Table of contents for February 2022 in Sporting Gun

In a world of so much uncertainty, it is heartening to encounter the familiar and resolutely traditional. This is what Richard Faulks did when he received an invite and visited a shoot run by Dan Parker on the edge of the Fens – a perfectly run, close-knit, traditional farm shoot. It is all the more impressive when you learn that Dan lost some mobility as the result of a motorbike accident. But this hasn’t prevented him from participating in his favourite sport and working tirelessly to provide friends and family days on the shoot that he keepers in East Anglia. And from his converted Polaris Ace, he puts many Guns to shame.…

“We want dogs that have a natural ability to hunt and find game” If you scan many of the stud dog classified adverts in fieldsports magazines or on websites, the phrases ‘natural gun sense’ and ‘natural gamefinder’ will occur regularly. I have heard both used by a number of gundog owners, but you could spend many fruitless hours trying to find a definitive definition as to their meaning. It seems to me that the phrases are ‘advertising speak’, and it is unlikely whether anyone, when selecting a puppy or a stud dog, actually asks what they really mean. Let’s take gun sense first. If your dog is used purely for beating or as part of a picking-up team then it may not have any need to develop gun sense as…

Ingredients 1½lb-2lb stewing venison, cut into cubes 3 tbsp vegetable oil 4 onions, skinned and sliced 2 tbsp flour 1 pint stock ½ pint brown ale 1 tsp wine vinegar 1 tbsp tomato puree Salt and pepper 2 bay leaves 8 slices French bread Dijon mustard Method Heat the oil in a casserole dish and brown the meat in batches, then place on a plate. Reduce the heat and add the onions. Fry until lightly browned and remove from the casserole. Sprinkle the flour into the remaining fat in the pan and stir until evenly blended. Gradually add the stock, stirring continuously so it doesn’t go lumpy, then add the ale, wine vinegar and tomato puree. Bring slowly to the boil, then add the meat and onions with their juices…

Some of you may remember reading about Dan Parker’s gamekeeping in an earlier edition of Sporting Gun. Dan also featured in an article about shooting from a seated position, where he took sage advice from J P Gaudin of seated-gun.com ( June 2021). Both Dan and J P lost mobility through motorcycle accidents and they both have a love of game shooting. Both worked out ways of not letting their disability stop them from participating in our sport and both would embarrass the majority of Guns in any line with the quality of their shooting. Back in the summer of 2021, Dan took me on a guided tour of the wild bird shoot that he keepers on the edge of the East Anglian Fens. The shoot is blessed with a…

There’s been a shooting ground here on Ettiford Farm, 10 miles north of Barnstaple, for more than 30 years for good reason. The topography, deep-cut valleys that wind their way through the hills and tussocks of the estate, and the local flora, thick bracken and shrubs interspersed with spots of woodland, seem purposefully placed to provide the perfect venue for a sporting course. Andrew Harris and his son, Rob, clearly agreed when they purchased the ground in November 2020. “We were just in awe of the potential that the ground offers,” explains Andrew. “We couldn’t miss the chance to put our mark upon this idyllic valley, one which is so perfect for sporting targets of every description.” Targets galore Targets of every description is not an exaggeration. South West Shooting…

Snipe and woodcock shooting is a niche sporting activity. It is more commonly encountered as part of a driven or walked-up day when shooting pheasants and partridge, but small driven days and specific walked-up days can be found in some parts of the country. The snipe (Gallinago gallinago) season is from 12 August (1 September in Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man) to 31 January. The woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) season runs from 1 October (1 September in Scotland) until 31 January. Snipe is the smallest quarry species, apart from the jack snipe, which is protected in the UK other than in Northern Ireland, where the season is the same as for the common snipe. Woodcock and snipe are native to the UK, but autumn brings greater numbers of birds…

Birmingham company Webley & Scott invented the Monte Carlo stock. It is a raised piece on the stock comb that allows for a quicker gun mount. This is ideal if you have a long neck and a low shoulder pocket. It gets its name from the place in Monaco. Behind the casino in Monte Carlo there used to be a live pigeon shooting range. Here the pigeons were released from a trap and flew out over the cliffs to be shot. The pigeons that survived flew back to run the gauntlet again. This sport is now banned. The secret to shooting one of these unfortunate creatures was to get them early before they went out of range. This required a fast gun mount. The Monte Carlo stock enabled this by…

WILDFOWLING Up the creek Do you ever decoy ducks on a large river? It looks as if you typically shoot on little creeks. Tom says: I do occasionally shoot larger rivers, but this is dependent on the conditions. We have a good-sized river that runs through a selection of our marshes that can be productive. I particularly like to shoot it at low water on a morning flight as it can be the best area to ambush ducks heading out to rest. I typically set up on the smaller creeks when it comes to tide flighting for a few reasons. First, it is far safer to shoot on a narrower creek than being on the edge of a large expanse of water with strong currents. The dogs have plenty of…

Musto Fenland Lite Jacket Simple, stylish and providing superb protection against the elements, the lightweight, waterproof and machine-washable Fenland Lite jacket packs away into its own pocket, ensuring you can easily be prepared for the ever-changing weather. Its roll-away Flexview hood stays stable in high winds and follows the movement of your head to ensure it does not compromise your vision – vital when on the peg. Price £150; musto.com Alan Paine Rutland Tweed Waterproof Shooting Coat A practical, comfortable and stylish field coat that offers all of the usual features at a great price. Made from a durable wool blend that is waterproof and highly breathable, this coat comes complete with hand-warmer pockets, windbreaker cuffs and cartridge pockets. Adjustable side tabs ensure a snug fit and the stud secure…

You can probably imagine my face when I read the email from Härkila telling me that it was sending me a “heated muff ” to test. Rather sheepishly, I typed ‘Härkila heated muff’ into Google and closed my eyes. When I reopened them, I was faced with a quite ordinary page on the Härkila website telling me all about its latest product that kept hunters’ hands warm. My fears subsided, I replied to the email and agreed to trial the new product. The Driven Hunt heat muff, to give it its proper name, is like a pair of mittens that have been stitched together at the fingertips, but with the ability for one hand to touch the other. The whole contraption has a detachable belt to attach itself to your…

Zeiss likes to annotate its scopes with the prefix of the magnification range available within each model, be it V4, V6 and V8. This V4 test model in the affordable Conquest range achieves a good 4x power range from 4-6x magnification with a 44mm objective lens size. You could choose other models, such as the 1-4x24mm, 3-12x56mm, 4-16x50mm and the 6-24x50mm, but this V4 to me has all the right characteristics for dual use on airgun, rimfire or centrefire. The V4 Conquest range has proved popular with the rimfire and FAC airgun market largely due to the superb optics and reliability of adjustment, however, Zeiss has made sure these models focus down to 10ft, which is ideal for shorter range use. “The airgun and rimfire fraternity love them because they…

The Browning Auto 5, more usually referred to simply as the A5, was designed by John Moses Browning in 1898, patented in 1900 and produced commercially from 1902. It bears the distinction of being the world’s first mass-produced semi-automatic shotgun. Browning always considered it his greatest achievement, and it formed the basis for many successive designs of semi-autos. With a raised rear action, giving the advantage of a longer sighting plane, it quickly became affectionately known as the ‘humpback’. The Remington Model 11 and Savage Model 720 and Model 745 are direct variants. Regulations Operated by recoil, the designation A5 referred simply to the fact that it had a capacity of five cartridges, four in the magazine and one in the chamber. Most guns were fitted with a magazine plug…

Gracing these pages this month is a stunning double rifle by the famous London maker Holland & Holland. Normally, double rifles conjure up images of big-game hunting in Africa or shooting tigers from the back of elephants in India in the 1900s. However, this double rifle is actually a rook and rabbit rifle and is chambered in the diminutive calibre of .295 Rook. The concept for a rook rifle, as they are commonly known, is hard to grasp in today’s hunting scene, but they flourished between around 1870-1910 and were usually inexpensive, single-barrelled, break-open guns with external hammers chambered in low-powered, centrefire calibres such as .297-.250, .295, .300 and even .360. The rimfire calibre .22 Long Rifle was still viewed as a practice or target round and not up to…

I spoke to Matt Davis at Ian Coley Shooting Ground. He has been fitting stocks for many years and he said that the next best thing to getting a stock made is having one that is fully adjustable. Failing that, you can usually get your off the shelf gun adjusted so that it fits you better. But I still wanted to know, should you get a stock made for you if you can afford it? Matt says no. Get a standard gun that fits you as well as it can and learn to shoot with that. Then and only then think about getting a stock made. You can read more on this subject on page 55. I hope you enjoy this issue. Until next time safe shooting.…

The CPSA has completed its count of initial nominations and has produced a list of finalists ahead of the CPSA Awards 2022. Members now have until Monday, 31 January to vote for their top Shots and grounds of the year. Olympic medal winners and sporting champions are all vying for votes for the highest honour of the ceremony, the Clay Shooter of the Year award. Matt Coward-Holley, Cheryl Hall, Mark Winser, Brody Woollard and Richard Faulds already have their fair share of trophies and will hope to add another to their collection. Competition is perhaps even tighter in the Young Shot of the Year category. A win here would be a massive boost to any youngster’s career. Barney Eastman, Isabel Cartlidge, Matthew Paley, Toby Hurstfield and Jasper Pearce are all…

Since first putting pellet to clay, Peter Chester liked to dream big. As a youngster, he fought his way through national and international competitions, achieved record scores and positioned himself as one of the world’s best. Then family tragedy struck, forcing him away from the stands and his dreams. He put down his shotgun and turned away from a promising career. Sixteen years later, a simple have-a-go session put Peter back behind the barrels and on the path to glory. “It all started with my grandfather, Colin,” explains Peter. “He’s still going strong today, but when I was young he was a really keen competitive Skeet shot. He’s the one who first introduced me to English Skeet. “That was in ’97, I was 10 and immediately hooked. Like all young…

Olympic bronze medallist and professional shotgun coach Steve Scott is a strong advocate of pre-shot routines. Here, he takes us through the routine he uses for Olympic Trap. “My aim is to shoot in a style that’s steady and smooth, both mentally and physically. A pre-shot routine helps me to eliminate all outside distractions – who’s shooting what and so on – so that I am totally focused on the task at hand. From experience, I know that it makes my shooting less erratic.” STEP 1 Shooting always starts with the feet, so once I’m on the peg, I’ll get my feet in the correct position. Once they’re set up and relaxed, I’ll visualise my feet nailed to the floor, so they don’t move. If your feet are in the…

As we embark on a new year I like to reflect on how our pigeon shooting outings have gone over the previous 12 months. Bags were generally average to good, with the occasional red-letter day mixed with inevitable disappointments. As always, certain fields seemed to produce better-than-average bags, regardless of the crop growing on them. Last year it was a field of oilseed rape on my shooting partner Paul’s ground that came up trumps. We were careful to manage the shooting in a way that maximised its potential, only turning out when conditions were favourable – that is to say, dull and windy. We did, however, lay to rest one old wives’ tale that pigeons will not decoy when the ground is covered in snow. We always wanted to test…

For such a small dog she certainly knows how to demand attention. On a regular basis Lotte decides life is getting mundane and it is time to shake the household up. To this end she has developed tactics that usually come in stages. The first is to bring in her favourite antler and launch it around the room while giving me determined stares in between each launch. She is capable of Olympian throws in both height and distance but, thankfully, to date all the windows are still intact. If that tactic doesn’t work she will leap on to my knee and interfere with the iPad – she seems to know exactly which keys to press to create the most chaos. And if that doesn’t work, she will dash off to…

“This bird is so versatile that it doesn’t necessarily need water close by to thrive” The mallard is so familiar that it’s easy to take it for granted, but that would be a mistake. The mainstay of so much of our shooting, it’s also very common and the most numerous of our resident wild ducks, with numbers boosted still further by migrants that flood in from Iceland and northern Europe every autumn and winter. The mallard has one of the widest distributions of all the wildfowl. Its natural range encompasses the northern Americas, Europe, Asia and North Africa, and in many places where it doesn’t occur naturally man has introduced it. If you visit a park with a lake just about anywhere in the world, the chances are that you’ll…

Brook Bank Shooting Ground DISCIPLINES English Sporting, English Skeet, UT, OT, ABT and DTL. ADDITIONAL FACILITIES Gunsmithing services, cartridge sales and a snack bar. MOBILITY The car park and pathways to stands are all wheelchair accessible. Disabled bathroom facilities can be found in the clubhouse. WHEN IS IT OPEN? Wednesdays, 12pm-4pm Fridays and Saturdays, 11am-4pm Sundays, 10am-3pm PRACTICE ROUNDS Shotgun certificate holders can use a Pay & Play system across all disciplines. Sporting clays are set to £0.36, while all other disciplines are priced at £9 per round of 25 targets. TUITION Shooting lessons start from £60 an hour, plus clays and cartridges. Beginner’s shooting experiences are also available from £35 a person, inclusive of coaching, shotgun and cartridges. DESCRIPTION Brook Bank Shooting Ground places equal importance on each of…

I often get asked what to do if you just can’t get a day going or the birds to decoy, and you’re getting frustrated in the hide. We’ve all had them. There isn’t an easy answer, but the most likely causes are problems with your hide, reconnaissance, stealth or decoy pattern. Some days you can get away with anything if the birds are so focused on feeding – these are the days we all dream of. But on others, it can be the smallest of things that will put them off. So, here are a few of my thoughts on what to look out for and how to tilt the odds in your favour. Recon, recon, recon This is probably the most important thing to get right. If you’re in…

Any group of experienced foxers will have different opinions on everything from choice of calibre to the best calls to use. But one thing most will agree on is that their quarry is an unpredictable beast. While there might not be so much as hide nor hair to be seen of them on one night, on another they may be running all over the place. Sometimes the cause is evident – such as when one of the so-called charities releases yet another batch of urban animals ‘back into the countryside’. More used to feeding off takeaway chicken scraps and rifling through litter bins than actually hunting for their food, groups can often wander about in a daze, clearly totally incapable of understanding where they are or how to fend for…

Once the dog is confident about being sent from your side, you can then introduce your handling (left, right and back). Set the exercise up exactly as before, but this time leave the dog at the original spot and set yourself up to give the dog a handling command. Begin by staying fairly close to the dog to prevent it coming back towards you, but if you have taken your time building up the exercise, you should find the dog will manage the retrieve confidently. You will need to mix this up and vary your commands and at some point move locations to seal the exercise.…

Reproofing for steel I enjoyed Richard Faulks’s article (SG, November ’21) about how best to approach the use of steel shot in older guns. However, one comment stopped me in my tracks. He wrote about the possibility of opening up the choke on a couple of older guns and stated: ‘Do I have the half choke eased and then reproof the gun?’ Surely opening up a choke does not require that the gun be reproofed? If the chamber is lengthened from 65mm to 70mm then the gun must be reproved but I understand that just opening up a choke does not. Perhaps Richard can explain how he came to his conclusion, especially as he appears to have discussed his options with gunsmith Matt Simpson. Conrad Norris, via email I believe…

Technology has seeped into all areas of fieldsports. Battery-operated decoys have become common among pigeon shooters, with varying designs of magnets, flappers and much more. There are more pieces of tech reaching the wildfowling community. Across the pond in the US, our duck and goose shooting counterparts use many gadgets to help them and with success. Many of these haven’t made it to our shores but one that has is the rotary duck decoy. I have used wind-powered rotary duck decoys for years and have always been a fan. The downside of wind-powered rotaries is that you need the right conditions to achieve perfect results. I have had many occasions where there isn’t enough wind to power the wings despite the forecast, which can be incredibly frustrating. There, however, is…

Anyone following the complexities of the ongoing move away from lead shot and introduction of ecofriendly wads will have noticed the widely held concerns that steel shot might not provide all the performance we seek. There is a seemingly common misconception that I feel may be worth addressing and that is the part momentum plays in the performance of cartridges we can buy in the UK. In discussion groups and on shooting forums it is quite common to see pressure being mentioned as the limiting factor regarding what cartridge makers can load for legal sale in the UK. This is often linked to the higher performance cartridges one can read about in the USA. The question is sometimes raised as to “when is the CIP (the body responsible for setting…

Rural groups and educational establishments have expressed their unhappiness with a new national qualification on countryside matters. Representatives have written to Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, articulating their concerns about the removal of the Land and Wildlife course within the T level qualification. T levels were introduced in the autumn of 2020 as a technical alternative to A levels post-GCSE. The letter described the removal as “deeply concerning” and said the change will result in the loss of an important specialist training route for future gamekeepers, rangers, foresters, land managers and conservationists. There are currently more than 1,000 students enrolled on the Land and Wildlife courses at 10 specialist land-based centres across England. The signatories have asked the minister and his department to overturn the decision. Curtis Mossop, BASC’s head…

Family, friends and associates have paid tribute to Mike Farquhar following his death in the autumn. Mike was a sporting countryman in every sense of the word. Known as Baldrick, he was a shooting instructor, organiser of loaders at top game shoots around the Cotswolds, a fly-fisherman, international FITASC and Sporting referee, deerstalker and general ‘good egg’. Easily identifiable by his trademark deerstalker, Mike helped establish the reputation of The Shooting Clinic with Terry Fricker in the 1980s, travelling around the country giving invaluable advice on shooting at game fairs, schools and corporate events. Mike was brought up in Scotland before heading south, where he was educated at Cheltenham College. He abandoned a career in the City to work in the wine trade and become a part-time gamekeeper. He is…

We have looked at how cultivating mindfulness can help Shots gain better focus on the competition stands or out in the field. Now, we’re going to dive a little deeper into a specific practice, the pre-shot routine. Loved by some, little understood by others, these routines were given a shot in the arm recently when Austrian researchers revealed just how effective they can be. “Pre-performance routine was born to eliminate attention-sapping external distractions” So, what exactly is a pre-shot routine and what benefits does it offer? Psychologist and pre-performance routine pioneer Aidan Moran described these routines as “a sequence of task-relevant thoughts and actions which an athlete engages in systematically prior to his or her performance of a specific sports skill”. You’ve probably noticed pro Shots in a flow-like state,…

Choosing footwear for any fieldsport is ultimately down to personal preference and affordability. This is as true for wildfowlers as it is for game shooters. There are many options on the market to suit individual needs, depending on the terrain you intend to venture out onto. The foreshore and marshes are my chosen terrain. I have used a range of waders over the years and the following is a selection of the most common and my preferences. Neoprene chest waders The most popular style of wader worn by UK wildfowlers and international duck and goose hunters has to be neoprene chest waders. They are readily available in a range of colours, including camouflage, and are relatively inexpensive, depending on the brand. I wore neoprenes for a large part of my…

To control rabbits properly in a variety of environments requires a fair amount of equipment. Next May I will have been controlling rabbits for 22 years, and I would like to think I have acquired enough knowledge to know what is needed for a job. The equipment required for some situations can be basic, while quite the opposite for others. Time is often the main factor – how quickly I need to get a job done, along with what percentage of rabbits the client requires me to remove and how complex the job is . Furry friends My day-to-day work generally consists of ferreting both in winter and the summer. Ferrets are obviously the vital ingredient for such tasks and an experienced ferret is worth its weight in gold. Purse-nets…

Depending on your age you may recall the great shooting writer Chris Cradock. I only met Chris on a handful of occasions and he was charming. In the 1990s when I was a budding photographer, I was intrigued about the history of live pigeon shooting and Chris kindly lent me some books on the subject. Such books are now highly collectible – as are the shotguns designed for live pigeon shooting. The books were fascinating. A lot of money was wagered on the outcomes of competitions and pigeons were bred to feed the sport. Any escapees would be recaptured to run the gauntlet all over again. Live pigeon shooting of this sort was banned in the UK decades ago but its legacy lives on, with ‘trap’ and ‘pull’ still references…

The first thing I ask Matt Davis when I meet him for a stock fit is, “Will having a stock made to measure make me a champion shot?” His short answer is “No”. I felt a little deflated. Why go to all the expense of getting a stock made to measure if it won’t be a quick fix for my mediocre shooting? Matt explains: “Making sure your gun is fitted correctly will give you that extra edge – if you like, it’s the icing on the cake to help you get the best out of your shooting.” Matt has been fitting stocks at Ian Coley for the past six years and is also head coach there. He is now heading up stock fitting at the shooting ground for Krieghoff, the…

You ask an important question because the common perception, among both owners and vets, is that urinary incontinence (or at least the type that is associated with mid age to older dogs) is frequently seen in labradors. The fact of the matter, however, is that it is no more prevalent in labradors than in most other breeds, with the risk of developing the problem, according to a 2017 study of 100,397 bitches, being around 3%. It would seem that we see a lot of incontinent labradors simply because there are a lot of labradors. What are we discussing? Urinary incontinence (UI) describes the loss of the ability to control urination, so that there is involuntary leakage of urine from the bladder. This is usually indicated to owners by the discovery…

Surfeit of game It seems that the price of game has once again plummeted a few months into the pheasant season. I was picking up on a small family shoot yesterday and was handed two brace of pheasants and a leash of red-legs by the farmer as I was about to leave. When I asked him how much I owed him he laughed and told me I was doing him a favour. The nice bag of 50-head had given all the Guns (who wanted them) their brace and the farmer told me it was not cost-effective to use two gallons of diesel driving to our nearest registered game dealer, especially with pheasants at 10p and the partridges being worthless. (I have since been told that some dealers are actually charging…

With social media and YouTube becoming an increasingly bigger part of our lives, it’s no surprise that more and more shooters are videoing their shots to share with others. Many night-vision and thermal units now come with an inbuilt recording facility but here’s a simple device to record footage and sound directly through your riflescope. It neatly attaches to a shotgun barrel or even to a bow. Small action cameras attached to shotgun barrels are nothing new, yet this fifth-generation Tactacam goes a step further when used with the ‘film through scope’ attachment. This adaptor converts your regular Tactacam unit to film through the scope, giving a perfect shooter’s-eye view by using a system of mirrors, much like a periscope, so the Tactacam sits to the side of the scope…

This little gun – the Axis RS12 from Fabarm – caught my eye while perusing the gun shop at Sporting Targets. To be honest, I am not sure if the Fabarm classes itself as a Sporter or a Trap gun, because of the semi-high rib it has. The Fabarm factory was launched in around 1900 by the Galesi family, one of the great Brescian gunmaking dynasties. The name Fabarm comes from Fabbrica Bresciana Di Armi, which I think translates to ‘arms manufacturer in Brescia’. In the first decades of the 20th century, Fabarm produced mainly side-by-side shotguns, alongside pistols. After World War II, production took off with overand-unders. Today, Fabarm has a huge selection of goodies – bolt-action rifles, combination guns, express rifles, hunting shotguns and semi-automatic shotguns, proper left-handed…

CHARLES SMITH-JONES SAYS: “These are excellent rifles with a great reputation” The Tikkakoski manufacturing company has had a long and chequered history since it was formed in the late-19th century in central Finland. World War II saw it pass into German ownership before it was handed over to the Soviet Union in 1947. Ten years later, it was purchased by Finnish businessmen and firearms manufacturing, which had been run down during Soviet ownership, was re-energised with a focus on actions for shotguns, combination guns, rimfire rifles and military firearms. Name changes The company’s first centrefire repeating rifle left the factory in 1968. It was initially called the M76, but was later renamed the LSA55 when exports to the United States started up in 1969. The M55, as it eventually became…