make a number of decisions. How many birds are using the field? Are there any other feeding opportunities nearby? What is the weather forecast on our chosen day? When shooting winter rape, the strength of the wind is the most important factor, as a flat calm day is usually a sure-fire recipe for failure. Unfortunately, in your case, none of these factors are within your control, so you will just have to play the hand you are dealt. Assuming you can choose which part of the field…

I have a Suzuki Jimny for my rabbiting trips and I think it’s a great vehicle. What do you use for your work and why? Ed says: Back in the day, I owned a Suzuki SJ410 and had some good nights in it with both shotguns and rifles. These days I tend to use either a quad or go on foot. The quad is great for covering ground quickly when using a shotgun and gives the ability to get to most places without causing any damage to the ground, no matter how poorly the weather has been behaving. When using rifles, I tend to go on foot, and these days this is with night vision, as I find the combination is more effective and causes less disturbance than using a…

How many cartridges do you carry when you go wildfowling? Tom says: There isn’t really a straight answer to this, as it depends on the type of quarry and the situation. What I would say is that there is nothing worse than having the flight of a lifetime only to see it cut short due to running out of ammo. The loader in me always seems to ensure that I have more than enough shells for the flight, and I will typically stop shooting way before running out of shells. I take a box of about 25 cartridges for a typical tidal duck flight. This is usually more than enough for most days in the field but ensures that I have plenty of shells should I need to give a…

I have been given conflicting advice regarding the best place to position my dog during a drive when I am shooting at a peg. What would you advise? Fran says: I prefer to position my dog in front of me about 5m away; that way, even when I am shooting, I can see him. Also, if you plan to allow him to pick a few birds at the end of the drive, he is in the best position to mark any birds down that fall behind you, where, if you think about it, most of them will land. Finally, there is a safety factor to consider: if the dog is out in front, you are far less likely to trip over him as you swing on to a bird.…

My work as an antique arms and armour valuer doesn’t begin and end with guns. I have to assess all sorts of other items as well, most commonly edged weapons. However, every now and then something turns up that completely stumps me. The wooden object here is one such. It is what I would call a sword-club. But where was it from? Now, I must say that I get myriad clubs through my hands and most of them are either African or Polynesian. Ethnographica, as it is known, is big business these days, with a good war club from the South Sea Islands worth thousands of pounds. In these situations, good reference books are essential, as well as decorative clues that may be present on an object. The geometric carving…

NO Robin Scott, former Sporting Gun editor-at-large Most guns with adjustable stocks can only be altered for length, drop and cast. These are important, but they are but a part of the bigger gun fit picture. For instance, they don’t let us make minor changes to such things as length at toe and heel. This may better fit the butt to our shoulder, or make mounting a little smoother and easier. Neither do they come with a facility to alter the amount of cast at toe to accommodate the shape of our chest. Nor do they allow us to change the shape and radius of the grip, or the thickness of the hand — critical elements to mounting a gun properly, pulling the trigger and keeping control during recoil. I…

Shooting groups have reacted to the RSPB’s recent call for an “end to environmentally unsustainable gamebird shooting” and the licensing of driven grouse shoots. The society’s review, which was conducted over the past year with the input of its members, criticised what it called the “industrialised form of this shooting” and concluded that “all intensive gamebird shooting should be regulated to reduce the negative environmental impacts” . Unsurprisingly the prominent shooting groups in the UK beg to differ. Ian Bell, the chief executive of BASC, said that review betrayed a “misunderstanding of shooting” and had ignored the progress that had been made through self-regulation. “Shooting has made significant improvements that positively influence the UK’s wildlife and environment. It is important that the RSPB recognises the work that has taken place…

Wildfowlers on the Humber have submitted a formal appeal to the Environment Secretary challenging Natural England’s refusal to grant consents this year on the estuary. Hull and East Riding Wildfowlers’ Association (HERWA) and Holderness & Humber Wildfowlers’ Association and the Upper Humber Wildfowling Committee have joined forces to try to enable their sport to restart. They have the backing of BASC, which has a legal fund set aside to fight such cases. Ken Arkley, chairman of HERWA, said: “It has been a hard, frustrating process to date which has brought us to the point that we have been doing everything to avoid.”…

What I’m going to tell you flies in the face of all received wisdom. It was never meant to be anything more than a joke, but it was a turning point in my recent shooting. Over the past year or so I have been struggling with my marksmanship. Anyone who has experienced this will know how impotent this can make you feel. If it goes on for a long time you really feel like giving up. I followed my own advice and sought professional help. The instructors — yes, there were several of them — helped massively. With them I was on form and they sharpened my technique. After a couple of sessions I was ready for the field — but that’s where things fell apart again. All I needed…

One of the criticisms levelled at shooting foxes is that because your quarry isn’t edible, why bother doing it? Leaving invaluable pest control aside, no one in their right minds would want to consume vulpine flesh; at least no one who has ever seen what parasites it can harbour. The why bother contention is therefore too simplistic a view. There are many ways in which our efforts can be rewarded. The most obvious return might be cash, though charging for the services provided can raise all manner of difficulties and is one of the perennial issues that many foxers face. The problem is that as soon as money enters the equation, things tend to get complicated. If you decide that it should change hands, do you charge per hour, per…

Shoot day etiquette has been the cornerstone of a day in the field ever since we have been shooting game, both driven and walked-up. What with COVID-19 restrictions and the ability to buy a peg for the day, it does no harm to take a fresh look of the important aspects of what is and what isn’t acceptable. Traditionally, you would have received an invitation to which you would reply and never to pull out of, even if in your estimation a better invitation had come along. Nowadays, you’re just as likely to book your peg online. Whichever scenario, the first responsibility of good etiquette is to turn up on time. There is nothing worse than everyone waiting for a late arrival. The briefing on the morning before the shoot…

Lots. Most importantly, I would immediately confine her to barracks until the problem has been diagnosed. Continuing to exercise her now may jeopardise her future considerably and is just not worth the risk. The wrist or carpus joint in dogs is every bit as complicated as the wrist in humans and many things can go wrong with it, some of which can be disastrous. Any lameness associated with the carpus should therefore be taken seriously. Carpal strains These are common in working dogs (and the left carpus in racing greyhounds who put pressure on this joint as they run anticlockwise around a track). As a result of trauma, such as falling or jumping from a height, mild hyperextension of the carpus occurs, which damages the ligaments at the back of…

My line of labradors seems to be plagued by mast cell tumours. I never seem to be away from the vet getting bits cut off them. Is there any alternative? Neil says: Until recently, no there wasn’t. But now there is hope. Mast cell tumours (MCT) are the most common form of skin cancer in dogs. They are described as soft or hard, in the skin or below the skin, and are difficult to differentiate from many other lumps and bumps. After confirming diagnosis, most MCT would be removed by surgical excision. Now, however, a novel compound, tigilanol tiglate, which is derived from the seed of a shrub called Fontainea picrosperma that grows in the rainforest of northern Queensland, Australia, has been licensed to treat MCT. As long as the…

Just before lockdown I took up airgun shooting but have been stymied because I can’t go to my club. Can I set up a range in my garden or garage? David says: In principle, there is nothing to stop you using an airgun in your garden or garage. That said, having a good backstop is critical. You can get metal target holders that catch the pellets, or you can make the equivalent yourself from a box with a thick stuffing of newspaper. Behind that you need something solid that will prevent stray pellets from leaving your premises, otherwise you would be in breach of the law. Ideally you will be out of sight of the public, and maybe your neighbours too, as not everyone will understand that what you are…

With shooting increasingly under the microscope and all of us needing to reinforce the conservation credentials of our sport, any advance in environmentally sustainable ammunition is to be welcomed. “BioAmmo can be buried or added to the compost heap” Alternatives to lead shot have been available for some time now but, more recently, matters have moved on with manufacturers starting to look seriously at truly biodegradable wadding. The problem of cartridge cases remains, though, and the only option available to shooters who wanted an alternative to plastic cases –which needed to be recycled if they were not to go straight to landfill — was waxed paper. This is prone to swelling, so wet weather sportsmen and wildfowlers in particular have been understandably reluctant to revert to it. Now, though, BioAmmo…

Back in the 1970s when I began my shooting career, money was tight and if you were not lucky enough to have access to family shotguns your budget-priced options were limited. There was always the ubiquitous Baikal, a rather agricultural gun in those days and nothing like the quality of the company’s later products; or, perhaps, a side-by-side from one of the multitude of small Spanish gunmakers, many of whose names have since disappeared. You could always seek out something second-hand, but if you wanted a new over-and-under your choices were limited. One stood out, however, and if you saved enough pennies you could actually afford a shotgun with some very real Italian styling. This was a Lincoln. Lincoln shotguns have always enjoyed a reputation for a high build quality…

FOR SALE GUN TYPE: SHOTGUN Make and Model Rottweil 580 Sporter Calibre 12-bore Chokes Teagued Barrel 30in Price £650 CONTACT DETAILS Name John Leitch Tel 07719 431200 County Highlands GUN TYPE: SHOTGUN Make and Model Gamba Retro Skeet Choke Retro Calibre 12-bore Barrel 26¾in Price £600 CONTACT DETAILS John Leitch (as before) GUN TYPE: SHOTGUN Make and Model Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon III Choke ¼ and ½ Calibre 12-bore Barrel 28in Price £1,100 CONTACT DETAILS Name Stuart Charlton Tel 07718 519025 County North Yorkshire GUN TYPE: SHOTGUN Make and Model Browning 522 Barrel 28in Choke multi-choke Calibre .410 Price £1,400 OVNO CONTACT DETAILS Name Rea Tel 07835517369 County South Yorkshire GUN TYPE: SHOTGUN Make and Model Browning 725 Sporter Barrel 30in with multi-choke Calibre 12-bore Price £1,900 CONTACT DETAILS Name…