Back in March this year, I had my eye on a new shotgun but knew would I have to persuade my better half that the investment was worth it? Bless her. No objection at all. She knows all the signs. I’d been studying the gun for weeks, reading reviews and asking shooting friends who owned … Continue reading Turkish Delight
The decline of the humble rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, across many areas of the UK has been notable. This has been reported by many country folk, hunters and conservationists. Yet the dearth of rabbits in distinct areas is matched by reports from some areas that the rabbit is alive and kicking in healthy numbers. So what’s … Continue reading Where Did All The Rabbits Go?
So today saw the launch of the Labour Party’s ‘50 point plan’ for Animal Welfare Reform and what a cuddly, gushing document it made too! Hardly nature ‘Red’ in tooth and claw, as would be expected. The brief introduction (by Sue Hayman MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) sets the … Continue reading Labour’s Animal Welfare Plan? A View From The Countryside.
I'm an addictive and prolific writer but even I get 'writers block' from time to time. You pick up a pen or open up a blank Word document and waste time staring at a blank page or screen as ideas won't come. The best cure for which, I find, is to just put down random … Continue reading Overcoming “Shooter’s Block”
Another walk out this morning with my little rimfire saw me return with a full five-round clip, yet again. On a bitterly cold morning, with icicles hanging from the alloy field gates, I didn’t expect to see much in the way of vermin. Even the hoar-hardened plough forbade the probing beak of rook or … Continue reading A Simple Blast Of Air
. Christmas is always a bit barren for me in hunting terms. Not due to family commitments or work. I to tend to volunteer to work across the break as I prefer to take my holiday days in fairer seasons. The main reason, however, is that it is often the one time of the year … Continue reading Provenance and Pigeons
The decision this morning wasn’t whether to brave the winter weather. It was what guns to take? Looking out of the windows at home I could see the light boughs of young yew and cedar bending under a Northerly blow. In the habit lately of taking both air rifle and rimfire, I glanced at the … Continue reading The Buzzard and The Betrayal
The title? "We do it to ourselves we do." is a line from a Radiohead song. Never more pertinent. That I'm a committed 'shooter' is beyond doubt, despite a CV which predominantly reads 'air rifle' and includes many hundreds of shooting press articles. Not to mention several books. I have three shotguns and a .17HMR … Continue reading ‘We Do It To Ourselves, We Do’
The Fairy Tale Of Rewilding It was Christmas Eve, in the inn next the muir Ex-keepers debating how life could endure. Re-wilders, with funding, had bought up the land No shooting, no snares, all vermin control banned. They planted the hillsides; a young forest grows, The grouse have all gone, replaced by the crows. … Continue reading The Fairy Tale Of Re-Wilding
Many anti-hunting protagonists debate from a standpoint that there is no place for hunting wild creatures in the twenty-first century. I'm sorry but I fail to accept that the hunting gene had a 'use before' date. What has modernity got to do with it? Half the world still has to hunt for (or grow) its … Continue reading The Importance Of Our Hunting Heritage
