Tuesday 26 November 2013

Someone's after my ducks!


Of course I could be wrong, but this looks suspiciously like Charlie has been scratching at the duck pen trying to find a way in.



It's getting cold at night and those ducks must look awfully tempting. We lost the last lot of ducks to a fox on a particularly cold night - Charlie had ignored them up til then.



I've set up one of the excellent Minox DTC600 trail cameras to watch the pen so I can find out more. For the technically minded, that's a pigeon hide pole, with a Manfrotto 143BKT bracket which just happens to fit perfectly - it's a super easy way to place a trail camera anywhere you can drive in the spike, and adjust the height and angle by loosening a single screw.

Video: fox shooting with Robert Bucknell

I've been out several times with the legendary foxshooter Robert Bucknell in an effort to film him shooting a fox for The Shooting Show - but somehow we've never quite pulled it off. Either there were no foxes, or when he did shoot one it was round the other side of the vehicle or behind a bush or whatever, and I didn't manage to catch it on camera.

Well we finally got one - just! This was hardly the close-up view of the quarry that I hoped to get, but at least it's in the frame at the moment Nigel pulled the trigger.

I'll be back out with Robert before long, and with luck I'll get a clearer view of the fox next time. This week's piece starts at 11:08 in the video below.



Monday 18 November 2013

Black powder, pointers and pheasants in Norfolk

What a brilliant day this was! I had a great time filming this happy band of muzzleloading enthusiasts on their annual walked-up game day. It was like stepping back in time, walking through the woods and beet fields with a bunch of chaps dressed in period gear and festooned with powder flasks, shot belts and what-have-you. Impressive clouds of smoke too! It made a terrific feature for The Shooting Show - enjoy!



Schools Challenge TV goes to Bisley

Here's the latest episode of Schools Challenge TV, which I filmed on a flying visit to Bisley.