Chained to the ‘Work From Home’ laptop and watching three days of steady snowfall tore at my wilder mind. I wanted to be out there in wood and field exploring the virgin snow for track and trail. Come Saturday, I finally had the chance and with the sub-zero temperature supplemented by a bitter Easterly wind, … Continue reading Snow Patrol – A Landscape Exposed
Tag: National Gamekeepers Organisation
Caught Napping – Charlie Down
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
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
Foxing Without Foxes
The call came through in the middle of last week. A panicky voicemail left on my mobile by one of the estate workers. The landowner had asked him to call me. "Ian, can you call me back. We have a fox problem and the peacocks have chicks. We need the foxes gone!" We're talking a … Continue reading Foxing Without Foxes
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
Covid-19: A Reflection From The Forest
A few hours around field and wood with the gun on Sunday gave me time to reflect on the extraordinary events going on at the moment. Out amongst nature, where danger and threat are components of every wild creature's life, it’s easy to dismiss the burgeoning threat to some of the human population. Sitting on … Continue reading Covid-19: A Reflection From The Forest
The C Word. Shootings ‘Shot in the Foot’.
I paid a visit to my gunsmiths this morning to top-up on some .22LR ammunition. Inevitably, the lead-shot versus steel-shot dialogue came up and what I learned was both illuminating and disturbing. Nine of the leading shooting organisations (let’s call them A9) recently aligned to jointly announce a planned phasing out of the use of … Continue reading The C Word. Shootings ‘Shot in the Foot’.
Monbiot and the Deer
Guardian newspaper columnist and conservation writer George Monbiot published a piece this week titled “I shot a deer …” I found it fascinating, from a ‘hunters’ perspective. George had (with noble intentions) put himself behind the rifle scope, to stalk and attempt to shoot a deer. Which he did, humanely. In this latest blog (prompted by … Continue reading Monbiot and the Deer
The Night Before Boxing Day
The Night Before Boxing Day She pulls up her collar and tugs down her cap Her ruddy cheeks stung by the Eastern winds slap. With rifle on shoulder, and spaniel at side She sets off for a last check of covert and ride. It’s now snowing lightly, the sun lowering red She leaves behind family, … Continue reading The Night Before Boxing Day