Best shooting jackets 2020
In March 2020, more than 500 of you filled out our shooting and hunting clothing survey, telling us which jackets and trousers you wear and why you like them. The big prizes are your favourite jackets and trousers. And here are the winners. Top manufacturer for jackets is Deerhunter but its Montana, Muflon and Ram […]
Bream wars in the Norfolk Broads
Ben O’Rourke “The whole project about Hoveton Great Broad is about restoring clear water, using things like biomanipulation,” says Duncan Holmes, who has lived on the Norfolk Broads all his life. “There’s some debate about whether this is actually a clear water habitat in the first instance. Where the issue comes from is taking […]
What are bonded bullets?
Deer manager Paul Childerley describes what a bonded bullet is good for: “More weight behind it, more stopping power.” Sako’s Aki Suvilahti perfers a more technical definition. “Bonding means that as there is lead core in the bullet, it is chemically fixed to this copper jacket,” he says, referring to his company’s Super Hammerhead […]
Newspapers give shooting a kicking – Fieldsports News, 16 September 2020
Here are the links: Media targets grouse shooters – Mirror Packham promotes fieldsports magazine – Facebook ‘Experts’ call on Westminster to protect nature Saboteur accused of lying about attack – Leicester Mercury Cumbria cops criticised over time-wasting tweet – Facebook Highland keepers join national call for muirburn promotion – Strathspey Herald Dogs nabbed across […]
Exmoor pigeons
UK gun licence medical-check scandal
Ben O’Rourke Five years ago, Tim Newcombe was working for three farmers and a school, clearing their land of pests. Now he has no licence to shoot. Things turned sour when Tim was paid a visit by the local firearms officer. “She was in a bad mood,” he says. “She tried to rip the [gun] […]
Deer photographer at work
Cameraman Carlos Carubia is out in the New Forest after deer. He enlists the help of local deer hunter Elliot Pidgley who calls in the animals and, together, they capture images of roe, fallow and muntjac deer. Find New Forest Stalking on Facebook Carlos’s camera kit Canon 7D MkII, costs around £800 on Amazon […]
High flying crow shoot on Exmoor
It’s Exmoor high-bird shooting but without the expense. Matt Turley and Nigel White are decoying corvids and pigeons on the edge off one of the country’s most famous shoots – and their birds are just as high as the birds that people travel from all over the world to shoot. Plus they cover the […]
New anglers flock to UK fishing festivals
Fishing events in the UK report great turnouts as the sport welcomes 100,000 new anglers (government figures). Organisers of two fishing events in September say they were packed out with both new and experienced anglers. Thames Tidefest hosted 40 top anglers competing in the annual Tidefest Championship in London. Now in its seventh year, supported […]
Fieldsports Britain – long, tall pest control
Enjoy spectacular crow and pigeon shooting on Exmoor on the same ground that the world’s greatest guns come to shoot pheasants. Matt Turley and Nigel White are out decoying on Exmoor. You can win a day’s pheasant and partridge shooting in Bedfordshire in company with Andy Crow thanks to Jack Pyke’s new competition. News editor […]
Best semi-autos 2020
Which semi-autos do the Fieldsports Channel audience prefer? We sent out surveys in March 2020 and more than 3,500 of you filled out the questionnaires (it’s as if you had nothing better to do). Of those nearly 500 semi-auto owners responded. The most popular semi-auto among our viewers is, from Turkey, the Hatsan Escort, […]
Sab says hunt uses horses ‘as weapons’ – Fieldsports News, 9 September 2020
Here are the links: Sab says hunt horse put him in hospital – Facebook Anti-badger cull group’s website shut down BBC bias backlash sparks social media warning – Daily Mail Endangered birds thrive on Scotland’s grouse moors – Press & Journal Hen harriers have ‘fantastic year’, with record-breaking fledglings – Fieldsports News Fieldsports exempt from […]
Charlie’s dad – FieldsportsChannel Podcast, episode 38
Charlie Jacoby talks to his father, Martin Jacoby about Martin’s life as a natural historian, his views on how natural history and species work, the history of humankind, and why shooting butterflies is a good idea. He puts forward his ideas about DNA, why we hunt, and why hunting is an essential part of humanity. […]
Hen harriers having ‘fantastic year’, with record-breaking fledglings
In the north of England, 60 hen harrier chicks fledged this year – the most since 2002. Natural England say the chicks came from 19 nests in Northumberland, the Yorkshire Dales, Cumbria and Lancashire, in early summer 2020. The government agency puts the success down to good weather and cooperation from Moorland Association, RSPB, Forestry […]
Rimfire rifles and ammunition: the Ultimate Guide
From Fieldsports Channel’s Fieldtester Scroll down to watch our video reviews of top rimfire rifles The humble rimfire has long been a favourite of farmers, gamekeepers and pest controllers. It’s cheap to shoot, accurate and deadly on pests like rabbits and squirrels. Rimfires are versatile too. Shoot subsonic hollowpoint .22 ammo through a moderator, and […]
How the RSPB persecutes gamekeepers
Ben O’Rourke A few years ago, two gamekeepers, a policeman and a man from a wildlife charity went to a vet’s surgery for a bird’s post mortem. The carcase was ‘found’ on a grousemoor, said the charity representative. He accused gamekeepers of killing it. For a bird, it smelled fishy, says one of the […]
Shooting rats on the ratberg
Rat after rat appears for Roy Lupton to shoot. He calls his trash heap ‘the ratberg’ and it produces the rats tonight. He is having a post-lockdown crackdown on the pesky rodents, shooting them with new night vision from Pulsar. Click here for more from Roy Click here for the Pulsar Digex N450
Fieldsports Britain – Roy’s ratberg, dead ahead
It’s a rat hunting challenge. Roy attempts to take down the ratberg that is his rat-infested lockdown dump/bonfire/trash-heap. Usually he uses thermal on his airgun but this week he has new night vision from Pulsar to try out. Meanwhile, Charlie is in the Lake District with a kayak and a tenkara rod so that […]
Antis terrorise badger cull couple – Fieldsports News, 2 September 2020
Here are the links: Sabs step up harassment of couple linked to badger culls – Fieldsports News Green politician eagle publicity picture row – Fieldsports News White-tailed eagle injured by wind turbine – Bird Guides Last call for Virtual Hound Show auctions – website Irish country show goes online – TheVirtualGameFair.com Show your backing […]
‘Flyakara’ – kayak tenkara on an English tarn
Charlie Jacoby If kayak flyfishers are calling their sport flyaking – which is a hideous word IMHO that will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes – I can call tenkara flyfishing from a kayak ‘flyakara’. What’s tenkara? It’s a bit of a craze, but it suits the catching of the small […]
The evolution of the St James’s Place Foxhunters Chase
The connection between National Hunt racing, which originated as steeplechasing, and foxhunting stemmed from the early 16th century when changes in the agricultural landscape meant landowners and farmers enclosed more and more land, creating obstacles for the hunters. Hunters tested their skills over the fences to see who had the fastest horse. Because there was […]
Switzerland tightens hunting tourism for ibex
The only canton where foreigners can stalk ibex has bowed to pressure from animal rights activists. The Valais, a canton in South-West Switzerland, is to make it harder for foreigners to hunt ibex from 2021. Every hunter who wants to hunt for ibex, whether foreigner or Swiss, must pass the cantonal hunting examination. In addition, […]
Sabs step up harassment of couple linked to badger culls
The pavement outside the home of a couple linked to the government’s badger culls has been vandalised by animal rights extremists. South Coast Hunt Sabs posted photos of garish pink graffiti outside the house in Guilford, which is also the office of the husband-and-wife-run company that makes tracking devices used by badger cullers. Animal rights […]
Bird ringing: bad for birds?
Bird ringer Wilf Norman and ornithologist John Cavana present their cases for differing conservation techniques. Does ringing have a future or is it time for tech to take over? Ben O’Rourke investigates. “Every bird looked brown and blobby,” says John Cavana of his early ornithology experiences growing up in Middlesbrough, the heart of […]
Pigeonshooting: how BASC shouts about our sport
Curtis Mossop’s job is to get people into shooting. We join him pigeon shooting in Cheshire as BASC’s head of pathways to shooting explains how he does it, and his passion for the sport. Watch the full film with Curtis on YouTube Visit the BASC films channel on YouTube For BASC, go to BASC.org.uk
Stalking elusive bucks
Tim Pilbeam has a fallow problem – a new piece of ground where he and friends have to cull more than 100 animals. Tonight’s the night to get off to a great start – or is it? Click here for more from Tim
Fieldsports Britain – Tim’s fallow fist
Tim is on ground where 100 fallow need to be shot. He goes all Grand Old Duke of York in his efforts to get on to them, marching David up and down the hill in East Sussex, and debating whether or not to use the high seat. In Lancashire, Curtis Mossop, who works for […]
Best 4×4 vehicles 2020
We tackle vehicles in this survey: the big vehicles you go shooting in, and the little UTVs and quad bikes you use to get around your ground. We carried out this survey in March 2020 when everyone was trapped in lockdown, and 3,500 of you responded. Nearly 400 of you answered the 4×4 survey. More […]
New Scottish deer season – Fieldsports News, 26 August 2020
Here are the links: Hind season to open on 1 September for some RSPB says raptor persecution not as big a problem as it makes out – BASC Government pheasant report gives gamekeepers thumbs up – Fieldsports News Anti-badger cull campaign hits new low Cocker spaniel theft. If you have seen these dogs, contact Simon […]
Daily Telegraph puts negative spin on positive pheasant report
Gameshooting is good for the environment, but could do better. That’s the conclusion of a review by the English government. The newly-launched review Ecological Consequences of Gamebird Releasing and Management on Lowland Shoots in England concludes that banning shooting would result in a ‘decrease in beneficial effects’. In a swipe at the big, commercial shoots, […]
Badger cull data leak: what’s next and what victims should do
The anti-badger cull brigade are not happy. After the English government apparently promised to reduce the number of culls, it’s instead added 11 more. So it’s possible the huge leak of data at the weekend identifying hundreds of people involved in badger culls may be traced to a sympathiser within DEFRA, the English […]
Go spearfishing in the UK
Ollie Williams goes spearfishing in Cornwall with harpoon master Mat Coombe. Mat calls it ‘underwater deerstalking’ (and he loves his deerstalking, too). They are after bass and mullet. Plus Mat explains how they dodge the UK water companies’ sewage pollution. For Mat’s favourite spearfishing shop, go to Spearfishing.co.uk For more from Cai, visit GameandFlames.com Click […]
Sabs hit shoots – Fieldsports News, 19 August 2020
Here are the links Sabs target Glorious Twelfth – Fieldsports News Animal rights extremists try to sway Scottish government – SGA press release and Scottish government press release SGA dismisses antis’ trap report as ‘propaganda’ – Scottish parliament PDF British Deer Society venison webinar – YouTube Game fair to open up ‘for the whole […]
Best hearing protection for shooters 2020
www.dailymotion.com/video/x7vo4kz What do you wear on or in your ears when you go shooting? Listen up: out of the 3,500 of you who responded to our lockdown kit survey in the spring, 435 completed the survey on hearing protection. It’s something we have been pushing on Fieldsports Channel, especially with Roy Lupton going so deaf. […]
Fieldsports Britain – The Undersea World of Cai Ap Bryn
We’re hunting under the warm waters of the English south coast. Game chef Cai Ap Bryn loads up his speargun to search the sea for bass, pollock, wrasse and lobster, and then to cook up a super seafood barbecue for some of the top names in spearfishing. It’s a growing sport – and the […]
Spearfishing kit – everything you need to get started
Taking up spearfishing? Here’s some of the kit you need, recomended by Laith Dajani, who manages Spearfishing.co.uk You can get yourself fully kitted out for as little as £425. That buys you: Wetsuit Laith recomends a Jak Boeno jacket and trousers as the best budget option for wetsuits. There are many other good brands […]
Sabs target Glorious Twelfth shoot
The Hunt Saboteurs Association claims it successfully disrupted a shoot on the first day of this year’s grouse season creating what it calls a ‘not so Glorious Twelfth’. “Over 100 sabs descended on the Northern Peak District,” it claims. But it admits that after a few hours, the sabs couldn’t find any shoots to shut […]
‘You’re next’: extremist sabs issue threats to badger cullers, offer cash for info
“Let’s see how they like being hunted,” said Stop The Cull on its Facebook page, the day after a post was removed for revealing personal information about people supposedly involved in badger culls. Exactly how the people will be ‘hunted’ it does not explain, but the post echoes fanatical rhetoric that triggers alarm bells at […]
How to sponsor a hound
Hunts all over the country offer hound sponsorship – and it’s probably cheaper than you think. Typically, they send you photos in a frame of the hounds you choose, a certificate and an enamel badge. Sponsoring a hound costs as little as £10 for the season and makes a great present. The money makes a […]
Copper bullet power and performance
In the first test of its kind, firearms experts Andrew Venables from WMSFirearmsTraining.com and Tim Pilbeam try out nine brands of copper bullets at 100 metres/yards and 250 metres/yards. With more UK venison processors demanding deer are shot with non-toxic bullets, they look at what you can buy in gunshops. Shooting them through a […]
Fieldsports Channel sponsors Google (the hound, not the company)
Fieldsports Channel is sponsoring two hounds for the 2020/2021 season. Following the success of its YouTube channel (260,000 subscribers and risinging), Fieldsports Channel has sponsored a fine dog hound called Google at the Quorn. And, continuing the theme, it also sponsored a bitch called Sequel. Founded in 1696 by Thomas Boothby of Tooley […]
Mythbusting copper bullets – Fieldtester episode 1
It’s the first episode of our new monthly Fieldtester kit series, which comes with a whole Fieldtester section of the website devoted to shooting/hunting kit reviews. Visit Fcha.nl/fieldtester In this film, Andrew Venables from WMS Firearms Training and Tim Pilbeam conduct the most comprehensive test of copper bullets they can, with as many rounds […]
Best clay gun for under £500
Thinking of getting started in clayshooting? Or simply want a cheap, knockabout shotgun? Paul Hodson from Staffordshire gunshop Shooting Sports UK gives his opinion on the best shotgun for under £500. For more from Shooting Sports UK, visit ShootingSportsUK.co.uk
Hammergun House of Horror – why you need a gun cleaning kit!
What happens when a gun can’t take the cartridge you put into it? Marcus Simpson from Cambridgeshire gunshop Simpson Brothers shows off a hammergun that exploded, alongside other gun horror stories which include; a Browning with mud in its barrel, homeloading mistakes and scope mountings made from plywood. Looking after your guns is very […]
10-step boot-fitting guide
Professional deer manager Jason Doyle bashes his boots to bits. He explains how to make sure a boot fits you, before you commit to buying it.
‘Catastrophically stupid’: how a ban on grouse shooting could destroy the countryside
People in Britain’s uplands are nervous. On the Glorious 12th, the date that launches weeks of the grouse shooting they enjoy, the annual glory is giving way to fears that the sport’s days may be numbered. The people are nervous because they are the ones most at risk from restrictions on grouseshooting. That’s the conclusion […]
Fieldsports Britain – The Glorious Twelfth 2020
We have grouse, fox shooting and the most popular night vision kit in this week’s #FieldsportsBritain. Packham doesn’t give a stuff about moorland communities. We do – and we are finding out how important the Glorious Twelfth is to the people in them. Look out for wonderful Daisy. In the South of England, Roy […]
Best Night Vision & Thermal 2020
www.dailymotion.com/video/x7vj9m6 First it was foxshooters who discovered how useful night vision is. Then badger cull contractors were trained in its use – and night vision went insitutional. Now deerstalkers use thermal for spotting animals. So, which thermal and night vision do you all use? For popularity among Fieldsports Channel viewers, two companies take the laurels. […]
Roy’s foxes from a hot tin roof
When foxes killed the second of his muntjac fawns, Roy Lupton got mad. Tonight he is out to shoot the marauders from the roof of a nearby building. And it’s a successful night. For more about the Helion 2 thermal spotter, go to ThomasJacks.co.uk/pulsar/product.asp?ref=4147
Grouse’s heather beetle peril – Fieldsports News, 12 August 2020
Here are the links: Will heather bug ‘devastate’ grouse shooting? – Yorkshire Post Hen Harrier Day an attack on gamekeeping Socially-distanced grouse shoots – York Press Gamekeeper tip leads to raid on egg thief’s home – Facebook Virtual Hound Show gets underway VirtualHoundShow.com Chichester fly fishing festival confirmed – Orvis Media tells lies about […]
