I'm in the Mail!

...spouting about the etiquette and safety rules of shooting, as they relate to Princes William & Harry, pictured shooting with friends at Sandringham. They cut the article short in the printed paper, but the full piece is on the website here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1094515/Kate-aims-high-joins-bearded-Wills-Harry-mystery-blonde-royal-shoot.html

I had a call from a Mail journalist yesterday afternoon, asking for a comment on the photos, which they couldn't let me see but would only describe over the phone. Difficult to have an opinion then!

Still, I did my best, and they quoted me reasonably accurately (would I really have talked about "walking from one shoot to the next"?!) And they kept in my comment about the excellent safety record of shooting.

Shame they didn't ask me what I thought of photographers sneaking round in the bushes with ultra-long lenses, grabbing shots of the royals minding their own business!

And honestly, "deployed her pheasant-blasting skills"??!! Who writes this rubbish? Clearly someone who wouldn't know a Purdey from a Kalashnikov.

Incidentally, what do you think of the photo of William, apparently firing rather low over the others' heads? It looks like a most unsafe shot, doesn't it. But then look at the others' eyelines - they are all looking to their front, apparently at his target. I reckon the very long lens has foreshortened the perspective, and he's actually firing at a target 20 or 30 yards in front of them.

Stolen dogs and Land Rover

Keep an eye out for this Land Rover, and the 5 dogs stolen with it from Kent dog trainer Chris Burns in Leigh, near Tonbridge (report here »).


The dogs are:

1. Black cocker spaniel bitch 6 months old with white front
2. Black cocker spaniel bitch 9 months old
3. Liver and white springer spaniel bitch 8 months old
4. Black and white springer spaniel dog 8 months old
5. Black and white springer spaniel dog 2.5 years old

If you have any information you can call police on 01732 379217 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

Police need a sense of proportion

There's a worrying trend in the UK for police to mount anti-terrorist style dawn raids on fairly flimsy grounds. And shooters are more likely than most to fall victim to this heavy-handed approach.

I was horrified to hear from a shooter last week, who had been accused of threatening behaviour towards ramblers on the farm where he has permission to shoot. He maintains it's a case of mistaken identity, and all he's ever done is ask the odd dog walker to get back on the footpath.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't; I wasn't there. But the idea of being 'innocent until proved guilty' goes out the window where guns are concerned. The police barged into his house, and removed all his guns and ammo. Weeks later he has not been found guilty of anything, but he still doesn't have his guns back. He fears they're standing in a cold, damp police cell, slowly rusting away and will be worthless by the time he gets them back.

There have been worse cases, of gamekeepers' doors being kicked in at 6am, people being questioned for hours, fingerprinted and DNA sampled, their computer and mobile phone confiscated, etc, all on an unproven allegation. It took gun dealer Mick Shepherd 9 months to clear his name; will his business ever recover? No doubt the police will cite Health & Safety (their own), danger to the public, the possibility of an accused person disposing of evidence. And no doubt they are careful to stick rigidly within the law (albeit one that was passed to combat international terrorists).

The excuse that gets trotted out on these occasions is that police 'can't afford to take risks where guns are concerned'. Well sorry, but yes they can. That's what they're paid for. Life is one big risk, and we expect police to manage risks in a sensible, proportionate way. Otherwise they'd be calling in helicopter missile strikes on fleeing carjackers. Or suspected fleeing carjackers... once you start thinking in those terms, there's no end to it. 

It's all very worrying for those of us who keep guns, and do our level best to stick within the law, but know that a malicious complaint from an anti could lead to a terrifying ordeal and our lives being turned upside down. 

MPs discovered that they aren't immune from this kind of treatment, when police raided Damian Green's home and 2 offices recently. And they don't like it. Good. Maybe it will lead our politicians to reconsider the powers they keep handing to the police, and the ways in which the police use those powers.

My local force has adopted a slogan: 'With you, making Surrey safer'. If you're quick, you can sometimes see it on the side of a police car as it tears through the village at twice the speed limit. I want to believe it's true. But I'd also like to think that if some malicious ratbag phones them up and says I've been mouthing off, they'll pop round for a polite chat, rather than hitting my house Princes Gate style and frightening the life out of my wife and kids, 'just to be one the safe side'. 

New member of staff

Every shooting magazine office should have a gundog around the place. And now we do. Meet Rio, a 4-year-old cocker who's been in the Sporting Shooter office today. He belongs to Rebecca, our new assistant editor, and spent most of the day curled up under her desk, only becoming a bit restless when the people in the office below cooked up some popcorn in the microwave and the smell of food became too tempting!

Rifle shooting at West London

Yesterday (Weds) the Sporting Shooter team, and friends, went to West London Shooting School at Northolt, for a day of instruction with Ian Spicer of Red Deer Outdoors. I've been to WLSS many times to shoot clays, and never even realised they had a rifle range – but they do, and a good one at that, with a covered firing position and a 100m range. 

Ian is a great tutor – knowledgeable, patient and calm, but strict when necessary. He helped me with some ideas on how I can combat my big problem when rifle shooting - the flinch that comes from years of shotgun shooting. There's much more work to be done, but he was a big help.

We fired a .22, .243, moderated 6.5x55 and an unmoderated .270. More on our trip later, either here or in the mag or both, plus I'm fairly sure you'll be reading about it on the Suburban Bushwacker's blog too! (He's recently been saying some nice things about my rabbit hunting DVD – thanks mate!).

Badgers and piglets

Had a call from a farmer at the weekend - he's losing piglets to... foxes? Or what? We walked around the field (in rain and a freezing wind!) looking for clues. There was little sign of foxes, but I did find some unmistakeable badger tracks. Looks like they're pushing under his 8-strand electric fence. I reckon they're mostly after the pig feed, but perhaps the odd one gets a taste for fresh piglet. Have any readers come across a similar problem? Any suggestions how he could (legally) deal with the pesky badgers?

Zeroing the .17HMR

I spent some time at the weekend checking the zero of my .17HMR. It's a heavy-barrelled CZ, and a superbly accurate rifle, although the trigger lets it down somewhat. I managed to get a fairly tight group and move it onto the spot at 100 yards (it started off about an inch low and 1/2 inch to the right).


My dad was always labelling things with his Dymo labeller, and I seem to have caught the bug - although I use a more modern version that prints black letters onto strips of sticky plastic. I've printed out the trajectory of the bullet and stuck it onto the stock, for easy reference in the field. I'm sure there's a better way, but it's always right there when I need it!