I was asked the other day how much I tipped the keeper after a day’s shooting. I was somewhat taken aback, to be honest, because what I tip people —…
Giles Catchpole
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A tour around my gun cabinet
I thought we might take a bit of a tour around my gun cabinet. Not perhaps the full firearms enquiry procedural, but a look at the front row, if you…
Perfect shooting gloves: why are they so difficult to find?
The dog has eaten my shooting gloves. Not chewed or gnawed, but eaten. Consumed. Except the buckles, which he brought to me with a wholly unjustified pride, rolling them about…
The rigours of roost shooting
Even as the mayhem of beaters’ day is drawing to a close, the question arises of who will be undertaking the roost shoots. Once the pheasants and partridges have been…
Ties for shooting? Are they still necessary?
Why do we wear ties for shooting? Ironically, when I put the question to the occupants of a Gun bus the other day it was our resident American who was…
What should you do with a surplus of game birds?
It may be the case, at this time of year, that you are wondering what to do with a freezer filled with game. During the season I eat as I…
Loaders: are they more trouble than they are worth?
From time to time I have been asked to load for visiting Guns. This can involve a range of functions and can require a good deal of tact and discretion.…
Shooting breeks: this is how I choose mine
Mothed breeks I pulled my britches off the hanger, and the bulk of the fabric disintegrated in a cloud of tweedy dust. I had been thoroughly mothed. The first lesson…
Getting choke wrong – we’ve been doing it for ages
We’ve all been getting choke wrong for ages. Decades. Even generations. But now we have a chance to put things right, even though it’s going to take a bit of…
Showing courtesy to beaters
Courtesy to beaters A cheerful “good morning!” is always a reasonable start, I find. If there are sundry folk milling about when you arrive at the agreed meeting point, wishing…
Simulated game days: disaster waiting to happen?
In 1988, I visited a farm shoot in Kent where the prime drives had been wiped out by the Great Storm that had ravaged the countryside in October of the…
A shooting lesson. Why we can all benefit from one.
What I really want – a shooting lesson I was asked recently what I would like for my birthday. I thought about this while the usual suspects whistled through my…
Why all shooters should try fishing
In these days of thermal imaging and night sights, pigeon magnets and whirligigs, and when you can book a day’s shooting and confidently expect a bag of several hundreds of…
Choosing the right hat for shooting
Headwear is one of the few areas of the sporting wardrobe where you can make your mark (so choosing the right hat for shooting is key). The cap is a…
The shooting lunch: why it should always be light
From whether a man ought to wear a tie in the field to whether all Guns should take a brace of birds home, the sporting world is full of great…
Would a working cocker spaniel be right for you?
Back in the day everybody had a black lab. Then it was fox red labs. But nowadays you’re probably going to see a working cocker spaniel wherever you go in…