Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Country Diary
A family-friendly walkabout packed with happy faces and great food proves just the tonic after a very disappointing start to the season
Back in the summer, our game farmer broke the news that, unfortunately, he wasn’t going to be able to supply us with any birds this year. The message came as a bitter disappointment. While our little farm shoot was on a tiny scale, it was still a critical part of my winter calendar and, having lost shooting days to Covid in the seasons previously, this was a difficult pill to swallow.
The doom and gloom seemed to continue across the shooting world as bird flu gripped and global uncertainty forced spikes in bird and feed prices. It began to feel rather terminal for the shoot we had spent so many hours curating and building. I wondered how many other farm shoots across the country were in a similar position to me, out-bid and out-gunned by the big commercial shoots paying over the odds for birds.
Making the most of it
After a bit of reflection, I stopped sulking and decided to try to make the most of a bad job. A date in early November went into the diary and some low-key invitations went out. I very much sold the outing as a walkabout with a pocket-full of cartridges, and if we even saw a pheasant it would be a great triumph. Remarkably, the responses came back with enthusiasm, and a day’s shooting took shape.
At the end of September, I spent some time putting a handful of pheasant feeders out and about, using up the last of the wheat we had from the previous season. I felt it only fair that we try to look after the birds left on the farm as winter takes hold. This was coupled with a mild hope that it might help us to see a few more in November.
We were fewer Guns than usual, with just five of us and our respective partners. Two spaniels and a wirehaired vizsla made up the dog pack, and there were at least three toddlers in tow as well. We set the day up very much as a walked-up day, working in one flat line through blocks of woodland and thick hedgerows.
Clouds of songbirds
In May, the game covers had been drilled in anticipation of the shoot season ahead. The heads of quinoa were now groaning with seed, and clouds of songbirds poured into the air as we walked through — a consolation for the expense of putting the covers in, and a stark reminder of how important shoots are to wildlife conservation efforts.
By lunchtime, a handsome bag of three pheasants had been accumulated, along with a tiny indentation into the pigeon population causing havoc in the grain stores — although it could have been far more than that had there been some sharper shooting. We added another seven pheasant after lunch and reached the end of the day with all of us soaked by the rain and exhausted from the miles covered, but with wide smiles across every face.
It wasn’t so much about shooting birds as an excuse to get a bunch of friends together in the dark, dank days of autumn and winter. Add into the mix plenty of delicious food and home-brewed blackberry vodka, and you’ve got the makings of a great day out.
Shoots uniquely bring rural communities together in a way that few other activities can, and we must all remind ourselves of that as small shoots struggle in the wake of the troubles of the past couple of years. Without them, winters in the countryside will be a much poorer affair, and the short days of December and January might just feel a little bit darker.
Jamie Tusting is a keen Shot, fisherman and stalker, who runs a small driven shoot on his farm in Bedfordshire.
Iread an article about lead shot recently. As was to be expected, it was backed up by quotes, statements and statistics. Except this time, it was very much in favour of maintaining the status quo, and vehemently against a move of any kind towards the use of non-lead ammunition. It queried the scientific papers and data quoted by those who favour an outright ban, and talked about the shooting and countryside organisations that signed up to the voluntary phasing out of lead shot in February 2020 in less than glowing terms.
The pro-lead shot, anti-non-lead ammunition arguments were pretty standard, and I’ve heard them all before: “My grandfather ate game shot with lead his whole life and lived to be 100”, “If we move across to non-lead ammunition we won’t be able to shoot our English sidelocks”, “Steel shot doesn’t kill as well”, and the very predictable “I won’t be able to shoot 60-yard pheasants”.
I rather hope to live to be 100 as well, I have eaten game and rabbits shot with lead for most of my life, and as far as I am aware have suffered no ill effects. But it doesn’t mean I want or need to keep doing so when there are equally good non-lead alternatives. Wildfowlers led the way over 20 years ago. Stalkers are following suit, and game shots are tagging along behind and playing catch-up.
Some will always oppose change, and that is their right. Others will undoubtedly stockpile lead ammunition because they are unwilling to try anything new, and because they like to feel they have cocked a snook at the establishment. However, most of us are happy to try new things and have no concerns about the change to non-lead ammunition when it comes. In fact, a lot of seasoned Guns have changed to steel shot already, and have no intention of going back to lead. They simply don’t see the need.
The point that I feel is being lost on those who oppose the voluntary transition to non-lead ammunition, and all and any form of legislation against the use of lead shot, is that the change is already happening and that much of it is consumer-led.
A European consultation on the use of lead shot and ammunition has recently closed. The UK is still very much a part of and signed up to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and will be bound by its findings and any subsequent legislation. While the consultation has been going on, many of the bigger buyers of both large and small game have been asking for birds and deer shot with non-lead ammunition. Some of them refuse to buy or stock game that has been shot with lead.
The customer is always right
Understandably, restaurateurs and hoteliers have cottoned on to this and are starting to ask for non-lead shot game. Butchers and caterers will undoubtedly follow, as will the people who are buying their game direct from their local shoots. And why not? They are our customers, and if steel-shot birds are out there and they would prefer them to birds that have been shot with lead, who are we to argue?
“We need to be able to sell our game. If there is no market, there is no shooting”
We need to be able to sell our game. If there is no market for shot birds, there is no game shooting. If birds shot with steel or bismuth are preferred, and the market for lead-shot birds continues to get smaller, no amount of politicking, lobbying, or arguing will make the slightest bit of difference to how long we can continue shooting with lead shot. If people no longer want to buy lead-shot game, we will have to change anyway — regardless of whether we agree with the reasons behind it or not.