Sporting Rifle

Whenever I go to get a gun out of the cabinet at home, I pass the head of the first roebuck I ever shot. It wasn’t a particularly impressive beast but when I finally caught up with it, there was no doubt in my young sixteen-year-old mind that it was the greatest sporting feat anyone had ever achieved. It always saddens me slightly that salmon landed, duck flighted or deer stalked in later life are never quite as glorious as your first. Every once in a while when I pass that head, I remind myself that I keep saying I’m going to do a bit more stalking. After all, the stalking opportunities around me in south-west Scotland are far too good to only be getting out four or five times…

If you have a news story, email ollie.harvey@futurenet.com Fieldsports businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic have benefited from a £1million Scottish Country Sports Tourism Restart Fund. The fund, which was jointly developed by the Scottish government, VisitScotland, BASC and the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group (SCSTG), was set up to assist country-sports tourism businesses, including sporting agencies, land-based sporting businesses, sporting guides and fishing charter operators, which have been hit hard by Covid restrictions and shutdowns. ShootingUK spoke to Charlie Brownlow, who specialises in running shooting, fishing and stalking trips to Scotland. He said: “It is a great relief that this fund has been made available to businesses like mine and all credit to BASC, SCSTG, VisitScotland and the Scottish government for putting this together to support rural business. “It…

As part of the reorganised Future fieldsports portfolio, the group’s video channel is now running under a new producer. Sporting Rifle deputy editor Ollie Harvey will take on responsibility for The Shooting Show alongside his new role as deputy editor of Shooting Times. Speaking about his appointment, Mr Harvey said: “I’m excited to work with The Shooting Show and I’m looking forward to working with all of the great contributors who have helped to make the show what it is today – as well as introducing some new faces to bring even more variety every week.” The channel (theshootingshow.tv), which is also home to The Airgun Show, has more than 230,000 subscribers and regularly achieves more than 24,000 views per day. A new episode of The Shooting Show typically receives…

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has ‘paused’ the implementation of a policy that would have forced firearms owners in Northern Ireland to apply for a variation at a cost of £30 every time they wanted to buy a rifle magazine. The insistence on having each magazine licensed came about from a change in how the force implemented the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 2004. Following a meeting with representatives from SACS, BASC Northern Ireland and Country Sports Ireland, the PSNI announced that it will not insist on variations for each magazine purchased while it works out how to take the matter forward. Ronan Gorman, chief executive of Country Sports Ireland, said: “Country Sports Ireland, other representative organisations, and local politicians met with the PSNI to raise concerns about the…

A new initiative called ShootCert is helping shooters get their firearms certificates. For a £50 fee, an independent doctor will scrutinise the applicant’s medical notes and then provide the relevant medical forms required by the police firearms department to help get certification. The founder of ShootCert, Dr Chris Garrett, said: “Since 2016, anybody renewing their shotgun or firearms certificate has required verification or medical input from their GP in their application to the police firearms department. “Recently, the BMA has withdrawn from that agreement, meaning that GPs now have no compulsion to provide any medical proforma. The police forces, however, increasingly demand it. “Unfortunately, an ever-increasing number of GPs, for any of a variety of reasons, are refusing to help and will not provide this medical form or otherwise charge…

GIVE THE DEER A BREAK French hunters have refused to continue shooting deer despite a season extension. Hunters in the Haut-Rhin department have said they will not take advantage of the season extension, arguing that even though quotas have not been met the deer population needs a break. Gilles Kaszuk, the president of the hunters federation, told online newspaper Connexion: “The animals have suffered enough this year, with exceptionally high temperatures in the summer, more snow than usual and floods, and we think they need to be left in peace for now.” TRADE IN BREXIT TURMOIL Seven out of 10 UK gun trade businesses have reported difficulties trading since Brexit, according to an exclusive Gun Trade News and Gun Trade Association joint survey. The survey, which includes responses from major…