[Music]
Welcome to Fieldsports Britain.
Coming up we're at the British Shooting show with Mr Crow in tow.
We will edit this bit so George won't know.
Yes, this won't be in so George won't know about this.
We have got the regulars Hunting YouTube, Hallo Charlie and News Stump.
First - we are after pheasants over pointers with goshawks;
She's beautiful and deadly... and it's time to stretch her wings.
Shoots don't tend to roll out the red carpet to falconers - but some are more accommodating
than others, allowing a few days sport after the guns have had their fill.
The concern from the keeper is that if they see a bird of prey the pheasants are going
to leave the coverts where have you whereas in actual fact a lot of the time if you are
flying birds on the outside of the estate it is keeping the birds holding in tighter.
Roy's fortunate to have been offered a couple of outings on this ground in return for some
of the foxing he's done here.
This agile goshawk is the daughter of Roy's old girl he lost to a fox at the end of January.
We were in the middle of filming this piece when the fox struck.
Anyway, she lives on in this beautiful falcon and we're hoping she's going to do her mother
proud.
Well finally it likes we have got a break in the rain.
It has been absolutely howling and peeing down now for weeks and my falconry season
has not been going overly well, but it looks like we have been blessed today and the end
of the season is looming very quickly so we have only got a couple of days left and it
would just be really nice to get her going a little bit on pheasants.
The shooting has just about drawn to a close here so we are just going to do a few of the
margins and fingers crossed we might come across a few points.
Boog will work the wood but we need to get down wind on order for her to find the scent.
Roy's worried that the wind is so light today the young viszla will bounce birds because
the scent cone will be so small, and she will be on top of them before she knows it.
Then Boog is very definitely on point.
So at this point we can see that the dog is absolutely staunch on point.
There is not a single bit of movement and she is 100% locked on.
She is quite a young dog.
This is her first proper season of work.
So she is just coming into the fore as well.
The dog is in place, the pheasant is in place - but we need the goshawk to have a clear
flight path.
What we are trying to do here is come round on the point and flush it out of the woods
and across the fields.
So that will give us a better flight and a chance of filming it as well.
She is underneath it, she is underneath it.
The pheasant comes out in completely the opposite direction and our chance is lost...but hopefully
the gos is not.
So very often with the pheasant flights they will go quite a distance and we have come
in right through the wood and we are now at the back end of the wood.
We have got a strong signal here.
She is moving so I am not sure if she has got it or not.
Let's have a look.
There are optimum times in the day when the gos should fly.
Roy has been conditioning his bird for later afternoon.
It is now getting to that time - and he's hoping she will switch on.
A lot of the time your hawk has got to be fully in condition to be able to take on the
flights and the way to do that is to make sure fly them and feed them at the same time
each day.
I always try them out a few hours earlier and make the most of the weather that we have
got.
She still wasn't 100% so you can see she is now settling down a bit more.
She is paying attention to exactly what the dog is doing.
So she is focussing a little bit more.
The falconry terminology when a hawk comes in to condition is coming into yarak and that
means she should give a little bit more on the pheasants.
This could be her opportunity "to give it a little bit more".
Boog is on point at the bottom of the valley and, when Roy is happy, Becks sends her in.
Good girl.
Go on, go on.
Come in under it, come in under it.
Oh you cow get on it.
What!
It's a lovely flight but when we find he she's without her prize.
Roy is not totally convinced she's getting out of third gear.
So that one dropped away into the cover and into the thick brambles.
So she lost it there.
She really wasn't pounding as hard as she should have been there.
So she must try a little bit harder next time.
Before we call it a night - we get another flush - this time on a cock bird - this time
she's not letting go.
Just the nerves twitching there.
Roy dispatches the pheasant and rewards the gos - being careful what to give her.
I am only letting her have a little bit of the neck.
The reason for that is, we are obviously coming to the end of the season so these birds have
been over the guns many, many times.
So the probability is they might be carrying the odd bit of lead and that is normally located
if they are carrying any in their chest or the leg muscles.
So normally if they have been hit in the leg or neck then it is pretty much game over.
You can be reasonably sure that they are safe to feed in the neck area.
She has had a nice pluck and a little bit of that.
We shall do the trade off.
Good girl.
Thank you.
And again as we have covered many times before the trade should be nice and easy.
She has got a nice bit of chick and I have got a nice plump pheasant to go back and make
some fajhitas.
We're losing the light but, before Roy heads home to feed the other birds, we stumble on
a hen pheasant who obliges us with a flight.
This time we see the whole thing - and we have two pheasants for Roy's fajita evening.
Before the curtain falls on another game season we have one more chance for some flights.
Another day and we are back to the normal.
We have got some very strong gusty winds again today.
So I don't know how we are going to get on.
We have got a nice big bramble patch here, where the coppice has been trimmed back and
we have got quite a bit of regrowth here and a good cover of brambles so it should be quite
good for the odd pheasant or two.
Go on, go on.
This time it's a partridge.
It dives into the wood with the gos hot on its heels.
It is not until we get inside the wood that we see she's got it..
So the partridge just got up by the side of one of the feeders there that the wind was
right up their backsides.
It came in just through the top of the wood here and she has probably followed it and
taken it 100 yards in so that was ok, but just not, she is capable of a lot more.
She is not giving it her all at the moment, but it can take one or two years to make a
decent hawk and with the weather we have had this year, we really haven't had an awful
lot of opportunity.
Roy knows better than most that, with pretty much all fieldsports, you get out what you
put in.
With some kinder weather and a few more opportunities to fly this gos on game she'll be a ruthless
hunter like her mother.
Well thank you Roy - and if you enjoyed that film about goshawks you can click on the link
that has appeared magically up there on the screen behind me and you can see more falconry.
Now for another high bird it is David on the Fieldsports Channel News Stump.
[Music]
This is Fieldsports Channel News.
He's back.
Queen guitarist Brian May has hit out at Queen grandson Prince Harry for going shooting.
This photograph of Prince Harry after a successfully buffalo stalk in Argentina in 2004 emerged
this week.
In his usual proportioned and reasoned way, the 66-year-old rocker compares Princes William
and Harry's love of shooting to 19th century supporters of slavery.
Do you know a deserving gamekeeper?
The National Gamekeepers' "Bellamy Trophy" is presented to the person or even the people
who, in the opinion of the judges, have done most to promote the role of the gamekeeper
in sustainable countryside management.
Nominations for the 2014 are now open and are available on NationalGamekeepers.org.uk
Entries are now also being sought for 2014 Purdey Awards.
Held annually since 1999, the awards promote game conservation work on shoots across the
UK, rewarding those shoots which are able to demonstrate outstanding shoot and habitat
improvement projects.
There is a prize fund of £12,500.
Email purdey.awards@purdey.com for details
We've all heard of the case of the wrong trousers but this is a case of the wrong horns.
American big-game hunter Rick Vukasin is suing his sporting agent after spending more than
US$50,000 stalking a Marco Polo sheep in northeast Tajikistan in December 2012.
However, the box shipped to his home did not contain the 58-inchers from his trophy animal.
He is claiming $75,000 in damages.
Colchester Wildfowling & Conservation Club is organising a 50th anniversary party this
coming summer.
It is in recognition of the club's formation and members wish to extend invitations to
all previous members that have joined throughout the club's history.
If that includes you, please email info@colchesterwildfowlers.org.uk
And finally, several viewers have asked us to salute the head of Copenhagen Zoo.
When Channel 4 News gave Bengt Holst a grilling because he killed a healthy yet surplus giraffe,
they didn't reckon without his cool, reason response.
We tried to show the public what animal is what animal wonders are and in all its aspects,
not in Disney World, or Bambi world, but the real life and in the real life lions eat meat
and meat comes, amongst others, from giraffe.
You are now up to date with Fieldsports Channel News.
Stalking the stories.
Fishing for facts.
[Music]
Thank you David - now let's see what you lot have been up to.
It's Hallo Charlie.
[Music]
Here is what the world is up to this week.
Hallo Charlie.
We are here at the Shooting Show 2014.
Look who I have just bumped into.
On the best fox call stand.
Hallo Charlie.
This is Des from the Netherlands.
Hunting in the north of the Netherlands.
We are hunting for roe deer and temperatures are very modest.
However, they do come out and as you can see successful today.
Hallo Charlie.
Simon here.
Been out rabbiting.
Live in a dream.
Au Revoir.
Hallo Charlie.
It is Steve here again in the Breacon Beacons.
Enjoying the first day of sunshine we have had for I don't know how long.
So making the best of it.
Out trying to get two crows.
Hallo Charlie.
Send us your own Hallo Charlie.
Film yourself on your own mobile phone and 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 Yousendit, Younameit to Charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv
Well the British Shooting Show was on at the weekend as you can probably see from that
Hallo Charlie and we went up there with Andy Crow to look at some sparkly new guns
Although we do like to get out and embrace the great British countryside, the British
Shooting Show came at just the right moment to give us the chance to escape the wind and
the rain.
As hurricane winds lash the UK, Crow is getting his hands on some of the shotguns on display
by all the main manufacturers - including a brand new Perazzi that even Mr George Digweed
hasn't seen.
I am going to take the opportunity to show you the brand new Perazzi this has brand new
action and in the absence of Mr Digweed we have a much sleeker and better looking version
so Mr Crow is going to model the gun for us and you can see the difference in the action.
This is obviously, I am not going to use the word, cheaper, but it is a scaled down version
and Perazzi have been able to make economies in terms of cost.
The MX 2000 retails at eight seven.
Retail on the Newsporter £5.5K.
So it is completely a new market.
I think it is going to be a good one.
I think it is going to be a winner.
All the normal features.
The handling capabilities etc of a Perazzi.
You have thrown it around.
Yes I have.
Feel ok?
Yes it feels beautiful.
This is the first one out.
You are the first person to handle it.
Before George.
You have handled it before George.
No way.
He is not going to forgive me for this you realise.
Just don't tell him I have handled it.
I won't tell him.
We won't put it on telly.
Nobody will know.
Our secret between ourselves.
We will edit this bit.
So George won't know.
George won't know about this ok.
If he finds out.
He will fly back from South Africa especially.
Just to kill me.
Absolutely.
It won't do me a lot of good either.
I can imagine.
As well as Browning and Krieghoffs, he also had a look at the F3 on the Blaser stand - one
of which is priceless.
That one there was quite nice, but this one comes up quite short.
Like you say you can adjust it.
Yes, you adjust and when you are happy with it we can get it exactly to your specification.
This is the one that works out the gun fit - and what is more important in life than
that?
Because we had such a good time stopping and chatting, that's about your lot.
The British Shooting Show is an event that has grown in stature and it is a credit to
its organiser - John Bertrand who sadly died at the weekend.
Now the pheasant season is over, but the shooting competition season is about to begin.
We catch up with one shooting star to find out what 2014 has in store.
I am here to see Abbey Burton who once reached fourth in the world for Olympic trap to see
what is in store Team GB and Team England this year.
2014 we have got the Common Wealth year at Glasgow.
So that is in July this year and then our other focus is going to be the World Championships
which is in the first week of September at Granada in Spain that is where the first quota
is up for grabs for Rio.
So you are looking at both Common Wealth medals and a place at the Rio Olympics.
As always.
We have got ongoing selection in April so we have a further selection group which is
taking place at Southern Counties and that will decide who the team is for the Common
Wealth Games.
So for the ladies there will be two slots available for Olympic trap.
Next one is the Championships in September.
As far as I can tell there are some quota places which GB will hand out and some other
quota places as well.
Which will you go far.
Because we are not the host nation this time like the London Olympics we have actually
got to win our quotas this time.
Whereas some quotas were allocated to us because we were the host nation in 2012.
So it is tougher.
Yes it is tougher but at the same time I think if you put yourself into a position when you
are selected for London then anyway you would have winning prospects in place so it shouldn't
be any more difficult in theory.
Just got to win.
Well it is not just about the shooting for Abbey.
She has another big event planned for 2014.
I got engaged at Christmas and I am getting married in September and conveniently that
was put at the end of the shooting season because it is getting busy and we didn't want
it to be in the middle of something.
So my mind is on shooting and not on weddings.
So gold medals it is.
That is it.
Perfect, that would be the icing on the cake for the end of this year.
Just because she is in training doesn't mean she gives up her job.
If you would like a shooting lesson with Abbey visit www.abbeyburtonclayshooting.co.uk
Now from global ambition to the wider world of hunting, shooting and fishing on Youtube,
it is Hunting Youtube.
[Music]
This is Hunting YouTube, which aims to show the best hunting and shooting videos that
YouTube has to offer.
Now let's start big.
Here is the heavily trailed programme where, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation,
the BBC, Louis Theroux lifts the lid on hunting in South Africa and proves how horrid it is.
Well watch this and you will see him come down on the side of hunting.
Bad news for the BBC bigots.
Next up our old pal Max Hunt has a new film out.
He is after German roe deer.
It's the middle of the summer and Max is in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Let's head up to the Slovenian Alps for a chamois stalk in November 2014.
Beautiful mountains, surprisingly well filmed.
From somewhere French but, I'll be bound, not filmed in France, a film to teach you
about how to set up a bait trap for a bear, should you ever need instruction.
Now a classic Spanish monteria - a driven hunt - over two days.
Bag for 19 shooters came to 250, including red deer, fallow, wild boar and mouflon.
To the USA for the spring Snow Goose hunt 2014 in Arkansas and Missouri including a
day where they bagged 116 with the help of more than 1,000 decoys.
Keith Warren's Alaska moose is characteristically well edited, with lots of lovely Alaskan scenery
and a large animal at the end of it.
Finally, Californian soccer moms travel to Georgia in order to hunt alligators.
It's what women in America like to do.
You can click on any of these films to watch them.
If you are missing the fishing films and the airgun films, watch our new shows, AirHeads
and Fishing Britain.
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 Fieldsports Britain is just one of the shows we put out on Fieldsports Channel and
I would like to commend you to Air Heads
[Music]
Now, if you want to see more from the Shooting Show we have some rapid fire action.
In the programme there'll also be Ted's latest word of wisdom, Phill Price is telling us
the right way to fill up, and Daystate's Tony Belas will be showing a quick fix for a wonky
scope.
It's out at 7pm on Thursday 20th February 2014
You also might be interested in Fishing Britain.
We're at the home of British fly tying - the BFFI show - to look at the latest in fly technology,
hand tying techniques, rod decoration and we have a little competition on the Veniard
stand.
Who can tie fastest?
And want to see more pictures of flies by the man who tied that mantis?
The superb Hywel Morgan is on Lenches Lakes in Evesham.
Well we are back next week and if you have been watching this on Youtube please hit the
subscribe button that is somewhere around the outside of the screen or go to our web
page www.fieldsportschannel.tv where you can click to like us on Facebook or follow us
on Twitter or pop your email address into the constant contact box and we will constantly
contact you about our programme which is out at 7pm UK time every Wednesday.
This has been Fieldsports Britain.
Good bye, good hunting, good shooting and good fishing.