Phew, what a scorcher!

I'm just back from the 2013 CLA Game Fair, which was an absolute scorcher. I had no way of checking, but it certainly felt like the daytime temperatures were well into the 30s, and it didn't seem much cooler in the tent at night.

I was kept pretty busy filming for Schools Challenge TV - you'll see the first programme on Tuesday (David Wright is busy editing the footage as I write), but I did manage to catch up with a few old friends, despite missing a good many more.

With only a video camera to hand most of the time, and precious little mobile phone coverage for the three days, I took very few still photos to capture the atmosphere of the event, but this one appealed so much I whipped out my phone and snapped it while glugging cold water as fast as I could.

It's Charlie Jacoby's cocker, Muffin, proudly wearing her press pass as we sat around the Fieldsports Channel encampment behind the Press Centre.

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Gundogs in slow motion

I've been playing about with the Casio EX FH20 today, filming the dogs at 210fps - this is the result. More practice needed, but the results are promising, and it's fascinating to see how they move.

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Gratuitous cute puppy picture

This is Jess, my parents' new English springer spaniel pup. They drove to Staffordshire last weekend to pick her up - she seems to be settling in well and like all puppies is totally adorable. For puppy picture addicts, there are more like this on my flickr page.

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Rope lead - fail!

This is what happens when you leave a young lab tied up with a rope slip lead!

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Bracken's first pheasant

 

We took Bracken, the 15 month old lab, to her first proper driven pheasant shoot today - and she behaved impeccably! She sat patiently but attentively at the peg (on her rather girly pink and white rope lead) and didn't pull or whine.

When we got the chance, we sent her for her first pheasant retrieve - this nice cock, which fell in plain view an easy distance away. And she went straight out and brought it back!

OK it wasn't the most demanding task, but that wasn't the point. We wanted her first introduction to driven game to be a calm and positive affair. There will be plenty of time for more adventurous work later.

As it happens, this was also my first pheasant this season too. I know readers like to think I'm constantly swanning around getting shooting invitations left right and centre. The truth is, it doesn't happen like that, and I rarely have the time to spare anyway. Still, it was great to get out and enjoy a modest driven day, courtesy of my mum who gave up her gun for the day. Thanks mum!

For the record, the total bag was 56 pheasants, a pigeon and a rabbit, between 8 guns. I shot just over my share, at 8 pheasants and the pigeon. The weather was dull and chilly, while the company was quite the opposite. It's a small, friendly shoot near Horsham in Sussex - just the sort of shoot I like best.

Splashing about in the lake

Had a lovely family picnic today to celebrate my birthday. No good for fishing - after all this hot weather the fish are struggling, and in no mood to take a fly.

But we did have some fun doing a spot of training with the duck dummy I bought at the Game Fair recently.

Skye showed how it was done, and Bracken picked up the idea very quickly, bringing the plastic mallard back in fine style.

And then we ate loads of cake. Can't think of a nicer way to spend a birthday!

1066, arrows, gunpowder & scurry

It's not often you get the chance to link those four things in a headline, but today I drove to Battle in Sussex for a gundog scurry at the lovely Powdermills Hotel, practically on the site of the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. The hotel was originally a gunpowder factory (they made cannons and cannonballs just up the road) - but it came too late to help Harold fend of the invading Normans.

Anyway, turns out the hotel management are keen country sports folk, and eager to encourage visiting parties of guns, stalkers etc - in fact they can even arrange stalking, pigeon shooting, etc locally, and there are plenty of local attractions for those who don't fancy a day in a pigeon hide (there's no accounting for taste).

And the arrows? No that wasn't a reference to Harold and the apocryphal arrow-in-the-eye.

Adrian Caddy was running a field archery course open to all comers - with a walk in the woods to shoot at some life-sized targets representing white-tail deer (not often you'll shoot one of those in Sussex), wild boar, and even a pheasant (is that sporting? With a bow, probably).

Sporting Shooter's vet Vicky Payne (above) was on the organising committee, who had done a fine job. That's her dog (Rebus, or Quincy? I can never get it right. Sorry Vicky!). Helpers had come from near and far - the first person I bumped into when I arrived was Stuart Ogden from NOBS - he seems to get everywhere.

Bracken did her best to look appealing (hasn't she grown!) and Skye did a respectable job of a water retrieve of a rubber duck dummy; in the heat, I was tempted to jump in too! And then they both sank gallons of water ready for the journey home. All in all a great day - thanks to the hotel, Vicky and all the organisers. More photos on Flickr if you're interested.

I'm on the telly - well almost!

The next best thing - I'm on this week's programme on fieldsportschannel.tv. Actually that's better than the 'real' telly, which never seems to have anything useful to say about shooting. That's me following gundog trainer Chris Burns around on beaters' day at Penshurst. He talks to me about what makes a good beating dog, a great picking-up dog, whether or not a working dog can also be a family pet, and much more.

 

David - pictured with Chris above - did a brilliant job of filming and editing the programme, which really captured the spirit of a fantastic day's shooting. Great stuff!

Black dogs, white snow

Not the easiest subject to photograph, especially when the dogs won't sit still! Eventually, by bribing her with treats, we managed to get Bracken to sit still long enough for this one:

She is still excited every time she sees the snow, and rushes around snuffling it - throwing it in the air with her nose and trying to catch the pieces as they fall.

Bracken is growing at a phenomenal rate, and had reached 8 1/2 kilos at the last weigh-in. All this cold weather doesn't make house training any easier, of course, but we'll get there in the end!

Cute puppy photos

 

 

I've been making the most of the sunshine, and a couple of spare hours, to shoot some of the obligatory cute puppy photos. Bracken is 12 weeks now, and if I don't get on with it she'll be a big hulking brute and I'll have missed the chance! More photos in my collection on Flickr here...

Stolen cocker spaniel

Tug of war

This is not the recommended way of training a young gundog, but it's good to see the two of them playing together!

Phew, that was a big meal!

Not long now!

That's enough about tiresome antis - on to happier subjects: this young lady will be joining the Marchington family in a week or so (we'll have to get her out of the trouser-chewing habit pdq!). She was bred by Shaun, a Sporting Shooter reader and keen beater/shooter who lives in Reading. By concidence, I had bumped into him in the early days of the magazine when I photographed a shoot run by the father of Sheena, who was our sub-editor at the time. Small world!

Andy Richardson had been pushing us to get a pup earlier this year, but at that time the head ruled the heart and we stayed firm. After several weeks of campaigning by the kids, we caved in - with the result that we went round to Shaun's to view his litter of black labs.

No-one could resist this lot, and in a flash we'd fallen for this one, provisionally named 'Bracken' although Andy will pull my leg mercilessly about that, and we will probably change our minds several times before it's settled. They're almost weaned, and depending how that goes the current plan is that we'll pick her up in about a week's time. Expect this blog to be over-run with cute puppy pictures for some time to come.

Incidentally, last time we spoke to Shaun he had 3 male pups unsold - if you're interested drop me a line and I'll pass your details on.

Dogfood price rise

The Terrierman has highlighted the astonishing rate of price increases for dogfood in recent years. Read his post here »

Missing dog - Saffron Walden area

If you're in the Saffron Walden area, please keep an eye out for Jacob, a Bracco Italiano that went missing at the end of January - last seen near Audley End House on the afternoon of 26 Jan. More info here...

Emotive twaddle on electric collars

The latest whiny press release from the Kennel Club has got my back up. It's full of emotive claptrap and half-truths - the sort of rubbish we expect from Animal Aid and their fluffy-minded chums.

Where do I start? The first sentence is more weaselly than the average politician:

Dog behaviourists and trainers denounce them; scientific research shows that they can cause severe interference and pain; and new research shows that dogs trained using confrontational methods will continue to be aggressive – so why are electric training devices still legal?

Er, SOME behaviourists and trainers denounce them. Some swear by them. Scientific research shows they CAN cause blah blah IF misused. The new research is irrelevant; properly used these aids are NOT confrontational. And why are they still legal? Because they are an invaluable training aid in specific circumstances, and have quite literally saved many dogs' lives (including two very happy spaniels of my acquaintance, who are certainly not traumatised by fear and pain, as these mithering nitwits would have you believe). And is there any evidence of their misuse? I've not seen it. So are we dealing with a real problem here, or just a hypothetical one?

To the average joe public, the idea of giving a dog an electric shock just SOUNDS so horrid. For the KC, it's the path of least resistance. But that's the same thinking that goes 'it's cruel to shoot ickle foxes - it must be banned'.

Just for fun, see how many propaganda techniques you can spot being used in that press release.

If we're going to ban things because they can be misused in dog training, where shall we start? Sticks, leads, rolled-up newspaper... you name it, some moron can misuse it to hurt a dog. The answer is not to ban them all - the moron will still hurt his dog, and ordinary, responsible dog owners will have valuable aids denied to them.

If the Kennel Club is going to claim to speak for dog owners, it should make sure it represents their views fairly, rather than presenting a one-sided case.

Lost & found

I came across this notice in the woods today. A heartwarming tale summed up on a simple sheet of paper.

Edward 'cleared of animal cruelty'

Well fancy that, the RSPCA has dropped its investigation into Prince Edward's alleged 'cruelty'. Still, it got them plenty of publicity for a week or two, which can't have done their fundraising any harm. As a PR stunt, it must rival Chessington Zoo's farting gorillas.

Much as I admire some of the sterling work done by the RSPCA, you have to wonder about their aspirations to become the Animal Police. And they take a very sanctimonious tone for an organisation that allegedly kills 80,000+ healthy animals each year.

Another cheap shot from the antis

This photo appeared in the Daily Mail

Here's the latest example of animal extremists taking advantage of sloppy journalism, this time on Sky News (although the story was covered equally badly by the Mail and Express, among others):

Animal charities are accusing the Earl of Wessex of setting a "sickening example" by waving his stick at two dogs at a pheasant shoot.

Charities?? You must be kidding. Animal Aid and LACS don't qualify for charitable status, since they are extremist campaigning organisations, which may or may not be linked to the illegal activities of the so-called Animal Liberation Front. It would be interesting to know exactly what does happen to money donated by gullible members of the public to these scammers, but I don't suppose they'll be in a hurry to tell us.

Did you see the photos? It's a powerful image: Prince Edward apparently bringing his stick down on a pair of labs squabbling over a dead pheasant.

The papers went with the obvious knee-jerk response, helped along by the "shocked" quotes from Animal Aid and LACS spokesmen.

"People in blood sports tend to show a complete disregard for the welfare of animals," says Barry Hugill of the League Against Cruel Sports. What utter rot! Of course, he would like the public to believe that. But I'm quite sure that even he knows it's a lie.

And what about sticks and dogs? It's not a simple matter of black & white, right & wrong. When I'm walking my lab, I often carry a stick. It's useful to give her a gentle tap on the shoulder, to remind her to walk closely to heel when she's distracted by a scent. If my arm was longer I'd simply tap her with my hand.

On our walks, she seems unable to resist a steaming pile of fresh horse poo - she just has to rush in and start gulping it down in large mouthfuls, and isn't easily distracted by a stern "Leave it!" A smart tap with the stick helps to re-focus her attention on me, and re-establish who is in charge. If I don't have a stick with me, throwing my keys on the ground near her has a similar effect, although it's annoying when they land in the horse poo! It's certainly not cruel, and it helps to reinforce her training. (No doubt you could skulk in the bushes and snap a photo, and try selling it to the papers on the grounds it showed 'appalling cruelty' - but it wouldn't be worth much because I'm not even a tiny bit Royal).

At the other end of the scale, you hear cases of people thrashing a dog violently with a stick, causing it much pain and distress. I find it hard to imagine what goes through the mind of someone who would do that, but it seems to be a kind of 'punishment' for some misdemeanour - though I doubt the dog understands the connection. That's the kind of cruelty the public and shooters alike abhor. And it's what Animal Aid and LACS are disingenuously trying to associate with Prince Edward and, by implication, with shooters generally.

Shame on the lazy journalists of Sky News, the Mail, the Express and other papers who allowed the antis to pursue their extremist agenda through their pages.