I have been overwhelmed by the response from family, friends and social media contacts to Dylan’s passing this morning. My wife and I are going to miss the old feller badly. It has been a privilege to work for nearly 16 years with such an intelligent, biddable and loyal dog. Many people thought it was … Continue reading RIP Dylan : Bless You, Old Partner
We all appreciate that there is a huge difference between 'driven' shooting and 'hunting'. Whether engaged in rifle stalking or walkabout rough shooting, the most important and fundamental need of the hunter is quarry anticipation and recognition. Actually, it's more than that. It is often the ability to discriminate between quarry and non-quarry. Protecting the … Continue reading Improving Your Fieldcraft Skills
Being granted new shooting permission is a red letter day for any shooter. How many of us, though, seriously consider whether the ground is suitable for our rifles and their calibres? If you're shooting 'on ticket', your FEO (firearms enquiry officer) will insist that any new ground is covered by existing approval ... or may … Continue reading Risk Assessing A New Shooting Permission
Working farmyards are busy places; full of people, moving machinery and livestock. Being offered permission to shoot freely around a yard is a great privilege and a huge responsibility. It's certainly not an environment for the shotgun but much useful vermin control can be carried out with a legal limit air rifle; silent, accurate and … Continue reading The Air Rifle Around The Farm
For the short-range rifle hunter (airgun or rimfire), using equipment like laser range-finders is often impractical … and un-necessary. Walk-about hunting doesn’t usually allow the luxury of employing a range-finder. We need to calculate range mentally and engage for the shot almost immediately, or the quarry will have gone. Remember, you will always have your … Continue reading Rifle Hunting – Improving Your Range-Finding Skills
Accurate shooting is simply a combination of discipline and practise. It isn’t a ‘black art’. Anyone can master the skills necessary to be effective. Here are Wildscribblers top ten tips. Zero First Airgun actions, their scopes and their barrels can be fickle companions. Scope zero’s drift from true for many reasons. Knocks and bangs to … Continue reading Airgun Hunting: Mastering Accuracy
A request came up on my Twitter feed last night, asking me to sign a HM Gov petition rallying against any consideration of airgun licensing in England and Wales. The following is an explanation, despite my good standing within the airgun community, of why I can’t sign such a petition. On October 10th 2017 the … Continue reading Airgun Licensing … What Are We Scared Of?
I know when the demons have come back. I always do. The portents that signal the rise of the Devils minions are ominous. The first omen was the lone black crow that watched me ready my shooting gear yesterday. It sat eerily staring at me, just 40 yards off on a gate post. Inside … Continue reading The Exorcist
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
