Going gets tough

As I write, there are two hen pheasants in the slow cooker. I plucked them yesterday and shot them the day before at a new syndicate in Sussex. The shoot is only a year old and they are still working things out — nobody would pretend that every drive went as planned but what really struck me was the happy sense of community.

There were people who didn’t know each other before the shoot came into being who stood chatting and laughing, like great friends of old. The new shoot has truly brought people back together in a post-covid world. It was a very happy reminder that in rural communities shooting is hugely important.

Some weeks ago, a woman wrote to tell me how much this magazine means to her father. He is a very old man now and can no longer attend the local shoot, where he spent many happy years. I was tremendously moved to hear that he still feels as though he participates in some way through reading Shooting Times. The world is tough at the moment — life is more expensive than most of us can remember it being and our local shoots matter more than ever too. Patrick Galbraith, Editor

Follow Patrick on Twitter @paddycgalbraith