A MAGICAL MOMENT
Sporting Shooter|December 2019
With his mind firmly on careful habitat management and sensible shooting, Alex Hatton talks us through his quest for that ultimate hunter’s dream… a right and left woodcock
Alex Hatton
A MAGICAL MOMENT

With the shooting season underway, and the hunter’s moon bringing in the woodcock, I was reminded of a once seemingly impossible quest a number of years ago… every woodcock hunter’s dream: the right and left. It’s never a quest you purposefully go on, but it is one that undoubtedly is in the back of your mind from the moment you first hear of the elusive ‘woodcock club’.

A number of years ago, I was very lucky to be invited to shoot in what I call ‘woodcock country’. In the early years, it was my first real experience of shooting over HPRs, and the idea of there being a handful of Guns aiming for a bag in the single figures, if we were lucky, but quality wild birds, excited me.

Annually, my invite came until this day came, which was a little different, as the shoot owner was giving it up. The dog handler, Karen, and I were to take it on next season and run it in much the same way, which was an exciting prospect.

In the preceding years, I had quickly come to love shooting over HPRs, particularly Large Munsterlanders; it changed my shooting and there certainly was a calmness about it compared to spaniels on ground like this. I duly took on a Munster puppy and increasingly my success in the field increased. On this shoot, the annual invite through the post would be welcome and over a decade I have enjoyed some great sport here, with more than a couple of opportunities of a left and right, the most recent being two years before this day, with a pair of birds coming out from some gorse right in front of me and going in opposite directions to each other. You know it’s an opportunity for something special, but inevitably the first drops to the shot and the pressure becomes too much to hold it together for the second, and I missed.

Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Sporting Shooter.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra December 2019-utgaven av Sporting Shooter.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA SPORTING SHOOTERSe alt
RSPB gives mixed message on shooting
Sporting Shooter

RSPB gives mixed message on shooting

Having recently attended the RSPB’s virtual AGM, Conor O’Gorman discusses the outcome of the charity’s year-long review of game bird shooting

time-read
2 mins  |
December 2020
Causeway for concern
Sporting Shooter

Causeway for concern

Alan Jarrett’s renewed interest in reading takes him down memory lane to an offshore island duck flight that very nearly ended in disaster

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2020
Through a purple patch
Sporting Shooter

Through a purple patch

The Garrows Estate is taking a conservation-focused approach to restoring the wildlife populations and biodiversity on the Scottish heather moorland.

time-read
8 mins  |
December 2020
When the wheels fall off
Sporting Shooter

When the wheels fall off

Losing form on a day’s shooting can be infuriating, especially if you’ve been shooting like a god up to that point. Simon O’Leary looks at some common causes and how to remedy them

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2020
Beaches, books & bad behaviour!
Sporting Shooter

Beaches, books & bad behaviour!

The annual Kay family vacation to Northumberland offers a chance to give the cockers a blast on the beach – although they don’t always shower themselves in glory, as Ryan Kay recalls...

time-read
7 mins  |
December 2020
Using the Stop whistle
Sporting Shooter

Using the Stop whistle

Now you’ve instilled the basics, it’s time to up the ante with some more tricky distance work. Howard Kirby explains how to take the core Stop whistle command to the next level

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2020
The humble teal
Sporting Shooter

The humble teal

They may be tiny, but as far as Rupert Butler is concerned, the appeal of this little duck is huge. He recalls some of his most memorable nights in pursuit of these aerial acrobats

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2020
Fab all-rounder
Sporting Shooter

Fab all-rounder

Mike is impressed with the Fabarm Elos B2 Field Notte, which offers great value for money, is suited to fieldwork or clays and is future-proofed for use with steel in all choke constrictions

time-read
5 mins  |
December 2020
CALL OF THE WILD
Sporting Shooter

CALL OF THE WILD

Dom Holtam reconnects with one of the purest forms of shotgun shooting as he walks-up woodcock over pointing dogs in the Scottish Highlands

time-read
8 mins  |
December 2020
A yen for the Fens
Sporting Shooter

A yen for the Fens

Tony Jackson recounts a memorable duck flight over an area of Fenland in Norfolk with his friend and author, the late Alan Savory

time-read
4 mins  |
December 2020