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.
Denne historien er fra August 19, 2020-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
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Denne historien er fra August 19, 2020-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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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