WalkedUp

That’s no issue, everyone is entitled to voice their opinion and yours is a valid question. One that is good to discuss in the open 👍

Personally I would not class this video as mindless slaughter, the fox looked to take a pattern that caused mortal damage from well within the effective range of the shotgun. It was dead without knowing it after the first shot, adrenaline carried it the rest. He used quick follow up action to ensure no suffering. If you shoot a rabbit in the chest with pellets it will often run and flip in a similar fashion at the point of a hydraulic failure due to catastrophic blood loss. You could argue a CNS death is cleaner, but that only stands when you actually hit the CNS!

I’ve been offered many free gun dog pups to work, normally dogs to keep a line breeding back but occasionally bitches too.

We stop at Tebay (north bound) for supper on our way up to the north coast. It’s great for a service station. I had the steak and ale pie, with the macaroni cheese meal as a side (I don’t like being hungry when driving). The boys all ate full meals for just £1, proper butcher sausages and proper fish. Great value. They’ve never been to MacDonalds. I’m not morally against the place, it’s just the food is awful so it is pointless and bad value. 3 adult meals and 3 children’s meals and drinks (mainly water) came to under £35 at Tebay, no idea how much Macdonald’s would be but must be similar. The other stops on our trip north are much better food than Tebay, the House of Bruar (cooked breakfast on way up, steak on the way down) and the Pier at Lairg. We’ve been doing this trip for 20 years so have nailed the best pit stops.

I find it easier to see black dogs in the dark. My greys are invisible but the black labs stand out against the marsh and mud etc.

Very good post. When you have a rare working breed they are very noticeable and noticed. People either think it is the best ever or worst ever, based upon if it was marginally above or below the standard. Up on a loch today and a woman asked “Do Weimaraners (my bitch doing long wet retrieves with a back windy give distance) not like water? She seems very reluctant [to jump off the pontoon].” I replied that she works all water, however I have seen daft dogs [labs] wind and injure themselves leaping into unknown water with gay abandon, the reason she seems reluctant is probably as she’s sat stock still because I’m waiting for the dummy to get to the 60 yard mark to send her, returned to hand under a single command. The point being not that the woman had misread the situation but that she had also assumed any temperament shown by that one bitch was going to hold true for an entire breed, rather than just be a reflection of my training style!

Great pictures @worrall26 I’m jealous!

I feel like a little boy on Christmas Eve. Tomorrow I head up north to the Kyle of Tongue with my three boys for a week’s sport. It offers everything for s summer stalking, sea fishing, fly on the Naver, walked up grouse. I’ve got the stalk and three fishing trips booked; need to sort the grouse. I’ll drop some pictures on here upon my return. I wouldn’t normally be able to afford such a trip but my wife’s family have a tiny estate up there so we stay in one of the houses.

Could still be worth the ferry, I’m up at the Kyle of Tongue stalking and holidaying next week. So could swing by on the way back down, not often you’re a relative ‘southerner’

Where is your take away based???

Spring when related to seasons, weather etc is meteorological and starts on 1st March. Astronomical spring starts 20th March but relates to the solar system rather than the climate. It is unfortunate that they both share the same four names as it frequently causes confusion, especially as in some regions as are related (albeit with seasonal lag), obviously this is not an issue in regions that do not have a four-season climate (monsoon/dry etc).

Only just seen this, yes of course I can! I’ll sent now even if it may be a little late.

For some reason I can only picture that as part of black tie attire with a velvet smoking jacket 🤣

You finally know you’ve made it in life that day you pull on a pair of ‘best’ crocs for the garden 🤣 Obviously being northern mine are all clones as I don’t have real-Crocs™️ sort of money 😢 https://stockx.com/en-gb/crocs-dimitri-clog-chinatown-market £400 😳

Great doing business with you, very quick and efficient 👍

I meant the police treating me as an offender 👍 I love my crocs! I wear Meindl high boots or crocs, i took the boots but it was too hot for them. The sad truth is I have three pairs of crocs: one pair (green) for driving to the shoot and occasionally shooting; one pair (black) reserved for wearing to clear out the dogs’ yard; and one pair of ‘best crocs’ (also plain black) for wearing in the garden if it is too muddy for my Birkenstocks.

You will struggle on here I expect. Get out, meet people and keep chipping away. Join a shoot if you can, or beat, join clubs. 23 years ago I was a nipper with an air rifle and joined a rough shooting syndicate near Bala just to shoot rabbits, magpies, squirrels etc.

Just for accuracy, one officer had completely white fake nails, another officer had fluorescent orange fake nails. It is a very small sample, but these two were the ones with the adrenaline jitters and poor gun handling. Their assault rifles should have been in the ‘low-ready’ position, fingers on the action off the trigger, gun shouldered but aimed down into the ground in a safe direction. Position of their fingers is relevant, as is identifying traits. The guns were aimed at me in ‘high-ready’ which is the equivalent safety standard of your friend standing a yard away with his 12 bore loaded at your face and his trigger on the action. Those who defend the police’s gun handling in this circumstance but castigate poor gun handling on shoot days are a tad hypocritical. Thanks @HantsRob, I am never upset to have people disagree with me, that’s how we learn - or certainly I do.

I don’t consider myself an offender. This is probably a key aspect, do we want our police force to treat us as offenders based upon no evidence? The call to the police was a noise complaint, I don’t know if it was dispatch or the officers themselves who escalated it into an attempted Russian invasion.

The relevance of this (edited in quote, like the other one I can’t edit the original) is not that people who shoot are good eggs and top blokes etc etc but rather people who shoot outside of work are likely to understand the circumstances in which a gun may be used legally and be able to quickly recognise that and act in an appropriate way as opposed to see the lawful use of a weapon as a lethal threat.

Edited this quote as I couldn’t edit the original. Certainly nothing is lost through losing the sexism.

It is probably a fair criticism that I was crudely sexist about the screeching women officers (less so the older woman), and certainly could have conveyed the event in a more tempered manner, but I wrote it as I saw it. The finger nail paint was a detail I couldn’t help but notice, if I were to write it again I would probably be better at ignoring my impulse to implicitly blame their poor response on their gender. I went out for a work lunch today with a woman and two men, cowardly I omitted all of my sexist hints today when recalling it as I didn’t want to offend the woman. I knew I was biased, as I stated in my final sentence. I have edited the original. I’ve had the police attend when shooting before, always in a sensible and courteous manner. If you think it is appropriate for police to respond in such a heavy handed and dangerous way then sadly their will be many accidental deaths, I can’t change my mind on this aspect regardless of their gender.

Think it was a double case

Really impressive, lovely to see 👌

A letter of thanks is a great idea, a praise sandwich saying good-needs improvement-good. It keeps me from being a trouble causer and allows them to learn.