Shooting Gazette

If you’re reading this on 1 June, there are just over 70 days to go until the start of the driven game shooting season. Pre-season preparation will be on most Shots’ minds, whether that’s through lessons, the odd charity clay day or even simulated sh

The decision by Natural England to revoke three general licences for controlling wild birds – including pigeons and crows – was met with a mixture of shock, anger, disbelief and bewilderment by the shooting community. The change was as a result of a

Assistant gamekeeper/ head beater/ right-hand man of the Folksworth Manor Farm Shoot, Huntingdonshire. Throughout the UK travels of Spider’s Appeal we have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting dedicated countryfolk who, as caring guardians, wor

eople who shoot in Wiltshire are often faced with choices of where to stay on the night preceding and often the Beckford Arms at Fonthill Gifford gets the nod, but few of them will know of the remarkable story of the family who made the Fonthill Esta

I’ve always been slightly in awe of headkeepers and syndicate captains who can not only market their shooting, juggle diaries and produce the sporting goods, but also simultaneously bring together a team of relative strangers and make the whole thing

Footwork was going to be a huge part of my second lesson. I’ve often been a little nervous about adjusting my stance when shooting, preferring not to take the shot rather than risking being unsafe. I’m also guilty of taking things instructors have sa

Set within the rolling Wadlow Farm Estate and run by husband and wife Richard and Jackie Clarke, Six Mile Bottom is one of the most famous simulated shoots around. Expect to see around 3,500 clays across five drives during your day – each one release

Stands to reason if you keep dogs you are, at some point, going to find yourself at the vet. In fact, it is our duty to take the dogs to the vet once a year to have their annual boosters for whatever it is that they protect them from. Parvovirus and

Born in 1979 in Wiltshire, Tim Maddams was drawn to cooking from an early age. After leaving catering college in 1997, he worked as a chalet boy in Courchevel before his career took off. He has worked for Fergus Henderson at St John; Alastair Little

As always, it is good to start with a definition. Broadly speaking, insurance is an arrangement by which someone undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for a specified loss in return for the payment of a specified premium. More prosaically

Delving through volumes of books that have been given and bought over the years seems an endless operation. Volumes on contract law, statistics and A-level biology were easy to throw out and should have been scrapped years ago. The problem is, with s

In 1883 Holland & Holland introduced the best gun in their range: The Royal. Two lesser quality guns were also on offer, the No.2 Model that became known as the Badminton in the 1930s and the No.3 Model that changed its name to the Dominion in the sa

In his book The Gun And Its Development published in the ninth edition of 1910, W.W. Greener devoted a chapter on pigeon guns saying that: 'This is the most powerful variety of 12 bore gun'. It had to be built to meet the rules of the chief clubs in

The new Holts venue for its London auctions is most agreeable. The Army Reserve Centre in Kensington is smaller than the previous premises but it is cosy and easy to get to. There were a number of distinctive lots in the March sale exemplified by Lot

The chalkstreams of southern England ring once more to the sounds of the ecstatic muttering of experts and barely audible profanities of duffers alike at the start of another fly-fishing season. It is a timely reminder of the pleasing symmetry in the

An exceptional agricultural and sporting estate in the undulating Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this delightful estate near Cheltenham would make a superb sporting home for any buyer. Covering 1,122 acres of mixed farmland and attract

This is a £45,000 Ford. I’ll say that a different way. It’s a Ford. And, when you’ve ticked a couple of options boxes, it’s £45,000. It’s not a Ford competition car, some of which, like the GT40 or RS200, are worth squillions. It’s a mainstream Ford.

Q Last season I was pegged next to a Gun who, when holding his gun up, was shooting with a dead straight leading arm rather than having a slight bend at the elbow. Why do some Guns do this and how does it affect their shooting? A The position of the

Club: Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla Association Event: Grouse Pointing Test Venue: Grinton Moor Judges: Roy Cullen and Geoff Saint REPORT BY: SHARON NEWMAN We held our test by kind permission of keeper Des Coates. The test was for any HPR breed and

As one season closes and I put my cleaned and well-oiled gun away, I am always determined that I shall spend plenty of time practising with clays, perhaps even have a lesson or two before the next season. I shall start in August as I finish in Januar

We are so bored. We’ve got the tennis ball blues. It is worse than week four of those 12-week summer holidays of my childhood. We want to work. Our three acres are positively bursting with distressingly rampant springtime bustle. Two muntjac regularl