Arrowing experience to fill lockdown hours
Shooting Times & Country|August 19, 2020
While some took up breadmaking and learning new languages during the COVID-19 lockdown, Soldier Palmer turned to archery
Soldier Palmer
Arrowing experience to fill lockdown hours

Lockdown is lifting at last and it’s fun to look back on the many projects I undertook while confined to barracks.

While people across the country used the spring and summer of forced confinement to learn new languages and catch up on their reading, I learned how to make my own traps.

Forget knitting or watercolor painting; I discovered that it takes a 2p coin to counterbalance the weight of a mouse and that a stoat can eat through a wooden plank if he is angry enough.

I must confess that most of my home-made trapping experiments wound up in failure, but there was plenty of fun to be had along the way. With the exception of a rat or two, everything was released without injury or insult, and I came away from my studies with a far more rounded view of the trapping process.

In defence of my poor success rate, if you make your own trap then fail to catch anything, it can be hard to diagnose the problem. Is your trap design to blame or are you simply not using it properly? It often takes a little practice to use shop-bought traps successfully and contraptions bought off the shelf can require a fair amount of fine-tuning.

I console myself with the optimistic thought that I actually made some great traps, but simply failed to set them correctly. Perhaps that’s flattering myself, but if nothing else, even my most miserable failures left me with a pile of kindling for the woodburning stove.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 19, 2020 من Shooting Times & Country.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 19, 2020 من Shooting Times & Country.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY مشاهدة الكل
United we stand
Shooting Times & Country

United we stand

Following United Utilities' decision to end grouse shooting on its land, Lindsay Waddell asks what will happen if we ignore our vital moors

time-read
5 mins  |
August 02, 2023
Serious matters
Shooting Times & Country

Serious matters

An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning

time-read
3 mins  |
August 02, 2023
They're not always as easy as they seem
Shooting Times & Country

They're not always as easy as they seem

While coneys of the furry variety don't pose a problem for Blue Zulu, he's left frustrated once again by bolting bunnies of the clay sort

time-read
5 mins  |
August 02, 2023
Debutant gundogs
Shooting Times & Country

Debutant gundogs

There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting

time-read
4 mins  |
August 02, 2023
When the going gets rough
Shooting Times & Country

When the going gets rough

Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique

time-read
5 mins  |
August 02, 2023
The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition
Shooting Times & Country

The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition

In this excerpt from the 60th anniversary edition of the BDS's Field Guide To British Deer, Charles Smith-Jones considers the noise they make

time-read
4 mins  |
August 02, 2023
A step too far?
Shooting Times & Country

A step too far?

Simon Garnham wonders whether a new dog, a new gun and two different fields in need of protection might have been asking too much for one afternoon's work

time-read
6 mins  |
August 02, 2023
Two bucks before breakfast
Shooting Times & Country

Two bucks before breakfast

A journey from old South London to rural Hertfordshire to stalk muntjac suggests that the two aren't as far detached as they might seem

time-read
6 mins  |
August 02, 2023
Stalking Diary
Shooting Times & Country

Stalking Diary

Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill

time-read
2 mins  |
August 02, 2023
Gamekeeper
Shooting Times & Country

Gamekeeper

Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside

time-read
3 mins  |
August 02, 2023