Shooting Times & Country

Since its launch in 1882, Shooting Times & Country Magazine has been at the forefront of the shooting scene. The magazine is the clear first choice for shooting sportsmen, with editorial covering all disciplines, including gameshooting, rough shooting, pigeon shooting, wildfowling and deer stalking. Additionally the magazine has a strong focus on the training and use of gundogs in the field and, because it is a weekly publication, the magazine keeps readers firmly up-to-date with the latest news in their world.

A true worker

Appeal launched to support Chris Packham’s legal action • A crowdfunding page has been set up to raise money for the BBC presenter’s case against Fieldsports Channel, amassing over £100,000

Audubon Society to rename

Classic rifles in high demand

To do this week

Studies conflict over how to help curlews • Research from the RSPB has concluded that habitat work combined with predator control did not lead to increased curlew productivity

Could this infectious deer disease reach our shores?

Sparsholt celebrates 50 years

NEWS IN BRIEF

Shooting Times & Country

LETTER OF THE WEEK

Restaurants are not committed to UK meat

Country Diary • With Wales on the brink of banning humane snares, why are those who protect habitats and control predators still seen as the villains?

Gamekeeper • People are put off reporting rural crime so it goes unrecorded — a chicken-and-egg scenario — but special officers are making progress

Stalking Diary • March provides treats from nature’s larder — wild garlic leaves to be fermented for kimchi and birch sap to make whisky taste even better

JOTTINGS FOR WILDFOWLERS A CLASSIC SERIES REVISITED

So good, it’s almost a sim • There’s no expense spared on a luxurious sim day, but can even the best clays compare with the real thing? Simon Garnham finds out

One buck that won’t be passed • The diary is full of regular clients, but the chance of a beast at first light on the opening day of the roebuck season is too much of a temptation

The birds that tower above • With concerns rising over wounding game and showing restraint, Guy Maddocks puts forward the case for the high-bird Gun

Pigeons with classic kit • Charles Hartley explores the merits of the Browning Auto 5 with a spot of roost shooting

Volvo XC60 Recharge plug-in hybrid T8 AWD Ultimate £68,465 • Don’t be fooled by its executive looks, Volvo’s popular hybrid SUV is more than up to the task of a day in the field, discovers Ed Coles

Unpredictable science • As the popularity of cross-breeds continues to grow, David Tomlinson asks why the humble labrador seems to dominate in the gene stakes

BEET OR PAULOWNIA? • The choices farmers make have a big impact on shoots

Any port in a storm • Wintry weather sends pigeons and corvids to seek shelter in farm buildings; unfortunately for them, Mat Manning has the same idea

A pigeon for all seasons • Paying attention to the weather is one of the most effective ways to ensure successful woodie control all year round, writes Tom Payne

The Secret Land Agent • Risk management on estates and shoots is a time-consuming but necessary task

Are we close to a robot takeover? • With easily accessible artificial intelligence becoming a reality with the likes of ChatGPT, Adam Hart asks what that means for Shooting Times

It’s smoking, if you catch my drift • With the freezer empty again and venison off the menu, Will Martin heads to a reservoir for a trout for the smoker

Can’t we meet in the middle? • The RSPB’s CEO visits Flea Barn to try to find some middle ground, but Richard Negus fears the yawning chasm is too deep

That’s Norway to do it...