How teenagers get shooting permissions – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 34
How do you get started in shooting when you are young? In his Lockdown Chatshow, Charlie talks to organisers of some of the UK’s biggest young shots programmes: David Florent of the Schools Challenge, Rob Collins of Pass It On Young Sports and Richard Kirkham of Next Generation Shooting, plus deerstalker Alex Vankov. They […]
Bradford man shoots grouse out of season
Fresh controversy for officials at Bradford Council as a poacher takes advantage of lack of council management on local moorland and shoots birds out of season. The man from the West Yorkshire city, which is linked to a succession of moorland management mistakes, posted photographs on a private Facebook group today of grouse and a […]
Fieldsports Britain – Paul’s stalking stress tests
How do you go deerstalking, pigeon shooting, gameshooting – or any fieldsports – while keeping a virus-stopping distance from your buddies? It’s simple, says deer manager Paul Childerley. You just have to follow a few rules. He runs through what will work for him and his stalking clients once he is allowed back to do […]
Social-distance shooting/hunting rules
Like everyone, deerstalking guide Paul Childerley will get back to work eventually. But how will he guide clients when he can’t go near them? We pull on the rubber gloves and put ‘social distance’ deerstalking into action on his ground in Bedfordshire. ▶ Paul uses a Sako rifle. For more about Sako, visit Sako.fi ▶ […]
Natural England red tape strangles red listed birds
Grouseshooter George Winn Darley takes pride in the number of rare birds on his moor. However, for the past two years Natural England has been working against him. He takes Ben O’Rourke for a walk around his ground in Yorkshire to look at the biodiversity, and explains how the general licences mess that Natural England […]
How to eat nettles and thistles
Survival expert Jonny Crockett talks through recipes for two notorious weeds. Jonny’s website is SurvivalSchool.co.uk
Police grab goose shooter’s guns – Fieldsports News, 6 May 2020
Here are the links: Police take guns from persecuted Leeds pest controller Barry Swain Fcha.nl/shooter-arrested-threatened-abused/ Sea eagles ravage British lambs Fcha.nl/sea-eagles RSPB lashes out at grouse shoots Fcha.nl/county-durham-red-kite Six-figure salary for official who messed up general licences Fcha.nl/official-in-charge-of-general-licences-mess-made-new-head-of-natural-enland/ Newspaper warns of hard times ahead for the countryside Bit.ly/35zKkuG Suffolk gun dealer charged with killing wife […]
Eat Game Awards winners
The Eat Game Awards 2019 are out. They include best shop, chef, pub and famers’ market. Among them, judges from gunmaker Purdey and BASC’s Taste of Game initiative voted game chef Mike Robinson their champion of champions. Head of Taste of Game Annette Woolcock comments: “Mike, with his immense passion for wild game, makes for […]
Did Canada ban the wrong guns?
Just like British prime minister Tony Blair found with foxhunting, when you don’t understand what you are banning, your ban won’t work. Now Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced restrictions on the wrong guns. Canadians were appalled and outraged following the recent mass killing in Nova Scotia. Trudeau promised action. This is his action: […]
Official in charge of general licences mess made new head of Natural England
The civil servant at the heart of Natural England’s disastrous handling of the 2019 general licences crisis is the new chief executive of Natural England. She will earn ‘circa £125,000 a year’ according to the job ad posted by employment agency Gatesby Sanderson. In his statement making the appointment, environment secretary George Eustice refers to […]
World hunting loses the wombat
A run of negative media about wombat hunting has brought about a wombat hunting ban. The main populations of the common wombat are in the states of Victoria and New South Wales. It is widespread and listed by IUCN data on endangered species as of ‘least concern’. Of Australia’s three wombat species, only the northern […]
Charlie’s Shoot Walk – Browning channel kidnap
Browning kidnaps Fieldsports Channel! No, it’s not so terrible. Browning simulcasts it #athome vlog on its Facebook page and Fieldsports’ YouTube channel. Adrien Koutny talks about Browning guns and Charlie takes him for a walk around his home shoot in Somerset. We talk about these guns ▶ Sam’s B525 Ultra XS: Browning.eu/b525-ultra-xs.shtml ▶ Amy’s […]
Fieldsports Britain – Paul’s Bohemian rhapsody
Paul is off to a stag and buck happy hunting ground in Hungary. The beasts are thick on the ground and he has to stalk carefully to get the one he wants. Meanwhile, the black grouse lek is underway in the UK’s uplands and, because of low traffic during lockdown, they are lekking in the […]
The Bird Table of Doom: Rats and Squirrels
Charlie Jacoby’s bird table has lots of songbirds – but it also attracts rats and squirrels, and he wants them gone. He tries out various methods until he find the one that works: the .22 rimfire.
Lockdown lekking: black grouse in the road
Grouseshooter James Mawle is one of the most passionate grouse conservationists in the UK. He takes Ben O’Rourke for a walk around his ground in Yorkshire to look for black grouse, which are lekking. Because of the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, there are hardly any cars and the birds are able to go back to […]
Hunting big Hungarian red stags
UK deerstalker Paul Childerley heads to Hungary, where he is spoiled for choice. There are big bucks and huge red stags around every corner. The trick is choosing the right one. ▶ Paul uses a Sako rifle. For more about Sako, visit Sako.fi ▶ For Sako rifle accessories on Amazon, visit Amzn.to/2ltJeyd ▶ For Sako’s […]
Is Bradford Council killing more baby birds? – Fieldsports News, 29 April 2020
Here are the links: Moorland mowing caught on camera – Fcha.nl/horse-trainer-under-investigation-for-baildon-mowing Gamekeepers stop wildfires – Fcha.nl/british-wildfire-season-2020 Vigilante villagers – The Guardian BASC backs Scottish government lockdown U-turn – The Courier When can we fish and shoot again? #whenwefishagain – YouTube & Birmingham Mail GWCT slams government over carrion crows (please note – we accidentally used […]
Knocking down crows – Fieldsports Ireland episode 20
Jason is shooting crows over two farmyards. They have been eating and pooping over the cattle feed and need sorting out. He didn’t expect to put out another Fieldsports Ireland under lockdown – but it’s an episode he filmed in 2019 that he found under his hat.
How the gun trade is helping hospitals – Charlie’s Chatshow – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 33
Beretta and Browning are making respirators for hospital to help the coronavirus effort in Italy and Belgium. Meanwhile, Blaser in Germany is making masks. Daniele Piva, Adrien Koutny and Frederic Hanner talk to Charlie about their companies’ efforts. Thanks to: Daniele Piva, www.beretta.com Adrien Koutny www.browning.eu Frederic Hanner www.blaser.de Here’s what Coronavirus means for […]
Shoots confident about 2020 season – Fieldsports News, 22 April 2020
Here are the links: Most pheasant shoots to go ahead – Fcha.nl/most-shooters-will-happen UK heads for record wildfire season – Fcha.nl/british-wildfire-season-2020 Rural groups blast RSPB over shooting consultation – BASC Bird charity in row over ‘selfish’ falcon breeders – YouTube + Natural England blog RSPB rents out nature reserve to power station – Fcha.nl/rspb-slammed-over-plan-to-put-power-station-on-nature-reserve-in-northeast-england Packham proposes […]
Deer gralloch – how to manage mistakes
Deer expert Niall Rowantree shows how to solve deer gralloch problems. His DSC2 student, Dr Cathy Mayne, has just shot a fallow doe and they are gralloching it in the field. ▶ This is part of our Alien & Natives series, visit Fcha.nl/aliens-and-natives ▶ This item is sponsored by Blaser rifles Blaser.de ▶ To go […]
Trout – catch and cook
Game chef Cai Ap Bryn is hauling in brown trout and cooking them on an open fire. He is on a hunting trip with his mate Trigger Sondheim in Norway, and the lake below the cabin is full of fish. He shows how to rustle up a feast with trout, lemon, butter and basil. To […]
Fieldsports Britain – how to manage a fallow deer herd
Deer expert Niall Rowantree is known for his red deer, his sika and even his roe. Less well-known is the herd of 100 fallow deer on the ground he manages at Ardnamurchan in the Scottish Highlands. He and ecologist Dr Cathy Mayne go out to stalk two fallow does, as part of his management plan. […]
Magpie shooting in Wales under threat – Fieldsports News, 15 April 2020
Here are the links: Wild Justice aims at Welsh general licences – Crowd Justice Shooters back NHS charity raffles: John Rothery, Jack Pyke, The Shooting Diary Qualify as a GWCT ‘shoot operator’ for free – GWCT Poaching incidents in Gloucestershire – Twitter Sell guns on the roadside, says USA – Time New hunting land for […]
How to age and measure Chinese water deer
Deer manager Paul Childerley shoots a lot of Chinese water deer on his ground in Bedfordshire every year, plus he has stalking clients he takes shooting, too. He is an expert on what makes a good CWD trophy – and he explains it all here. Paul is sponsored by: ▶ Sako Sako.fi ▶ Zeiss Zeiss.com […]
Code of Bad Shooting Practice
There’s a pheasant shooting film out on YouTube that has angered the rest of the UK shooting community. A couple of weeks ago [25 March 2020], a man from Huddersfield in West Yorkshire put up a film that he made about rough-shooting. He and his friends obviously had a lovely day out – but his […]
On Test: steel shotgun cartridges on rabbits
Steel has well-documented benefits and drawbacks for shooting pheasants and pigeons – but how about rabbits. Simon Whitehead tries out steel shotshells on ground game at his home in North Yorkshire to see how they perform, plus he cuts open the rabbits to look at the terminal ballistics of both steel and lead shot. Cartridges […]
Fieldsports Britain – Steel-proof Rabbits
In the big country of North Yorkshire, top rabbit man Simon Whitehead has a rabbit problem. His problem is: what’s the best steel shot to shoot them? All his life, he has used lead shot, but now he wants to look at alternatives. He puts steel cartridges up against lead cartridges to find out. Staying […]
Germany exempts shooters from lockdown
The German federal government is allowing shooters to break the coronavirus lockdown and carry out wildlife control. According to German interior minister Horst Seehofer, ‘the Federal Government regards exemption of hunters from a general curfew as justified’. A letter to the German Federal Hunting Association, the Deutsche Jagdverband, from civil servant Stephan Mayer sets out […]
Fieldsports Britain – Crow does Argentina
Pigeon expert Andy Crow tries out dove shooting in Argentina. It’s massive. Millions – maybe hundreds of millions of birds throng Cordoba, feasting on crops of maize, sorghum and peanuts. Andy is in a prime position to shoot as many as he can. But how does this measure up to the humble English woodie? Crow […]
Doves vs Woodpigeons – Andy Crow’s in Argentina
Which is best? A big day decoying and shooting British woodpigeons or a monster day roost-shooting Argentinean doves? Andy Crow travels to Cordoba and back to Kent to to find out. Thanks to Jack Pyke for making this happen JackPyke.co.uk To go shooting with with Frontera wing shooting, visit FronteraWingshooting.com
South Somerset Ferreters’ 2019 season
Dramatic footage of ferreting – and fun approach to the sport marks the South Somerset Ferreters’ YouTube channel. You should subscribe on YouTube. In this film, our YouTube member and shareholder Jaf Jefferson reviews the 2019 season, lets us use some of that footage and talks about problems facing the UK’s rabbit population, including myxomatosis […]
Hedgerow food you can pick: pilewort and pennywort
Going for your daily walk? Bushcraft expert Jonny Crockett has a couple of plants you can pick and eat: lesser celandine or pilewort and centella or pennywort. Follow Jonny’s instructions: eat pennywort raw and pilewort cooked Jonny’s website is SurvivalSchool.co.uk
HS2 rolls on – Fieldsports News, 8 April 2020
Packham’s bid to save woodland derailed – Daily Mail and Fcha.nl/hs2 Gamekeepers left out of coronavirus relief – Fieldsports News Rewilders’ tree plans will release greenhouse gases – BBC Top airgun maker launches NHS fundraiser – Just Giving Cops called in after sheep slaughtered – Facebook Farmers can close footpaths – NFUOnline Vegans bully […]
The British Countryside #athome – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 32
What’s going on in the British countryside during the coronavirus? Charlie finds out. Thanks to: Garry Doolan at BASC BASC.org.uk Gamekeepers Welfare Trust video on Facebook Tim Pilbeam, Rucksack & Rifle Simon Whitehead PakefieldFerrets.co.uk Frederic Hanner at Blaser Blaser.de Jon Bailey at Bailey’s Shooting & Countrywear BaileysShooting.co.uk Rob Fickling, Beyond The Divide BeyondTheDivide.com.au Here’s […]
Fieldsports Britain – Magic of Roe Deer
The roebuck is one of the most attractive deer we look after in the British countryside. As the roebuck season gets underway in the UK – with few of us allowed to go stalking – Niall Rowantree tells the story of the roe deer, its natural history and even its mythology. While most of us […]
Aliens & Natives, with Niall Rowantree
Deer expert Niall Rowantree discusses Scotland’s four deer species, two aliens and two natives, their natural history and how to manage them. Niall starts with the roe deer. What makes the animal so loved by deerstalkers and even wildlife-watchers? He looks at roe deer management and hunting, natural history and even some of the stories […]
How to assess deer fertility
Deer manager Niall Rowantree is in the larder playing wildlife detective. He’s in the middle of assessing the health of the roe doe he’s just shot. She’s thin, has a low fat score, and he hasn’t seen her with young for 2 years. So was her condition too poor to carry young? By looking at […]
How to deep clean your rifle scope
Paul Childerley shows how to wash your scope and keep it in tiptop condition. Paul Childerley is sponsored by Zeiss www.zeiss.com To go hunting with Paul, email paul@childerleysporting.co.uk
How to make a hunting knife
Master knifemaker Alan Johnson talks through the process, including choosing steel, cutting a shape, grinding an edge, making and fitting a handle, and the leatherwork to make a good sheath. He runs Danum Blades in South Yorkshire, the home of British steelmaking, comparable with Solingen in Germany for its knife making heritage. For Danum […]
Hunt sabs ignore coronavirus lockdown – Fieldsports News, 1 April 2020
Here are the links: Hunt sabs warned against breaking lockdown rules – press release Aussie guns and ammo sales ban Cops hunt for destructive moorland bikers – Facebook British Game Alliance in the soup Birds of prey ‘poisoned’ in Derbyshire – newspaper Prince’s red squirrel sanctuary plan hits snag – Daily Mail GWCT slams BBC […]
Speedy fallow stalk and suspended gralloch – Fieldsports Ireland, episode 19
Sometimes, things just go right. Jason is suited and booted, ready for an epic stalk. Just 10 minutes from the car, a shot presents itself, so he takes it. He then chooses to do a suspended gralloch – as he rarely does them – and he needs the practice. He talks us through what he […]
Coronavirus chatshow – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 31
It’s shooting sports in the time of coronavirus. What’s going to happen to the 2020 gameshooting season? Chris Horne from GunsOnPegs and gamekeeper / sporting agent Paul Childerley explain what’s happening to shoots. Niall Rowantree from West Highland Hunting talks about how the Highlands of Scotland are coping. What is the world of shooting […]
Scottish government refuses to help ‘shooting’ businesses
The Scottish government is using the current C19 crisis to force rural businesses from farms and estates to gamedealers out of business. Using coronavirus payouts as cover, the Scottish government under Nicola Sturgeon is trying drive rural businesses involved in shooting into bankruptcy. BASC calls the Scottish government’s decision to exclude deer forests, game larders […]
BBC partridge numbers cock-up
The BBC figures on the numbers of grey partridges are wildly inaccurate. That’s the response from the GWCT to a programme on BBC Radio 4, which claimed “today there are only about 100 grey partridges left in the UK”. The programme Short Cuts on 24 March 2020 tried to monster game shooting by putting the […]
Countryside calendar changes
Coronavirus has changed the shape of spring and summer events. Game fairs are moving dates. The Royal Windsor Horse Show is to ‘go virtual’. Here’s what’s happening: 17 July – 14 August Virtual Hound Show VirtualHoundShow.com Cancelled: 22-23 August Galloway Country Fair is cancelled Cancelled: 28-29 August Northern Shooting Show, North Yorkshire is now not […]
C19 hits shooting sports – Fieldsports News, 25 March 2020
Here are the links: Coronavirus hits shooting – read our story Packham’s pandemic prediction backfires – Facebook Shooterking offers 500 protective suits for free – Shooterking Love Island hunter back in the news – YouTube Gamekeepers put out Peak District heather fire – Facebook Sussex estate reintroduces beavers after centuries of extinction – Sussex […]
Fieldsports Britain – How to survive at home
We’re all in the cooler now. And bushcraft experts Jonny Crockett, Cai Ap Bryn and Sergio Couto show us how to make the best of it. Cai is making a venison bone broth, Jonny picks hedgerow plants to add to it, and Sergio has helped set up a new UK-wide service delivering game meat to […]
Bone broth recipe
Ingredients 1.5kg venison bones 2 large onions 1 whole garlic bulb 4 celery stalks 3 carrots 2-inch piece of ginger 2-inch piece of turmeric 3 litres of water 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
Shooters hand out free meat to NHS workers
Need meat? Shooters can provide. With butchers and supermarkets across the country seeing panic buying, deerstalkers and pigeonshooters are offering free meat to the needy. Using Facebook to bring together both the customers and the providers, Game Relief already has 500 members – and it is growing fast. One of the admins, Sergio Couto, a […]
