Copper bottomed!
Enterprise and the will to solve a problem, as well as do some good, has proved just the job in a part of the West Country, writes Philip Reynolds
Sometimes a confluence of circumstances can bring about unexpected change. The Covid pandemic, a healthy deer population and the increasingly thorny issue of the use of lead ammunition conjoined to bring about a cultural shift in how game meat, in particular venison, was sourced in a small corner of Devon.
Andy Gray and his family have farmed at Copplestone, near Crediton, since 1991. His M. C. Kelly butchering business supplies meat to caterers and retailers in that part of the West Country. It was his friendship with Tim Woodward, the chief executive of the Country Food Trust, a food poverty charity, that proved the catalyst for change.
Confab
At the onset of the pandemic Andy Gray, Tim Woodward and Tim Maddams, the charity’s consultant chef, knocked their heads together to see what they could “‘do continue providing food for those in need”. The various pandemic restrictions meant that pheasant, the usual source of game meat for the trust’s meals, was in somewhat short supply due to the absence of shooting. Professional deer stalking continued and something needed to be done with the meat from the flourishing deer population. However, giving away meat with lead in it is legally problematic for the charity. There was a copper-bottomed solution.
The direction of travel away from the use of lead ammunition may be contentious in some quarters, but it is indisputable that the journey has started and some people and organisations are moving quicker than others. Following hot on the heels from the recent announcement by the National Game Dealers Association that it would only source non-lead game from July next year, the British Deer Society has warned that some of the Approved Game Handling Establishments have announced that they will no longer buy venison shot with ammunition containing lead with effect from August 2021.
Andy Gray was, however, ahead of the game, and the move to copper ammunition has not only helped the Country Food Trust to continue to provide a vital service to those in need, but has meant that the community of stalkers and suppliers in the South West has been kept busy. In fact, in these rather strange pandemic times, it was a case of ‘business as normal’.
Andy: “We have 380 game suppliers on our books (100 current and active) and a wide selection of supply ... [As a result of the tie-up with the CF] we can continue to give business to our suppliers.”
He says that 2,300 deer have gone through M. C. Kelly’s premises since the beginning of last August, the same number as the previous year. “In terms of servicing the stalking community in the South West this is good news.”
Transition
Things moved on apace in January when he announced that his business would not accept anything with lead in. He says that most of his suppliers have made the transition to copper and that there have been few problems.
As for the different properties of a purely copper bullet (copper is lighter and harder), Andy says that he “got no variation in point of impact of my (Blaser) rifle”.
As for changing his stalking habits, he says that “I tend to stalk closer; shoot everything from within 100 yards.”
However, Simon Jackson, a longstanding gamekeeper from Launceston, Cornwall, and contact of Andy Gray, said the use of copper “meant quite a big change” and a “big shift in what you may or may not be able to do”.
He controls deer on a number of permissions in Devon and says that he has used purely copper this past season and that it has performed well. He says that for copper to be effective it has to be driven faster and predicts that 25.06 and 270 calibres will perform well.
He says that there will, inevitably, be a little “trial and error” but “what we are looking for is a one shot, clean, ethical kill”. He says that the advantage to the change over to copper is that perhaps there will be “more attention” to placement of the bullet by stalkers. But he acknowledges that the move to copper ammunition is a “deep subject but [there are] no easy answers”.
He applauds the role Andy Gray has played in driving the use of copper, which has in turn kept the business of supply going.
He also says that unlike lead, copper leaves no fragments and there is far less damage to the meat, something Andy Gray confirms. “We are getting 30% less damage on kills.” More meat; less wastage.
Bold
Andreas Welz, of Sandyford Deer Larder at the other end of the country in Northumberland, is a disciple of copper ammunition. Andreas, a shipping solicitor by trade who moved to the North East from South Africa with his family, says: “I have used copper bullets for years.”
He is passionate about hunting, in particular stalking deer, the motivation for him founding his business, which has been
“For copper to be effective it has to be driven faster”
two years in the planning. Andreas is equally impassioned that the ammunition used must be copper, or at least non-lead. In fact, his business will only accept lead-free venison.
Given that Sandyford Deer Larder has only been up and running as a functioning business this year you could say, as Jon Snowdon, Sporting Gun’s stalking writer and fellow inhabitant of Northumberland, does that this is a bold move. But Andreas is convinced, transition period or not, that lead has had its day and copper is the way to go.
He says that with a proliferating deer population in the UK and the need to cull it, there is a fantastic organic protein source in the UK that would be “absolutely beyond insane” to let go to waste. And, he adds, “I don’t feed lead shot venison to my children”.
Andreas says stalkers he has spoken to say the ammunition works very well and causes far less bruising to the animal. His bullet of choice is a Barnes TTSX.
Inevitable
Jon Snowdon is somewhat agnostic, though that’s mainly because he has not used copper much. However, he points out that copper is far more expensive and observes that in order to achieve its aim of a clean kill the copper bullet will need to be faster than its lead counterpart.
He points out the Forestry Commission stopped using lead ammunition to cull deer (and wild boar) in 2016 and the Woodland Trust insists on nonlead ammunition. “Whatever we think it ’s here to stay; we have to get on and move with it.”
Some 400 miles south back down in Devon, that is exactly what Andy Gray has done. He has kept things moving for stalkers and his suppliers in the West Country during the most testing of times.
More importantly, however, he has helped the estimable Country Food Trust to continue to deliver fabulous meals to people most in need of them.
Andy Gray is proud of his “little revolution born in Devon” and how the shooting community has risen to the challenge of helping those in less fortunate circumstances. Copper has certainly helped to put a shine on some people’s lives and as Andy says: “For not a lot of effort, we are making a lot of difference.”