CATEGORIES

Forrad on to a brighter season

While languishing in lockdown, consider how you can lend support – and make a bucket-list for brighter days

Britain enjoying the crane attraction

After centuries of absence, these spectacular birds have firmly returned to England, a remarkable conservation success

Art in the field

Michael Demain tells Janet Menzies how delivering a piano struck a chord, inspiring him to put down his hod and pick up a paint brush

Adapt training to suit the circumstances

Shoot days and field trials have been deleted from the calendar but that’s no reason to allow your gundog training to lose focus

A KEY PERK OF THE JOB

Is tied accommodation a brilliant fringe benefit in uncertain times, or a relic of days gone by?

The Anser to their prayers

Fowlers are giving Orkney farmers beset by greylags a fighting chance, says J R Patterson

More than meets the eye

Vision plays a huge role in how well we shoot and eye dominance issues can be resolved — if we know who to ask, says Simon Reinhold

Opportunity knocks for a new shoot

It’s important to do your homework before taking on any new ground, says Liam Bell

Gunroom

A 250-year-old cartridge fashioned from the pages of a famous novel tells its own remarkable story of the American Revolutionary War

Keeper of the month

Beating the drum for the benefits of game management is hugely rewarding, Miles Bentley tells Will Pocklington

Going beyond the wall

At season’s end wildfowl are at their most plentiful below the high tide mark, but this doesn’t mean the shooting is easy, says Richard Negus

Gamekeeper

Walking the estate as part of a pair of Guns is a rare opportunity to view both the sport and the landscape from a different perspective

Country Diary

This is a time for increasing optimism — spring is almost with us, the dairy venture is off to a flying start and even predators have their uses

A fitting end and a hard-won bag

It’s been a season like no other and, with the end drawing near, Jamie Tusting decides it’s a good time for a woodcock walkabout

Then and now

Peter Theobald reflects on how little has changed since shooting pigeon became regarded as a legitimate form of control

Island life

New Zealand ecologist Biz Bell is the scourge of rodents in remote places. She talks techniques with Ed Cook

The draw of the catapult

Tom Sykes has rekindled a childhood passion and been out hunting with his ‘new’ favourite weapon. Here he explains how satisfying the sport can be

Action required

Malcolm Plant takes you through the steps required to analyse how to shoot successfully

Sick as a parrot

Lord Botham is prepared to ruffle the RSPB’s feathers over its approach to the countryside. Good, says Robin Scott, who has his own beef with the charity about the culling of parakeets

A countryman and a scholar

Sporting Gun recently caught up with retired professor and former Army captain Simon Denny to talk about his life and career

A winter's tale

The cold snap can bring its benefits as well as its challenges, says Jon Snowdon

You and the law

Geoff Garrod marks the card of shooters as a new general licence regime beds in

Adventures Of Nick & Ted

Nick Ridley enjoys a final walked-up hurrah with Ted before the season is brought abruptly to a halt. Now for Percy’s training …

The Over And Undergraduates

The Cambridge University Clay Pigeon Shooting Club has flourished as students find a day in the countryside a welcome release from the pressures of academia, says club secretary Maximilian Yale

The Suite Way To Protect Game

Mapping out a fully integrated approach will pay dividends for a shoot, says Mike Swan

Trigger's blind faith

The story of a black-and-white beating spaniel shows how a keen sense of smell can compensate for a lack of sight, says David Tomlinson

Upland keeper

Fieldsports organisations are frequently engaged in ‘fighting fires’ in various issues as they crop up, but we need to take a longer-term view

Sharpshooter

The rise of plant-based ‘meat’ is yet another sign that game shooting needs to defend its position and ensure the antis don’t gain a foothold

Laying a foundation for sporting success

Combining the best drives of two Essex syndicates is a real game changer that results in some very fine birds, says Simon Garnham

Skill, patience and resolve

Flighting pinkfeet in the sub-zero dawn offers plenty of chances, but marauding barnacle geese provide an unwelcome distraction on the freezing creeks