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Welcome to Fieldsports Britain. Coming up I am going out with the head of the World
Pheasant Association shooting, well pheasants. We have got the count down to our two new
shows, Air Heads and Fishing Britain. We have got our regulars, News Stump and Hunting Youtube.
First, an item we've been saving for a rainy day, and we've certainly had plenty of those...
it's pearls of pigeon wisdom from George.
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That was a nice one Mr Right, about 100 yards.
It's always an education shooting with George - and our summer invitation to join him on
the rape stubbles is no different... so pay attention 007.
That is how to shoot a pigeon one handed, whilst on the phone.
George is matter-of-fact when it comes to building the pattern. If he were a builder
he'd be the cowboy variety - he tends to chuck rather than lay the birds down.
As long as they are facing pretty much the right direction into the wind, it is the volume
of blue that they are seeing out there. That is pretty much the main part of it. Hopefully
that should encourage a few more to turn back into us here. I have just got a few more that
I will put out.
To be honest it doesn't really matter if the pigeons are checking out the pattern or not.
Many of them are just minding their own business when all of a sudden George's Perrazi is locked
on - and there's only going to be one outcome.
George has built this hide to allow him to take birds coming from every direction. Some
birds are fast and low, but most fall to George when they're seriously high. It's no wonder
his labs are slow returning with the birds these days - he's worn them out!
Sometimes they find it hard to pick up in rape stubble because as they put their mouth
down onto the pigeon a rape stalk goes straight up into their mouth. It is not the ideal stuff
for dogs to be running around on, but at least you can pick every pigeon up. Oh the old lady
has gone. She actually comes back quicker than them.
See these pigeons in front they are getting off the peas which are down on the marsh so
that is obviously what we are trying to protect by shooting them here. Obviously we are not
killing every pigeon going down to the peas, but a lot of these pigeons are coming back
and decoying in here which allows us to shoot everything, pick it up and do a form of pest
control.
Now George is well known for his one liners - here's a few from this outing.
Oh that is long one. Oh that hurt I shot that one right off my bicep. He didn't like that.
There is not a silly grin either, it is just normal.
Sometimes even George leaves a bird - but some of these are closer than birds he's already
shot at and killed, so what's he playing at?
When a bird comes across the field, especially in this sort of wind and he gets to about
70 yards and turns, you are only seeing a small part of the body which is what I call
vital as in a vital killing area. So in other words if you were out deer stalking you wouldn't
shoot a deer up the arse because that is not a vital area. You are looking for a heart
shot, or a head shot or a neck shot. And I look exactly the same way at a pigeon, for
a vital shot. If you are shooting a pigeon 70 yards up in the air coming down wind and
he is over the top of you, when he is over the top of you you can see every vital organ
that that pigeon's got. So you can break a wing, you can put pellets up through the body
and kill it, you can hit it in the neck, you can hit it in the head and you will kill that
bird. Whereas a 70 yard pigeon out in front of you turning quartering slightly away the
only thing you can do is break a wing or hit it up the arse and the chances of you wounding
a bird are far greater on a pigeon turning a
way from you at 70 yards out in front of the decoys than they ever are than a bird driven
straight over your head.
So, note to self do not shoot deer or pigeons up the jacksie!
George's hide is quite a creation, bolted onto the end of the greenery growing along
one of the marsh ditches - but it has a central core from where wings spread which are dual
purpose.
One it takes the outline of just the netting away just breaks it up makes it look more
like a bush and secondly as you can see there the dogs can get in underneath it. They will
sit normally until I tell them to go. Sometimes they are little bit disobedient. They can
sit in there under the shade. Their shadow and body figure is broken by the branches
so anything coming into the decoys won't see the dogs just outside the hide and they get
to watch everything that comes down. So if you shoot any long birds, you break a wing
or a pigeon glides away, they can actually, they are sitting outside the hide so they
can watch where that bird goes. Mark it and go and pick it straight away.
Now George, although not as old as his dear old spaniel, is not as young as he once was.
Face it, none of us are. So how are his bits and bobs standing up to the pressure of years
of world class competition? does he need an eye test for example?
It is just starting to go with very short close work, keep still. He didn't like that.
My eye sight was good enough to see that one.
As we said at the start it's always an education being in the same hide as Lord Digweed. It
is the best seat in the house.
Next up looking fighting flabby after the Christmas break, it's David with the Fieldsports
Channel News Stump.
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This is Fieldsports Channel News.
Wildfowling is just one of the shooting sports that has been hit by heavy rain and flooding
in the UK. High tides following the January new moon and westerly winds have affected
wildfowlers especially on the south and west coasts, with days cancelled - and even inland
driven game shooting days abandoned. But temperatures have not been harsh, so this really is good
weather for ducks.
Staying with wildfowling and Duck shooting has become a political football in Australia.
It's good news for duckhunters in the state of Victoria. The Ministry for Agriculture
and Food Security has announced that the state will have a full 12-week duck shooting season
in 2014, starting on 15th March.
A former pub landlord from Gloucestershire has won back his shotgun certificate after
an appeal. Dean James had his licence revoked after fights took place on his premises. The
49-year-old has held gun certificates for 23 years and is a member of a wildfowling
club.
Now do you want to get hold of some Nosler bullets?
Highland Outdoors is the new UK agent for Nosler ammunition, bullet heads and brass
cases. First established in 1948 by John Nosler, the company experimented with bullet designs
before settling on a unique dual-core design. Visit HighlandOutdoors.co.uk
And finally, can't get enough of me - enough of news - there's even more. There will be
two new news bulletins in our new shows Fishing Britain, out at 7pm on Fridays, and AirHeads,
out at 7pm two Thursdays a month. So lots more HotAir than normal.
You are now up to date with Fieldsports Channel News. Stalking the stories. Fishing for facts.
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Thank you David. Christmas tie by the look of it. Next up let's see what you lot of been
up to. It's Hallo Charlie.
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Here is what the world is up to this week.
Hallo Charlie this is Eddie. Matt Brunnen. We are from Lamping Foxes. We just want to
wish everybody from Lamping Foxes and Fieldsports Britain a Happy New Year. Happy New Year.
Hallo Charlie. Mark Strutton here out stalking muntjac on my own bit of ground and just to
prove I don't miss everything I shoot at, here is a nice little doe I just bagged.
Hallo Charlie. It is Soot here again. Just thought I would let you know we have been
ferreting with the puppies today out in Norfolk. Look at the rabbits.
Hallo Charlie. My name is Christian Collins. I am just up here doing a bit of rough shooting.
Not really having a good night. It is a bit windy, rainy all the best mate. Cheers.
Happy New Year.
Send us your own Hallo Charlie. Film yourself with your mobile phone, just a sentence saying
Hallo Charlie who you are and what you are up to. Then share it or email it via Youtube,
Facebook, Dropbox or Younameit, Yousendit at Charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv.
Next up a gorgeous pheasant shoot in Hampshire that practically won me in a charity raffle.
Now doesn't it trouble you the viewer that the head of the World Pheasant Association
is here picking up on a day shooting, well, pheasants? Well it shouldn't.
These birds advertise birds which have no conservation value except for the fact that
the estate owners produce wonderful hedges and woodland for them.
So you are going to be selectively rude about each gun in turn is that right?
If possible. One of the great things is that I gave up shooting two years ago and I can
be selectively rude to guns that could do better. I think that was ten nil to the pheasants.
First one down.
So why am I here? Apart from this being a charming family shoot which only a savage
anti or the purest possible one-for-the pot hunter would decry, and both of those live
in lonely, lonely places, I was bought in a kind of charity slave auction. Fieldsports
Channel offered a day's filming of a shoot in the South of England and the chance of
eternal stardom on Fieldsports Britain, and to his credit Keith picked me up on his own
account for a 'monkey' (£500). Talking of animals, one thing Keith is keen for me to
film is his dog.
That is my well behaved lady that you are filming here. My badly behaved lady I think
is on the right of the mine at the moment. That is my wife. That is the one I have put
up with for 51 years. Oh don't go in the wrong direction dog, that is better.
Come here, come here.
Well there is an interesting one. I hope this is all being recorded on film. That is two
cocker spaniels that have broken away who belong to the film maker and he has got a
little spot of bother. Now this dog is quite well behaved in this situation. Put her into
a wood and let her hunt and she doesn't pay quite as much attention.
The next drive is in the woods and the speed at which the birds come upon the guns is a
shock for all.
There is plenty of shooting here. The sensible pheasant chooses not to fly.
How sad.
The third drive is what this part of the world is most famous for: partridge off chalk downland.
It's time to catch up with the man who created it, David Brown. He is much kinder
about the guns than Keith.
Well they are all old friends who we have known for many years. They are all keen shooting
people and several of them fish as well and they all know a lot about the countryside.
Now it must be a theme of this shoot, or maybe all pheasant shoots, but if you really want
David to open up, ask him about his dog.
I bought this dog about seven years ago from Jane Loader, part trained and she has almost
certainly been the best dog I have ever had. I have always shot with two dogs until I was
ill and Jane kindly sold us Bustle here and she has been excellent.
David's sons have sorted out the shoot roles between them, but there is still much to contend
between David's grandsons. Ollie and Will are both shooting on the last two drives,
both with minders. Two years between them, there is more than a teeny bit of competition
going on.
They are very competitive at the best of times and shooting brings out the worst in them
for sure.
What is the score at the moment.
Today I believe Will has just shot four out of five and Ollie got one or two. Look at
that bird that is a monster.
Over in Ollie's camp, there is some last-minute instruction.
That is better. Do you feel more comfortable?
Yes.
Will that be enough. Back with Will and father James is getting over-excited.
Go on that was yours Will. Somebody get that.
And again.
Go on.
You can have a go at that.
Go on.
He has got my 20 Bore. Which he believes is his now. He has requisitioned it for the rest
of time as far as I can make out. Won't let his brother have a go. So we have got work
to do on his brother.
Well done that was a beauty.
Will is confident - but Ollie is sanguine about his shooting.
Yes it is good.
How do you think your brother got on?
Hopefully not as well.
Let's call that a sporting draw between the two boys. Last person to talk to is the keeper
Reg Farmer. He's been here for 20 years.
So Reg you must be reasonably pleased with that?
Yes. I am very pleased with it.
As that drive goes, have you seen any better than that.
No, no not better.
What is it like in there?
It is quite thick bushes. Quite thick, yes, yes.
Were you in there with the beaters?
Yes, I was in there with the beaters.
And what are they like staying in line?
Alright.
That's the trouble with some keepers - you can't stop them talking. Well, it's been a
wonderful day, a bag of around 170 and a chance to see Hampshire at its finest. Thanks to
Keith for asking me along. If you would like to know more about the work of the World Pheasant
Association, go to Pheasant.org.uk
From Hampshire to the wider world of hunting, shooting and fishing it is Hunting Youtube.
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This is Hunting YouTube, which aims to show the best hunting and shooting videos that
YouTube has to offer.
I always like to hear recommendations of YouTube films from viewers and Jhonny Pinto tells
me about this strangely age restricted video of the healthy sport of dart-hunting rhinos
in Africa.
Meanwhile, American viewer Bryant Franklin wants the world to know that you can shoot
a deer with an airgun. He doesn't advise it, however. And many will be shocked, upset and
reach for the angry letter-writing paper when they learn that it took three hours to find
the animal. In the dark, which, says Bryan, sucks.
If you would like someone to make the case for using a muzzeloader, have a look at 'Roe
deer hunting with muzzleloader rifle in Hungary' - one of the first stalks since the Hungarian
Blackpowder Shooters and Hunters Association received permission to organise hunts with
muzzleloaders. It is narrated in English with a funny foreign accent
No narration necessary for the Spanish falconry film 'Caza Sin Armas Segunda Temporada'. It's
like YouTube was designed for falconry.
Staying more or less on the peninsular, for a short introduction to rabbit hunting in
the Pyrenees, you can't do better than this film. It looks terrific but stunningly dangerous.
Not a place you would want to take your dog or even yourself, let alone your wife or your
servants.
A teeny bit in French, 'Major Belarusian deer Episode 2' does what it says. Deer in the
former Soviet state.
I'm a sucker for any film that starts with a charter plane ride. These guys must be going
somewhere exciting, and so they are. It's Epic Alaskan Moose Hunt with Stuck N The Rut
from the excellent Gunwerks channel.
Finally, viewer Justin Merrill has put up a film about hunting does in Maine, USA, with
a bloke called Ray. It is, of course, called Doe, Ray, Me. Genius
You can click on any of these films to watch them. If you have a YouTube film you would
like us to pop in to the weekly top eight, send it in via YouTube or email me the link
charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv
Now if you are still thinking of what to watch next and none of the films on Hunting Youtube
tickled your fancy, we have a raft of new programmes to offer you from Fieldsports Channel.
Now you may have noticed no fishing films in Hunting YouTube this week. We have moved
those to a new item called Hooked On YouTube in our programme Fishing Britain that's out
on Fridays at 7pm UK time. And if you want to see our airgun YouTube recommendations,
watch AirHeads on Thursdays at 7pm.
Two more films we want to plug are the weekly offerings from overseas
This week the African BBQ Hunter is in Namibia where he comes upon an ostrich nest and gives
his definitive recipe on how to cook an ostrich egg omelette, bushman style.
Meanwhile, Jason Bruce's Headhunter Chronicles takes him trekking through tough Mexican terrain
to get within shooting distance of a Desert bighorn sheep. Sleeping under the stars and
riding mules up through the canyons all add to the excitement. Click on the link on the
screen for more.
Well we are back next week and if you are watching this on Youtube don't hesitate to
hit the subscribe button that should be somewhere around the outside of the screen or go to
our web page www.fieldsportschannel.tv where you can sign up for our newsletters, click
to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter. This has been Fieldsports Britain good hunting,
good shooting and good fishing.