Keeping It Simple

You can’t beat a good old-fashioned lamping session — but using new technology will boost your success rate, suggests Simon Whitehead

- Simon Whitehead

The nights are drawing in and the temperature is definitely autumnal. The lush and vibrant green shades of summer have morphed into the reds and yellows of October.

The ground is being tilled and the sight of the newly released pheasants brings the realization that summer is over. The ditches and margins that were sky high with vegetation have been cleared, fields harvested and now the rabbits are visible once again when out frolicking and feeding.

The sporting and farming calendar has turned a new leaf, and on this page, I always make a note that I like to keep an eye on the local rabbit numbers. I try to gauge the contracts that I fulfill and plan and prioritize my time to ensure the maximum effectiveness of my visits.

This summer has seen a bumper crop of little ones emerge, grow and prosper under the cover of wheat, barley, and oilseed rape. I am keen not to let those summer rabbits grow into bothersome winter ones.

One farm used to have an atrocious rabbit problem. Far from straightforward, this sensitive landscape holds a lot of valuable livestock. I must be very careful in my approach and actions when around them under the cloak of darkness.

Confucius once said: “Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.” The same can be said of lamping or — as it has been rebranded, shooting at night.

To do a professional job, I mix cutting-edge technology with fieldcraft. We must never lose sight of our heritage and the importance of old-school techniques. No matter what or how we hunt, fieldcraft is still king. Sometimes simple is the best.

Employing the latest technology is fantastic, but its availability and use by the masses is partly to blame for the dearth of rabbits across vast tracts of our country. It has had a catastrophic effect on our rabbit population nationwide.