It’s been a funny old summer in so many ways. Many things have come together on my little Dorset rough shoot in a way that I had long hoped for, but not really expected.
With harvest all but over, I have been cruising the stubbles and, lo and behold, we have some wild game. Indeed, I think we can look back on our best wild-bird breeding season in quite a few years.
I had a suspicion that we would record a better than average year for pheasants quite a while ago, when we started seeing decent broods on the tracks and in other little open areas back in June. These were mostly about three weeks old, indicating a late-May hatch from first clutches laid in April.
A horrid, wet winter had turned rapidly into a fine, warm spring and lockdown had given me a bit of extra time to set about my spring predation control programme.
Since then, the weather has been a bit more variable, but overall the warm and dry conditions prevailed, with just enough rain to keep things growing. If it gets too hot and dry, the vital chick-food insects can be scarce and hungry chicks never do well. So right on cue, we started to see a brood or two of partridges as well. I don’t quite know if we will have a shootable surplus yet, but I have a hunch that we might be able to allow ourselves to harvest a brace or two.
Reversal of fortune
When I first took on the shoot jointly with my great friend Charles Nodder in the spring of 1997, I rashly suggested that we could turn around the fortunes of the small grey partridge population in this little corner of north-east Dorset. We never really did, but our success was in not losing them completely when all around the numbers have been falling.
Denne historien er fra September 02, 2020-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
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Denne historien er fra September 02, 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
