Poor Shot

Only ones that have gone so far.. As said, fox hunting is the main focus at the moment but there are signs that this will spread should fox hunting go completely. Remember the disruption caused by antis on last years glorious 12th? That was only a small effort by a few individuals and could quite easily become a wholescale shoot sab movement. Outside of shooting we already have numerous cases of mountain biking trails being sabotaged with nail boards, ropes strung across the track at body height etc by some quite frankly deranged people who believe they have the right to do those things. Locally we have a park lake that was littered with no fishing signs by an individual which has since been backed up by the park based on the disruption caused. Just so happens that there is nothing but Canadian pond weed, duck **** and silt in there anyway but just goes to show how this sort of thing is growing. These lunatics always have and always will exist. Right now they are almost wholly focused on fox hunting. It needs to remain that way.

I outlined that I could see it both ways but clearly stated my preference in the last line. Your questions are valid. If we cast out fox hunting, then who is next? Big bag commercial shoots? It can be argued that there is little outlet for hundreds of shot pheasants hence the value of the carcass being pennies. Small hobby and syndicate shoots? They don't support the local economy in the same way the commercial shoots do. Local people on a local shoot aren't booking rooms in a local hotel, having their lunch at a local pub (more likely home cooked out the back of a landrover). Can't they just take up golf or something? Wildfowling? All those red and amber listed species that are still on the quarry list. Or even pest control? A lot of (flawed) anti shooting arguments out there support just leaving nature to it with no predator or pest control and what will be will be.

See part 2 of my last post. This does not stop but only evolves to keep step with the progress made.

I can see this both ways. 1. Fox hunting is attracting a lot of attention to fieldsports and risks dragging the whole lot down with it. The remainder of the fieldsports population should completely disassociate itself from fox hunting and leave them out to dry in an attempt to modernise and set ourselves apart from barbaric practises. 2. Do we really think that the efforts of sabs, antis etc will end at the complete dissolution of fox hunting? Traditionally SABs, hardcore antis are people without a cause, people just looking for a club to be a part of. I'd go as far as saying that most couldn't give two ****s about foxes but they really do feel strongly about those upper class twerps galloping around on horses with little regard for anyone. There are a lot of people out there in the world who are loners. When they find a group willing to accept the loners and stangers, those that never really fit in anywhere then they'll cling onto it and fully buy in to the ideology. Much the same way that in the US the strangers and losers buy into the modern day klan or nazi or even the BLM movements. They don't have anywhere else to go and no one else who will welcome them in the same way. When questioned they often don't really mind black people or jews and they actually think that defunding the police is a terrible idea, they're just there because the movements are there for them. SAB groups have good following on social media but outside of the 2% that actually turn up to disrupt the hunts, most are middle aged house wives or house husbands who share the videos, statuses etc to show others that they feel strongly about something that can be perceived to be a popular opinion. Gerry on the next street over has shared a hunt sab status with a thumbs up, I've now got to do the same or I'll appear to be at odds with Gerry's opinion. Not in a million years would you find Sarah and David, mid 40's from the home counties with 3 children in private education turning up at a sab meet but they will share the social media post and maybe buy a sab group badge to stick on their car. Once the laws have been changed, the kennels and stables demolished, huntsmen made redundant and the left over horses and hounds culled then the Gloucester hunt sab group will simply become the Gloucester shoot sab group and so on. Can't have those other posh twerps cutting about the place in tweeds and range rovers, shooting at those poor little pheasants. We'll then have them standing in front of guns, running through the drives, burning down kennels that have gundogs in them etc. Only now we'll have them trying intimidate people who are holding firearms and not everyone has the cool to simply pack up and walk away. It'll only take one rise to their slimy behavior then they've got you on footage, edited only to show the gun reacting to being spat on, punched or attacked by a sab and then your looking at a potential offence and instant loss of certificates. Once hunting has had it, then will shooting and then fishing as will horse racing, greyhound racing, moto x, livestock farming, mountain biking and so on. It's an ideology and Ideologies evolve to stay relevant. I don't agree with fox hunting and would never participate but I do see them as the low hanging fruit that these near terrorist like groups can target and leave the rest of us to get on with it and because of that they would have my support to continue.

Alarm for 5:15, feed the dogs, a quick coffee and then to the gym for 6:00. Taking a cold plunge first thing in the morning is reported to have many benefits like boosting circulation, reducing inflammation and can help with recovery. Rogan constantly bigs up the benefits of using a cold plunge and he is in pretty good shape for a guy in his late 50's. Seems like it would be a great idea in July following those heatwave nights of sweat reduced sleep but in December and you have break the ice from the surface before getting in? Nah, maybe not.

If you cleaned your ejectors every time you shot, you wouldn't have any time to shoot in the first place. 😅 It's a bit like washing the car after every journey. Once every 500-1000 cartridges mine gets an 'involved' cleaning depending on the season. It's a 694 action so has the little magnetic discs to release the ejectors. I have other guns which need to be disassembled, screws removed etc to get the ejectors out. It's a twice a year job with them.

I like it, I wouldn't trade in my 694 for one but it's a nice looking thing. It's probably nothing more than a clap back at the recently released Browning 825, they share a similar price point, target market etc.. If they can get the stock and barrel weight kits in with the £3k price mark then it'll blow the Browning out of the water. I'd say that a regular walnut stock as well as plastic stock options will become available with time and also plain steel and non blacked versions. It could really have done with the Steelium Pro barrels from the 694 as the standard Steelium are a bit old tech now. I would imagine that the next Gen 694 and DT11 will move to the Steelium Pro X barrels and 3&1/2 choke systems to match the SL2 or a variation thereof. 686 and 687 sporting versions will probably be retired and silver pigeon retained as game only versions. If not then they have a lot of guns on sale that step on each others toes. As someone else mentioned, it's probably quite hard to break the mold with a technology that was near enough perfected 60 years ago. How long has the basic 686 action on which the 686, 687, 688, 690, 692 and 694 models are based been around for? It's pretty much bomb proof, easy to maintain and should the worst happen then nearly all gunsmiths in the land can work on them and hold spares.

Probably the best way to go about it. Just a polite request for a single day's shooting with no obligation for ongoing permission. Let your performance speak for itself. They'll be over the moon if you came back 4 hours later with a 100 bag of pigeons.

Another member of the forum once invited me out to shoot on one his permissions. It look a good while of scouting to ensure the birds would be there and sure enough there was a good flight line on one the fields when we chose to shoot. I can easily see how it could become embarrassing if the pigeons had decided be elsewhere practically overnight.

Exactly that.. There are some areas locally with arable land such as the Vale of Glamorgan, areas to the east of Cardiff and west of Newport and some small patches in west Wales. There is also a lot of arable in the areas along the A40 and M50 towards the border with England. All this totaled probably wouldn't equal a half of the amount of arable land some of smaller English counties have and there are a lot of certificate holders in the area all trying to get a foot in the door. There are two lads from our game syndicate who travel to Lincolnshire to shoot pigeons such is the competition locally.

I'd love to but I'm sure spending £80 on diesel each visit would get wearisome quite quickly. I find Horsey people to be on the extreme ends of the anti shooting spectrum. Some are very welcoming and happy for you take care of rabbits and other pests providing the horses aren't disturbed. Some are absolute bat**** crazy and you'll never know which until you talk to them. They do love their animals though so I can respect that at least.

Mainly because she's got better things to do than hang around while two boring blokes talk guns and shooting. Last time round she spoke to the FAO and said she could not care less about shooting and that we both have our own things going on but she respects that the guns aren't to be bothered with under any circumstances. FEO was happy with that. The doting wife is a thing of the past and I'm glad that she's got just much going on in her own life as I do mine. The last bit regarding ammo was a reference to the article by Bill Harriman in the last BASC magazine in which a fellow got caught out on a home visit when an ammo box was misplaced during a home renewal inspection. Chap lost his certs I think. I'm also a non drinker so unless the FAO is concerned about the amount of coffee grounds in the food recycling hamper then I'm quite safe. An FAO who visited a while back did mention that he had started an investigation into a certificate holder when he noticed a few recycling bags filled with empty containers outside of his house. No idea on the biscuits thing. Bit of a recurring joke I think. Not one single member of firearms dept has ever accepted an offer of a drink while at my (very clean, tidy and organised) house.

I wasn't too worried about the biscuits. It was more the amount my would be able to spend in the couple hours that she would have been shopping. That could buy you an container load of custard creames. It's coffee or tap only in our house so they would have been a disappointed tea drinker.

It's a step in the right direction and a much better use of the limited resources. My FAC interview was done over the phone and IMO covered everything that we otherwise would have covered if the FEO was sat at my kitchen table for an hour only I didn't have to spend out on expensive biscuits and send the wife shopping for a few hours while the interview took place. How many more cabinets checks can be done in a day when you replace commuting an hour between each appointment with time sat at a desk checking off a list of quick 20 minute video calls. I'm sure some will be along shortly to say that it's worth it just so the FEO can take a quick sniff around the house and pick up on the recycling bag filled with beer cans outside the front door or the odd box of ammo misplaced outside of the locked cabinet but these are luxuries that most depts cannot afford at the time where backlogs of ancillary responsibilities like cabinet checks can extend out past 2-3 years. These are issues that can be picked up at renewal every 5 years. Last FEO that came out spent 10 minutes checking serial numbers against a tick sheet and then a further hour and 20 minutes talking about shooting. Lovely chap and I'd have him round again anytime but not a good use of expensive FEO time.

How far is West Midlands, west of the M5 away from CF44? 😅 I have a very understanding wife who knows shooting will always come first. You are right in what you are saying. Right place, right time and you could walk into hundreds of acres of permissions from an old boy looking for an out. I make an effort to speak to anyone and everyone on a shoot, clay shoot etc. Not only because You never know who you may be speaking to and that old boy in the beating line with the ancient spaniel just may be the one but I quite often find the beaters more interesting than a gun ******* off about his new range rover or whatever.