Four sharp ‘pinks’ from a blackbird and she froze, ears strained, tongue flashing across her nose. Then she was off. A minute later an unfamiliar man lumbered into view, trampling clumsily through the thick bankside grass. The nearest footpath was a few hundred yards away.
It was one of the more eventful — and frustrating — clips I’d viewed on my phone at the breakfast table, morning coffee in hand. While eating my first round of toast, I’d enjoyed watching a green woodpecker pecking about in the bare earth at the base of an old hawthorn. Badgers, hares, grey squirrels, a fox, a roebuck and several muntjac had also made an appearance — all in that same spot at some point during the week. Perhaps they were nearby when the lost rambler spooked the split-eared roe doe from her patch by the brook.
The previous day, a friend had downloaded the latest footage from several trail cams we’ve been using for a while now on a local estate. They’ve added a new dimension to our reconnaissance. I say ‘our’ because there are three of us who manage the deer there, and we share anything interesting from the cameras on a WhatsApp group.
There’s little doubt these tools have become a real asset in recent years — to gamekeepers, stalkers, ecologists, you name it — but they’re far from a modern concept; records of unattended ‘camera traps’ go back more than a century. Many credit the American George Shiras as the first to use them. He employed tripwires, sometimes baited, to trigger cameras with flash units at night. They were cumbersome but they worked. In 1906 a selection of Shiras’s wild game stills were published in National Geographic.
Esta historia es de la edición July 21, 2021 de Shooting Times & Country.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July 21, 2021 de Shooting Times & Country.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
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
Serious matters
An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning
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
Debutant gundogs
There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting
When the going gets rough
Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique
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
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
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
Stalking Diary
Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill
Gamekeeper
Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside