Shooting Times & Country 24-Nov-2021

Last week on a small driven day in Dorset, I got chatting to a picker-up with a camera around her neck. “I’m only an amateur,” she told me “but I really enjoy it, and whenever I’m out, there are such great opportunities for pictures.” In years past, she said that she simply clicked away, but more recently a few Guns on the shoot have said to her that they’d rather there wasn’t any evidence of them being in the field, and they certainly don’t ever want pictures of them shooting to end up online. “The way of the world,” she said with a shrug as she walked away. It’s an interesting one. To my mind, bag pictures or photos of deer carcasses — unless on a barbecue — are a mistake on…

Grouse shooting is still propping up the economy of remote rural Scotland, despite there being very little actual shooting. A survey by the country’s regional moorland groups found that spending from grouse moor management actually increased by £15 million this year, despite the shooting season being one of the worst on record. The grouse season in much of Scotland was wiped out by poor weather during the critical grouse breeding season. Many moors had no shooting at all and others had a limited calendar. This led to average losses of £140,000 per estate this year. But in spite of this, estates still commissioned an average of £600,000 of work each. This money went to businesses such as local garages, joiners, builders and plant hire companies. Last year, a similar survey found that estates…

The RSPB has been heavily criticised for hosting a publication on its website that described baiting electric fences with scents that would attract badgers, foxes and hedgehogs. The charity routinely uses electric fences to protect the nests of birds such as terns and curlew. The practice is controversial due to its enormous cost and its tendency to simply displace predators and increase predation elsewhere. Now the Daily Telegraph has discovered that a manual hosted on the RSPB’s website advocated baiting electric fences with scents attractive to animals such as foxes and badgers to encourage them to lick or sniff it. According to Lord Botham writing in the paper: “The RSPB’s manual explains that the electric shock from fences should be strong enough to create ‘a large spark’ and to ‘burn off grass’.” Responding…

Another amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that would have been welcomed in the countryside has been blocked by the Government. Last week, Shooting Times reported that attempts by the Bishop of St Albans to strengthen the law on hare coursing were blocked by the House of Lords (News, 17 November). The Government has also blocked a change to the law on aggravated trespass, which could have stopped saboteurs disrupting shoots. Under the current law, an offence of aggravated trespass is committed if people enter land to disrupt a lawful activity. However, if saboteurs claim a shoot was unlawful even in a relatively minor way, prosecutors must prove it was not breaking the law. In 2008, saboteurs escaped conviction when the shoot they disrupted was shown not to have…

FEED Spin oilseed rape to keep birds busy and help wild seed eaters. Spinning out a little rapeseed can give gamebirds a welcome change in diet and some added nutrients. It also helps keep birds busy, which might encourage them to stay at home, always a challenge when the weather is warm and natural food is abundant. Oily and calorie-rich rapeseed is also keenly welcomed by finches and other wild birds. CHECK Clean and dry guns thoroughly on wet shoot days. With the weather staying unseasonably warm and wet, guns need particular care to protect them from corrosion. Always check that a gun is unloaded before cleaning and never dry it by a fire or radiator; instead, wipe it with a clean tea towel or cloth and allow it to air dry before…

The dangerous and criminal behaviour of hare coursers has been brought to national attention after a mass coursing event in Bedfordshire. Footage posted online shows multiple vehicles and several dozen individuals openly coursing hares in broad daylight. The vehicles are driven across recently drilled crops with individuals hanging out of windows and standing in open sunroofs to view the action. Lurcher-type dogs pursued hares across the flat ground, while bystanders shouted encouragement. Though precise numbers of participants are hard to determine, at least a dozen vehicles and around 50 people were shown in the field itself, with a larger number apparently parked on nearby track or road. The video also appears to show police officers standing beside the open doors of a police car, but not doing anything to intervene. There appears…