I met the Devil in the lane down to Garden Wood and he was as drunk as a skunk. Staggering around, his obviously blurred vision failed to pick out the approaching danger that I represented. Or perhaps he knew that my rifle didn’t have the requisite power to put him in my freezer? I was … Continue reading Caught Napping – Charlie Down
Tag: air rifle
Scent, Stalking and Sanity – Why I Shoot
It was just after sunrise when I pulled open the curtains and cranked open the vertical blinds. The frosted scene outside warmed my heart, for today I was guaranteed my first ‘pass-out’ for nearly three weeks. I mentioned in my last blog my lovely wife’s cancer diagnosis and the enforced shielding before her op. Thankfully … Continue reading Scent, Stalking and Sanity – Why I Shoot
In The Bleak Midwinter
We all know that climate change has truly screwed up our old concept of winter. I have enough decades behind me to recall my father having to go and rescue (on foot) my mother who had been trapped in a local school where she worked as a cleaner when I was ten years old. It … Continue reading In The Bleak Midwinter
Soup-Time Charlie
The first thing that struck me as I set off into the wood was the deafening silence. Standing for a while inside the treeline, I looked about, searching for movement. Any movement. The flick of a wren's tail? An agitated blackbird? There was nothing. No breeze, not a sound. It was the morning after the … Continue reading Soup-Time Charlie
The King’s New Throne
Half-way through my seventh decade, my infatuation with the great outdoors and hunting remains as fervent as it did in my first and second. The four-year-old who hunted snails in the garden gravitated through pond dipping, worm fishing, bird egg collecting, and lamping with lurchers. He emerged as a serious air-rifle hunter, with a book … Continue reading The King’s New Throne
The Renegade: Tenkara, Rimfire and Reynard
Driving slowly along the concrete drive into my main shooting permission this morning, I felt like the prodigal son returned. A grey squirrel scampered from the grass margin and sprinted along the track in front of the motor. It’s presence annoyed me, sullying my reputation as ‘the squirrel man’ on this land. Yet I didn’t … Continue reading The Renegade: Tenkara, Rimfire and Reynard
FAC Air v Rimfire – An Expansion Of Opinion
It would seem from the level of activity on my website that the ubiquitous 'Google' is pointing anyone who is curious about upgrading from legal-limit air rifles to FAC towards my earlier articles on this blog. I suspect, too, that the various airgun forums are discussing my views. As a busy airgun writer some years … Continue reading FAC Air v Rimfire – An Expansion Of Opinion
FAC Air Rifle v Rimfire Rifle
Those who have bought my books and read the many hundreds of magazine articles I’ve supplied will know that I have always been a huge advocate of the legal limit (sub-12 ft/lb) air rifle as a hunting tool. It’s use for small vermin control and pot-hunting is limitless if used alongside solid fieldcraft and the … Continue reading FAC Air Rifle v Rimfire Rifle
The Owl and The Jackdaw
It was a splendid morning to be walking the wood with a gun and a camera. Predicted by the weather oracle to be the last day of Mediterranean warmth for a while, I was determined to get some miles under my belt. The rain has been long-awaited, particularly by my farming friends. Their concern was … Continue reading The Owl and The Jackdaw
Squirrels and Jackdaws: A Return From Lockdown
During the first phase of 'Lockdown' I missed my patrols around the naturalists paradise that is my shooting permission. A mixture of woodland, arable land and livestock farming. The first sensory delight to greet me on my return to the wood was ‘the orchestra’. I stepped into the ride beneath a verdant canopy illuminated with … Continue reading Squirrels and Jackdaws: A Return From Lockdown