Uncategorized – Thoughts From A Wildlife Manager… (2024)

Mark Avery, you’ve probably never heard the name before but, if you have, you’ll know he’s a talker of nonsense, a manufacturer ofsc(lie)entific evidenceand misinformation when it comes toDriven Grouse Shooting. Let’s look at one of his ‘nonsense’quotes and break it down a little:-

“Driven grouse shooting uses animals for live target practice, with thousands killed every day. Native predators are killed because they eat Red Grouse. Mountain Hares are killed because they carry ticks that can spread diseases to grouse. Heather is burned to increase Red Grouse numbers for shooting. Grouse shooting is economically, ecologically, and socially unnecessary. This is ‘canned hunting’.”

“Driven grouse shooting uses animals for live target practice”. This is completely untrue. Grouse are shot yes, they’re shot for sporting purposes. However,all grouse shot goes into the food chain and is supplied to game dealers, restaurants, pubs, butchers, etc. It’s no different from pigeons being shot and hundreds of thousands of those are shot every year, yet no-one complains…

“Native predators are killed because they eat Red Grouse.”This isn’t exactly true. It is true however that foxes, stoats, rats, crows, etc. are shot or trapped but the reason isn’t just because they eat Red Grouse. If this was the case why does the RSPB shoot and trap the very same animals? Because they eat Red Grouse? I think not. It’s a very simple answer, to protect ground nesting birds. Ground nesting birds are incredibly vulnerable to predator attacks, especially when sitting on eggs.

“Mountain Hares are killed because they carry ticks that can spread diseases to grouse.” Mountain Hare numbers, like most other wildlife needs to be kept in balance. When estates have too high a number the damage they can cause to the moorland can be quite significant. They (like most game species) have a season when they can be shot which is between August 1st until February 28th/29th.

“Heather is burned to increase Red Grouse numbers for shooting.” Again, a complete nonsense. Heather is burned to provide differing habitat for a great plethora of species that live on moorland, from Lapwings to Oyster Catchers, Plover toCurlews, insects to mammals, etc.Short heather provides a valuable food source through the young shoots and insects that can be found living on it. Longer heather provides nesting sites, cover, and a degree of protection.

“Grouse shooting is economically, ecologically, and socially unnecessary.” This I find highly amusing. The grouse shooting industry is a major employer in upland areas. It supports over 2500 jobs and is worth an estimated £100m a year. It also directly benefits the local communities with money by shooting parties being spent there on accommodation, food, and on amenities such as fuel, etc.Some of the ecological benefits have already being outlined above.As for the“socially unnecessary” part, I think that’s just Mark being a little envious at his lack of invites because shooting is a wonderful activity enjoyed by thousands of people of all ages.

“This is ‘canned hunting’.” Actually no, it’s not canned hunting, canned hunting is where an animal is fenced in an area with no possible chance of escape. Red grouse are totally wild birds that live on open moorland and are able to fly. They’ve every chance of escape.

As you can see, I’ve gone through the above quote and shown it’s nothing other than nonsense.

As many of you may be aware, although you may not actually care, the petition by Mark Avery to get Parliament to debate driven grouse shooting exceeded 100,000 signatures today (13/8/2016).

Now, this petition was started back in April 2016 (the third installment I might add) and up to five days ago (8/8/2016) despite the constant barrage on social media by Mark Avery, Chris Packham, The League Against Cruel Sports, etc. had only achieved 76,033 signatures. As of writing this, the number of signatures had jumped to 102,303. Call me a cynic but as it took 111 days to gain just over 74% of the signatures I find it very hard to believe the other 26% (26,270) of the total signatures coming in the last five days. It seems a little strange to me, a little far fetched even… I wonder how many of those digitally signing this online petition are really over 18? How many are signing using multiple email addresses? I also wonder how many are actually registered to vote in the UK? When you look at the data of the signatories around 2000 of the people signing are not even in the UK…

There are a lot of myths and misinformation provided by the likes of Avery and Packham surrounding moorland management and grouse shooting. One of their favourites is saying heather burning increases flooding. Packham himself constantly uses the recent flooding in Hebden Bridge to highlight this. However, Hebden Bridge experienced major flooding in the early 1800’s, before grouse shooting was even undertaken. I lived in a village in Wharfedale that was actually washed away due to flooding, this was again before moorlands were managed as they are today. Why was the village washed away? I’m pretty certain it was down to a natural phenomenon, as was the recent flooding in Hebden Bridge. The reason Hebden Bridge flooded was down to the fact we had around a months worth of rain in a single day. Now you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to know what was likely to happen. Think about this, if (as Avery and Packham suggest) the burning of the heather did mean that when it rained, villages and towns downstream of the moors would flood regular, why then do they not flood every winter? Could it be because that what they say is untrue? Are they just trying to use a natural cause and an unprecedented, uncharacteristic, natural occurrence to scaremonger?

Another favourite saying is independent research… Well, there’s actually no such thing as independent research. No-one just decides to research something for the fun of it, it’s always funded by someone, generally by someone with an interest in a specific outcome. I mean, you’re not going to spend money on something that isn’t going to go in your favour, are you? You may instruct an independent research facility to carry out the research but you’re the one telling them what you want. Independent? I don’t think so. Just short of 26% of signatures in just five days? Again, I don’t think so…

There’s something about the possibility of shooting your first roe buck that sets the nerves on edge. Ever since speaking to my guide a couple of weeks earlier I’d been filled with both excitement and a little trepidation about the trip that was to come. I’d shot does before but a buck, well, a buck is a little bit special.

The night before the stalking trip I couldn’t sleep, was it the excitement keeping me awake? The thought of the potential bucks we’d come across? Or was it something simple like, I hope I don’t sleep through the alarm?.. I had a three thirty appointment but it was an hours drive to where I’d arranged to meet my guide for the morning’s stalk and I couldn’t afford to be late. In fact, to be sure I’d be awake I’d set three alarms, the first to go off at 2am, the second at five past, and the third at ten past. I’d prepared everything the night before the stalk and had everything except rifle and ammunition in the car ready, Ridgeline smock, Haix boots, Primos Trigger Sticks, Nikon binos, Gerber knife, and some latex gloves were the main things.

2am and I’m instantly awoken by the first alarm going off. I’m up like a scalded dog, out of bed,dressed, and downstairs. Constantly checking my watch like the white rabbit from Alice’s AdventuresIn Wonderland and muttering to myself, I mustn’t be late, I double checked I had everything. Assuring myself I had, I got the Browning A-bolt from the gun cabinet and a box of Winchester .243 ammo. I was now ready to set off.

The 55 mile drive south was straightforward and the directions to the meeting place very simple and easy to follow. As I drove south I started to hit patches of rain. I knew it was supposed to be raining lightly where I was heading, I just hoped that the rain wouldn’t change the deer’s movements. I arrived at the meeting point at 3:30am and Clive, my guide for the morning was already there to meet me.After the introduction Clive said “we need to get a move on as we’ve still a fair drive to get to the hunting ground and the day is almost upon us”. I suppose that’s maybe one of the downfalls of summer stalking, the morning dawns very early, that and the fact it had been so warm recently had meant an extra early start. Clive had been watching the deer all week and had seen a couple of very big bucks, hesaid the problem we could havewould begetting onto them before they headed back to the woods.

We pulled up at a gatethat lead onto a track that cut a wheat fieldin two. Clive got out to open the gate but got straight back in the truck. “No good” he said, “the wind’s all wrong, we’re going to have to go another way.” As we drove along the lane two deer could be seen about 30 yards away on a field to our right. We could make out one was a buck, unfortunately they were on land that we were unable to hunt so we had to pass them up. A few minutes later we arrived at another spot, parked behind some straw bales and got out. Although not cold, the rain was steadily falling so I pulled on the Ridgeline smock, grabbed the binoculars and was ready.Although I had taken my rifle, I’d arrangedpreviously to use Clive’s, and what a great rifle it was, a Jaeger 10 Pro in 6.5×55. Clive passed me the rifle, “you carry the rifle” he said “it’s loaded and the safetyis on. I want you to walk behind me, if we get onto a deer, I’ll put the sticks up, you be ready to get the rifle up and, if you’re comfortable,take the shot. Make no mistake though, when you’ve your first buck in the crosshairs you’ll be shaking like a s****ing dog, just stay calm, remember to breatheand you’ll be fine.” Well, with advice like that, what was there to worry about?

Doing as I’d been instructed and walking behind Clive, we set off into the first field. This was a beet field that, due to the very wet winter was unable to be harvested. It was a big magnet to the deer and it wasn’t uncommon to see them in good numbers on this field. As we made our way along some cover crop we started to see deer signs, slots in the mud, droppings, and scrapes from the bucks. This was all positive. Stopping every few yards and glassing round we picked up sight of something in a gap in the hedge between the field. Looking hard we couldn’t quite make out what it was, as we made our way closer it became apparent that it was a hare. We continued along the top of the field that was edged with cover crop, glassing as we went. We soon got to the point we’d seen the hare and we crossed into the next field. A quick glass revealed a couple of deer about 250 yards away, feeding. We edged closer to determine sex, one was a buck. As we carefully made our way towards the deer Clive noticed another buck feeding to our left. We’d not seen him initially due to the height of the grass. He stopped me andwhispered “A massive buck, about 50 yards away! It’s a very good buck, a 6 pointer and it’s huge” At this point Clive himself had started shaking at the sight of such a splendid buck. I was just about to get the rifle onto the Primos Trigger Sticks when Clive nudged me and whispered “stop!” A doe had come running from the wood that neither of us had noticed. She ran up to the buck and they both took off towards the wood together. Due to the cover I was unable to get a shot but the deer were there.

Not dwelling on the buck, we glassed in the direction of the two deer we were originally heading for but they too had vanished. “We’ll make our way to the wood” Clive said, “we can check some land at the other side.” Getting to the wood I realised that it was actually an old railway line, it had long since been reclaimed bymother nature but in amongst the trees and bushes at the top of the bank was thetrack itself. We made our way over the bank and through a small wood tothe tree edgedfields on the other side. We spent a few minutes glassing but nothing was to be seen. It was decided that we should try another farm so we made our way back to the truck. As we exited the wood where we had entered we saw a roe at the end of the field where we’d not long been stood. “That must’ve been in the cover crop as we passed” Clive said “and we never noticed.” The deer wasn’t stopping, instead making a beeline straight for the sanctuary of the treeline. We walked along a track between two fields, deer slots were all along this track.

We drove to another farm where Clive had counted 7 deer midweek on a couple of fields. “There are are two big bucks on here, one is a limping so would be good to take out if we can get on him. This little spinney we’re going through first is fairly thin insidebut doesseem to hold the deer” Unfortunately this morning, it seemed not to. We made our way through and onto the fieldmargins. Glassing the fields we could see no deer at all but set off across a wheat field to work our way up towards a field of elephant grass that the deer seemed to love. By this point the rain had stopped, thanks to my Ridgeline smock my top half was dry, my trousers however, well theywere soaked right through, although thankfully my Haix boots were doing a sterling job of keeping my feet dry. At the edge of the field was a dyke that we needed to cross, the grass at this spot was near 6 feet tall and although myboots werewaterproof I didn’t fancy having to walk through the water.Thankfully Clive knew the place to cross, a small bridge, completely hidden from view in the grass. After an hour or so of wandering round this farm and seeing nothing we decided that we would head to another farm.

We went to try one last farm, daylight was pretty much fully on us now. Upon arriving atthe farm we set off through the farmyard. A hare suddenly appeared from nowhere 10 yards in front of us on the yard. It ran across the yard to the sanctuary of the long grass in one of the fields followed by another hare, then another. It was like a regular hare highway and great to see so many. Further round the yard we rounded the corner of one of the sheds and immediately noticed a doe a hundred yards away in a grass field. Unfortunately, she’d noticed us too and made her way into a rape field and out of view. More hares were sighted as we triedto find a buck but alas, it wasn’t to be…

It was now 9am so we called it a day, we’d now been out five and a half hours, we’d seennine deer, three of which were bucks, and one of those a very big6 pointer. Ok so I’d not managed to grass any but it’s not all about that and I was far from disappointed. Shooting a deer would’ve been a bonus to a great morning but the wildlife seen on the farms we visited was plentiful,very varied, and great to see.

I had a great morningin the company of a very knowledgeable stalker and all round great guy. The deer are definitelythere on the ground it just wasn’t my day.I’ve decided to go down to Clive again in a couple of months during the rut. You never know, I might just grass the buck of a lifetime…

Setting a mole trap is a relatively simple affair. However, setting a mole trap in the right place in order to catch a mole is something completely different. Ok, so it’s not rocket science, it’s not quantum physics, it’s not even algebra but there’s definitely an art form to it, a skill, if I may.

You’ve moles working in your garden, allotment, paddock, or field. All these areas vary greatly in size, yet the method of trapping applies to each one the same. Molehills are like maps, once you’ve learned to read them you can interpret where the mole is likely to be working.

Prior to starting trapping any situation I first look at the area. I try deduce where the mole is coming from, where he’s feeding, and where he’s heading, this will determine where I’m going to set my trap(s).

As the main of my work is agricultural we’ll look at this situation but the same rules apply equally to gardens, just on a lesser scale.

This picture shows typical mole activity but what does it tell us, other than there is a mole problem?

Well this picture tells us a few things, firstly where the mole is coming from and secondly, where the mole is feeding. Ok, which area is which? Well, the single line of molehills coming from the left of the picture is where the mole is coming from, the ‘Run In’ to the‘Feed Area’, which is the collection of molehills towards the right of the picture as shown below.

Now we’ve identified which area is which, where do we set our traps? That’s simple, we want to be setting them on the ‘Run In’ areas. These are the main runs intoand out of where the mole’s feeding. This will be the route taken every time a mole goes to feed, which is generally every four hours. I myself would place just one trapon this ‘Run In’ and below is where I’d put it.

I wouldn’t worry about putting a trap anywhere else.

Ok,now we’ve figured out where we are going to set the trap, how do we locate the run?

This is not always as simple as you might think. A lot of it depends on the soil type as to how easy it is to locate but generally it’s not too difficult. I use a steel probe called a dibber. This is a metal bar that has a handle on one end and an enlarged point on the other.

This is the same as I use.

The reason for the enlarged end is so you feel the actual give as you break through into the mole’s run.

I select the area I’m going to trap and find a straight line between two molehills. Then, starting with my dibber about six inches beyond the molehills I start probing the ground bringing the dibber towards me.You’ll know when you’ve located the run becauseyou will feel resistance, then nothing, followed by resistance again. You might even feel a thud as you break through the top of the run and hit against the bottom of it.

Once you located the run, determine the direction it’s goingin. This is done by simply probing either side of your original hole.Once you’ve got the direction youneed to open the run up. I use a custom spade that’s cut to the size of the traps I use but any spade will do, as long as you just cut the size of thesod to the size of your trap. I basically make a cut either side of the run and remove the sod.

Now the sod’s been removed, locate the two sides of the run with your fingers. I then remove any big lumps of mud but leave the bottom of the run as is.

Next I set the trap and insert it into the hole, making sure that it’s in line with the run.

Bed the trap in slightly by pushing it down a little bit into the bottom of the run. Next you need to cover the trap with soil in order to keep light and excess wind out. Don’t put too much soil on top because you still want the trap to be able to fire.

Finally you need to mark where you’ve set the trap because it’s super easy to forget where you’ve set it, especially in a field with a lot of activity.

Once you’ve marked your trap that’s it. You just need to sit back and wait for Mr Mole to wander through it. I generally leave my traps a couple of days, although on farms a week is not uncommon because I’ve around 7000 acres to get round and a lot of traps to set and check.

I hope this helps you catch your problem moles.

I’ve watched some great hunting videos on YouTube over the years but there’s something about the Schneider’s videos that brings a smile to my face and a longing totravel to Americaand follow in their footsteps. Theybring, an almost personal touchtowhat I’mviewing and leave me wanting to watch more and more. “The Schneiders?”I hear you say“Who are they?” Well, the Schneiders are Travis and Tom, responsible for bringing us Stuck N The Rut. They have almost 23,000 subscribers to their YouTube channel and their hunting videos are watched by thousands.

Last month I was fortunate enough to be able to ask Tom a few questions.

WM: Tom, thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions, it’s greatly appreciated, we’ll start off with a simple question, why do you hunt?

TS: “I hunt because of the challenge, the adventure, the skills I learn, helps me understand the creation of the earth better, and the rewards that comes out with it. The reward of physical fitness I get that no gym can teach you, the reward of a large bull elk that took from strategy to strategy to finally close the distance, and the meat that provides my family. I have always had a strong love for the wild, as a kid, instead of watching cartoons, I would watch the Discovery Channel. I bought books that taught me what plants are edible and what wasn’t in grade school. It just feels right to be apart of nature, because nature is God’s perfect government.”

WM: Where did your passion for hunting come from?

TS: “I guess this question ties into the first, my dad is a logger, has been his whole life. My dad also had a decent size antler pile that he eventually made into a large chandelier. Saying that, the money that supported us, the hobbies that my dad have had everything to do with nature. We were allowed to watch TV, but only at night. You didn’t want to get caught being indoors when the sun was up or video games. He was against that. If we wanted to play, it had to be outside. Because of my obsession for wildlife, the hunting connected to the obsession when I turned 12.

WM:With your interest in huntingbeing passed to youfrom your dad, do you think it’s important to pass hunting skills on to the next generation?

TS: “I do believe that it’s animportant skills to pass on. Hunting is the history of mankind. I wont be disappointed if my kids decide not to hunt because that is there right, but they will all be taught the skills and understand the purpose of why we hunt. That way, they can educate others that know little or nothing about hunting.”

(Tom and his dad, Phil)

WM: In one of your videos I saw Travis have a deercome right up and touch him, what has been the closest you’ve ever got to an animal before taking it?

TS: “It was a mule deer doe that touched Travis. For myself, I have shot a moose with my bow at 5 yards, and two elk at that same distance with a bow as well. I think the main reason this is a continual occurrence for us is because we live in thick country. When we call in, for example, a bull elk, we rarely see the animal past 30 yards unless we are in a clear cut or an old burn. We practice at far distances with our bows, but the animals we call in end up in our lap average around 15 to 25 yards.”

WM: Wow! 5 yards isridiculously close. OK, how about on the other end of the spectrum? I’ve seen you take some long shots, what has been the longest shot you’ve taken?

TS: “The farthest shot I ever made was at 840 yards on a bull elk in Montana. Had some wind, so I took my time on making my one shot count. Travis’s farthest shot is on a coyote at 1088 yards, one shot. We practice a lot in the summer, so that we are confident with our shots.”

WM: 840 yards is some shot but over a thousand on a small targetsuch asa coyote is one hell of a shot! You say you practise a lot over the summer to be confident in making such shots but how often do you get to actually hunt?

TS: “Because of my job now, I get roughly two weeks per month in the fall (I work in the oil field, so I usually work 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off.) With a schedule like that, I try to get some predator control on film winter (coyote, wolf, cougar, etc), spring bear in May, September archery elk, October elk, November Mule Deer. Depending on tags drawn, that schedule changes, the schedule I mentioned are based on ‘over the counter’ tags in Idaho. Because we live so close to the mountains, I can go elk hunting in the morning and go on a date with my wife in the evening. Trav and I used to do an Alaskan Trip every year, but now we spaced it out to every other year.

WM: Spending so much time in the mountains hunting predators such as wolf, cougar, bear, etc.do you ever get scared?

TS: “I get scared sometimes, I had an encounter with a pack of wolves before, and that made me nervous for a full month. Trav had to kill a charging grizzly in Alaska but because we spend so much time in the woods, it seems natural. We will feel nervous when we see a grizzly close to camp, but only when we have elk quarters stored close by. If I watch a scary movie the night before hunting, I will be a little nervous walking in the dark, lol. One scary moment was when my dad had hypothermia while we were camping in Alaska. That was a bad day, but we got a sleeping bag on him and he felt fine the very next day.”

WM: You travel to some amazing places and cover some ground, what sort of distances do you cover when hunting?

TS: “On day hunts close to home, we will cover from 4 to 8 miles. When camping in the back country, we will pack back around 10 to 15 miles to set up base camp, and hunt 4 to 8 miles past that. It all depends on what we see and hear. Sometimes a bugling bull elk will make us hike farther than normal.”

WM: I guess that’s where the physical fitness you spoke of comes into its own? What’s been your longest extraction, in miles?

TS: “We have had 20 mile days before, which are super exhausting. Looking for sheds in the spring, the Garmin GPS claims we will put on over 100 miles in 1 week.

WM: 20 mile days don’t sound bad but what people need to realise is that it’s not 20 miles of nice, smooth, even ground, we’re talking some extreme trails (some made as you go in) through thick brush and over mountainous terrain. What’s been your longest extraction in time to pack an animal out?

TS: “I remember chasing a caribou since 5:00 AM, Shooting it before dark, packing it out with my brothers in one trip out and watching the sun rise. Full on hiking and packing nonstop for close to 25 hours.”

WM: 25 hours! That would be unheard of in the UK, not just because our landscape doesn’t always lend itself to such extreme hunts but we have a different mindset whereby if we can’t get a beast off the hill the same day wetend notshoot it. The distances you cover in the US (as stated) can be so vast long pack outs seem ‘the norm’ what’s been your longest extraction, in number of trips while packing out?

TS: “Alaska 2012, Travis, me, and dad were hunting moose. All three of us shot a moose, and it took us three days per moose to pack out each one, 9 days total straight of packing moose meat. AChiropractor was needed for my back for a couple months. To give you an Idea of the size of the packs, My heaviest pack was 172lbs. Absolute pain.

WM: I’ve actually seen the video of this epic (cos that’s what it was) moose hunt so I know the size of the packs you were carrying. 172lbs though is the equivalent to just over 12 stones in UK weight, I’m not surprised you needed the chiropractor, haha!

WM: Three moose is a hell of a lot of meat which leads me to a very important question, what do you actually do with the animals you kill? Do you eat the meat or sell it?

TS:We de-bone the entire animal that we’ve hunted, between our family we have four big freezers full of meat. The meat is divided to our family, between out parents, brothers, sisters, and in-laws. We also have a list of people that need meat each year that we help out. The meat we keep for ourselves is used for steaks, roast, smokies, jerky, and hamburgers. We have a designated meat room in the house. As for the hides, we keep all the hides on predators such as bears, mountain lions, wolves, etc. We will keep some for decoration or we will sell them to the taxidermist. The main reason we hunt predators are for management purposes. When it comes to deer and elk hide, we usually keep the cape to sell to the taxidermist or use it on our mounts.

Ok, you’ve mentioned a few states you’ve hunted but what’s your favourite state to hunt?

TS: “Tough question on the states, I like Idaho because we live there and we capture most of our hunting videos close to home. I love hunting Wyoming because they manage their mule deer populations very well. Montana, because it is 20 min to cross the Montana border and they have some great mountain ranges and more road-less country to hunt. I love Alaska, because Trav and I have a lot of memories hunting that state, and the landscape is just majestic, and so is the wildlife. The challenge of handling the climate can be quite the challenge as well.”

WM: You’ve hunted a lot of different species, what’s your favourite species to hunt?

TS: “Elk is my favourite! Live for chasing those bugles during September. Mule deer 2nd.”

(Tom and anawesomebull elk)

WM: On your videos I seen you use both rifle and bow, what’s your favourite method?

TS: “I love using bow and rifle/long range. Long range rifle hunting is a challenge in itself, so many obstacles in its own. Bow hunting is always an amazing thrill getting really close to animals. What I love about rifle hunting is that you can be more selective on what you are looking for compared to archery.”

WM: More selective as in what animal to choose as you don’t need to have it so close I suppose?What’s your favourite bow?

TS: “I have shot a Bowtech most of my life, currently trying out the Carbon Spyder by Hoyt. Shoots smooth. For me, being tall, it fits me better having a bow with a long axle to axle.”

WM: I was always against the idea of bow hunting but after researching it properly would really love to give it a go. However,in the UK we’re not allowed to use a bow of any kind for hunting purposes, it’s pretty muchrifle onlyfor deer hunting. What’s your favourite rifle?

TS: “It’s a custom 338 ultra mag with Nightforce scope and G7 range finder coupled withaccubond bullets.”

WM: 338, nice. I’ll bet it has some serious knock down power?! Out of all the hunting trips you’ve been on, do you have a favourite?

TS: “My favourite archery hunt was Episode 54 on YouTube, called, shot 5 yard, filmed, and packed solo. Favourite rifle hunt was my Mule deer 2012. No video of that buck unfortunately.”

WM: That’s a shame but I suppose it’s not easy to film every hunt? Earlier you mentioned your hunting trips could involve camping for several weeks at a time, on a typical hunting trip, what equipment do you carry?

TS: “Kuiu has a great layering system that we like for harsh climates, Kennetrek boots good for steep country, Blackscreek packs for carrying heavy amounts of meat and gear.

WM: I’ve seen you carry some serious amount of meat too! Out of all the equipment you take, what’s your favourite item of equipment, and why?

TS: “Blackscreek packs, I have been able to de-bone an elk and pack out 150lbs of meat and my hunting gear without it ripping. It fits great on my back, and I no longer have back issues because of it.”

WM: And no more expensive chiropractor bills, haha! Hunting means different things to different people, can you describe what hunting and having the ability to hunt means to you?

TS: “The ability to hunt makes me grateful to be able to admire my health, strength, endurance, and give me confidence that I can do anything.”

WM: I find it strange that you didn’t mention the ability to put meat on your table which leads me to my next question. Do you think, with the availability of food from supermarkets that there’s still a place in modern society for hunting in order to feed ones family?

TS: “With super markets, they have their place. Hunting has it’s place as well. If we can use the resources off the land and be able to manage it as well, than why not use our resources. Having a hobby that puts meat on the table is by far the greatest privilege given to man.”

WM: That’s a good answer and one that I think everyone who hunts can relate to. However, there are those that don’t hunt and I’m sure you’ve come across people who don’t agree with what you do as a hunter. What do you say to these people, not in your defence, because I don’t think we need to defend our actions as hunters but in order for them to appreciate and understand your choice to be a hunter?

TS: ”I am always on YouTube answering questions and when the anti hunters show up, I respond politely explaining why we do what we do. The way I find most effective is first, thanking them for their thoughts. Even with a heated anti hunter, sometimes they will calm down with their swearing and start having a normal discussion. Don’t fuel the fire. Then, explain to them why hunting is so essential, that can vary due to the argument. Mostly, people don’t like our videos killing predators like cougars, bears, or wolves, so I’ll use this as an examples. I explain to them the importance of predator management, believe it or not, some people will understand. I always want to give everyone the opportunity to know, and leave it to them to accept the facts, or just believe in their own ways. We are starting to even put it in our videos before the hunt. Example, recent Mt. lion hunt we posted, we narrated that the reason we hunted the mountain lion was because it was a problem in the area. That helps prevent a lot of heat in the comments, however, thereare always haters, even hunters that are haters, and that is expected the more popular we get.”

WM: A great response which goes to show, not only are you a good hunter, you’re a diplomat too.

If you had the opportunity to hunt with anyone, past or present, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

TS: “Believe it or not, I have hunted with a lot of people, and I realize that everyone hunts differently. I have never met anyone that can camp past a week in harsh conditions like my brother Travis. We have become such a great team, and our first style of hunting was hiking as hard as we can nonstop. Then, Trav and I both learned the art of glassing hill sides for hours with binos and spotting scopes. Knowing that and being able to hike like we do, we make a great team. We also evolved together our strategy because we grew up together. It is hard to choose a different hunter than my brother, Travis.

WM: That’s got to make Travis feel pretty humble, or does he not know? Either way, the relationship you have is very much like my brother and myself. We do a lot of hunting and fishing together and it feels a little weird when out alone.

We’ve spoken about your favourite states to hunt but let’s expand on that and go worldwide. Is there one place in the world you’d love to hunt but as of yet haven’t?

TS: “As a young hunter, I had the dream to hunt the world, Africa, New Zealand. After hearing about others experiences, I would rather stay hunting in the US. I do want to eventually hunt a Dall Sheep. The story with my dad with hypothermia was when my sister was a resident of Alaska and she had privileges to hunt without using an outfitter for sheep. That was fun, living with the sheep in the rocks, drinking water straight from the glaciers. She is planning to gain residency again and settling there in the near future. When that happens, we all will be able to hunt sheep. That is a couple years down the road.”

WM: So the idea of hunting a red deer stag in the Scottish Highlands, one of the big five in Africa, or even a Tahr in New Zealand doesn’t appeal? How about this, for the rest of your life you’ve only one country and one species you can hunt, what country and species would it be and why?

TS: “America and Elk. I know that sounds like a boring answer but I am not into hunting exotic animals, or having a guide. Most of the over sea hunts require an outfitter. The best way to explain my dreams is that I have two life goals. 1) kill a bull elk with a score of 340+ and 2) kill a mule deer over 200+. When I reach those goals, I will set more. I have got a giant Caribou and Moose that I am completely satisfied with. I just love hunting mountains, and timber. North America is beautiful. I might start getting into sheep hunting more, it is just hard to draw the tags.”

WM: Tom, it’s been an absolute pleasure to have been able to ask you these questions and I wish you every success in achieving your goals and ambitions. Thank you.

Over the weekend of 13th-15th November I attended a Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 course. The coursewasrunby Jamie Allen of Yorkshire Deer Managementand was held near Ripon, North Yorkshire. The course tutor and assessor was Paul Crehan, an assessor with BASC.

When you register for the course you receive a training manual. This manual is quite comprehensive and in it you’ll find everything to enable you to successfully pass the written elements of the course. There are a couple of other elements such as a shooting test and also a safety test. Both are relatively straightforward and as long as you pay attention to what’s been asked of you and can follow instructions you should be fine.

As I said, the training manualis quite comprehensive and I struggled to actually sit and take in the information from the print.I needed to utilise a different approach so after a suggestion by a friend on Twitter I joined up toan online learning recourse, DSC Trainingwhich I found a real asset. I was able to work my way through the various questions and also deer identification slides. Access to the members area of the site is on a rolling month by month membership. There’s no fixed term, you pay for a month and when that month expires so does your membership, unless you renew it.

Paul was a great tutor, his teaching methods I found were second to none, as was his humour and storieswhich all went to make the weekend a far more pleasurable experience. The way he taught and the way the entire course wasset outwas very informal yet very structured. Regardless of experience both Paul and Jamie made everyone feel welcomed and treated everyone as equals. I think this was also helped by the students on the course. On this course were just 3 civilians, the other 9 were military personnel. Now, I’ve had a great many dealings with military personnel in my past life as a taxi driver on Europe’s largest army garrison, not all pleasant… However, the lads on this course were a fantastic bunch of lads, really friendly, approachable, honourable and surprisingly, humble. They really are a credit to themselves, theircompanies and the British Army and that isn’t something I say lightly.

The Friday was relatively slow paced, we went through the necessary admin and then the hygiene section of the training manual. It was surprising just how quick the evening flew by. Saturday was going to be a bit more intense though as we had a lot of information to take on board. The pace of the workload was pretty relentless but we all agreed to get our heads down and crack on with it, thankfully both Paul and Jamie lightened the load with stories from out in the field, their stalking experiences and general anecdotes. To be honest, I was quietly confident with the written elements of the assessments, I felt I had done enough work at home utilising the DSC Training website and when I did attempt it, the training manual sent to me. Sunday was the day I was dreading, Sunday was the shooting test. Now I’m a confident shot and have made some impressive shots (if I do say so myself) on rabbits but shooting a paper target with an audience of complete strangers is a totally different ball game. What made me more nervous was the fact I’d only had the rifle a couple of weeks, a BrowningA-bolt Composite Stalker.I had zerod with 80 grain Super X whereas for the shooting test I’d be using 100 grain Super X as I was unable to get hold of 80 grain rounds. Both werefrom Winchesterthough so I was confident in the ammunition.

Due to an unforeseen issue we had to change venue for the shooting test and had to go to another range. This range was a much more natural environment and I actually felt really comfortable shooting here. When it eventuallycame to my turnI wasfeeling pretty calm. Paul also helped with this, his method for calming you down and ensuring you did the best you could do was outstanding!

I was shootingside by side with one of the army officers on the course, he was using Paul’s Sako 85 in .243 and I was using my Browning A-bolt, also in .243. The group test came first, we had to put three rounds within a 4 inch target at 100 yards in order to progress to the next part of the test, shooting at the deer silhouettes. This part of the test consisted of three elements, shooting at the kill zone (heart and lungs) on the silhouette of a deer from the prone position, 2 shots at 100 yards, 2 shots from sitting or (as I did) kneeling at 75 yards and finally 2 shots from standing at 40 yards.

The final part of the test and indeed the weekend was a safety walk round with Jamie who asked you various safety questions. On this walk there were several deer targets positioned and you had to spot them and say whether you would takethe shot and if not, why not?

After I’d completed my safety walk my brother went on his, just as he was finishing we heard a shout from Jamie saying we had to get all the bits in the vehicles and get out of there right away as the river had burst its banks and water was flooding down the field. We gathered everything up and jumped in the vehicles to make good our escape. It certainly made an interesting end to the proceedings.

All in all it was a great weekend, mentally hard work at times but ultimately worth it. A lot of it was down to the company over the few days and I’m not sure I could’ve wished to be in better company.

All the course attendees together with Jamie (far left) and Paul (far right)

On the day of the shooting test I was wearing the Deerhunter Montana jacket and trousers that are available from Bushwear. At the minute you can buy the jacket and trousers forthecombined price of £219.98, that’s less than the price of the jacket on its own! I’ll be writing a separate review on these shortly.

For more information onsitting your DSC Level 1, or if you’re wanting to go on a guided stalk in some of North Yorkshire’s most stunning locationsyou can contact Jamie at Yorkshire Deer Management

There are talks of re-introducing several species into the UK ecosystem, including wolves. I’ve copied this from a Swedish newspaper article and translated it using Google Translate so it might not be an exact translation but this is just one incident where these ‘shy, reclusive, animals’ have attacked domestic animals. I can only imagine the devastation the re-introduction of such predators would have on the UK wildlife and domestic animal populations, as well as posing a threat to humans. Anyone who says that wolves don’t pose a threat to humans and will always shy away from them obviously doesn’tunderstand the opportunistic ways of them.

For nearly ten minutes struggling four-year oldJämthund bitchfought for her life in a wolf attack.

Klara’s owner Tommy Berglund in Sunne talks about the incident that occurred during moose hunting premiere on 12 October.

My impression is that she was out on a regular search excursion. She did not hunt the wolf, it just turned up in front of her. First, they are curious about each other, and she goes forward towards the wolf and seems pensive. She calmly walked up to find out what it was. Wolf makes a leap of a few meters and she runs after. Then turn the wolf and goes against her and it seems they sniff each other. Then slams it through the pinching her back.
A second wolf mobilization and Klara fights for her life for several, long minutes.

At the end of the film she is just down and gasping, she seems to have given up. I never had time to get into the film, but shortly after that she sits up when she hears me. Then also wolves disappeared, says Tommy Berglund. I did not see her first, the beacon had stopped functioning and my first thought was that she was in contact with a moose and received a kick. But when I went back, I saw that she was bloody between her legs and that she had a bite mark. Then I realized that it was the wolf, it was an uncomfortable feeling and Klara could not get up.

Tommycarried his dog out to the road, a distance of 700 meters in a straight line. Thoughts ran while the blood ran. This is not the way I thought.
Blessing in disguise is that the veterinarian was available only 20-25 minutes drive away, the Mjönäs animal clinic in Munkfors. They anesthetized her right to sew and kept well in a few hours. She had a large wound back as they sewed and 14 minor injuries as they also sewed. Since she had 15-20 wounds that would be kept open and drain itself, says Tommy. But we got to take her home in the evening.

Complete subsequently found pain relief and antibiotics, both tablets and liquid injected into the wounds. The day after the attack began the shock dropped and hertemperature began to become more normal. It took two or three days before she started to seem a bit livelier and happier. In the beginning she didn’t eat, but now she eats and can walk a short distance. She is doing well, under the circ*mstances, but it is not quite over yet. We‘re off to the vet again to examine her general condition, there may be injuries that we have not seen butthe dog is alert. The medication also runsout today.

Klara also received a setback during the past weekend, when she seemed to be in pain, we went to the vet again and got extra medicine to sårvätskebildningen. There hasbeen much weeping from the wounds and she probably has muscular injuries, particularly in one leg, says Tommy.
He doubts whether the muscles will recover enough to be able to hunt as before.
There are thingswe don’tknow yet. Then we’ll see if the psyche is, but she’s very like.

Klara is Tommy’s first dog and he does not think he dare let her back in the same area.
She is a family member and itwould become very empty ifwe did not got her home.
But the hunt and especially the elk hunt‘s my interest. I have been to another hunting ground, farther north, but it is hard to find and one has to be affordable too. I will not move from here. We have also talked about getting a dog, in case something like this happens. It’s a matter of when and not if, it’s that you think now.

This video shows the wolf attack from the camera mounted on the dog. Some people might find this imagery graphic and disturbing.

For weeks now my 10yr old has been asking to come beating with me so I decided that on the first shoot dayon one of the shoots I beat on, she could come along. I told her it wouldn’t be anything too hard as it would be more a ‘tester’daywhere we’d see how the new drives would work and how the birds would fly.

The morning of the shoot andJasmine was up early. Somehow it was much easier to get her up for thiscompared to getting her up forschool… I made porridge for her breakfast to give her plenty of slow release energy cosI knew itcould be a long morning. I told her we’d also be having bacon rolls at the keeper’s house so if she couldn’t manage all the porridge it wouldn’t be a problem.

We set off but as Jasmine had no wellies we had to make a pit stop in order to get some. Thankfully theagricultural merchants had some in her size. Wellies bought and we were off again, this time all the way to the keepers. We arrived at the keepers and went in. As I’d explained, the complimentary bacon rolls were waiting for us and it would’ve been rude not to eat them. Bellies now full of the finest baconit was time to set off to the first drive.

Jasmine was over the moon, this was what she’d been waiting for, sat in the back of the pickup with the dogs.

The first drive was a simple affair, although the birds were flighty as all hell. You’d think that these birds were at the end of the season the way they weren’t hanging around. The keeper said they had been like it all the time when feeding up. He said they never really settled in the cover crop and if we managed to sneak in behind them, they’d go like the clappers over the guns with the wind behind them. Jasmine and myself were the left hand flaggers, it was our job to try turn anything that came from the game crop onto the field down towards the guns. We got into position and when the whistle sounded, we set off. This was only a short drive and really was over before it had begun but the birds that had held in the cover flew wonderfully over the guns. We also flushed a covey of partridge that made their way towards what would bethe third drive. They weren’t slowing for owt either, like bullets they were! The gun in the field near us had a couple of birds down, although one had come down on the tin roof of a building. We pondered as to how to get it off and after a quick risk assessment, it was decided that it was far too unsafe to send one of us ‘older’ chaps up so a suitable child was picked and hoisted aloft on to the sloping roof to retrieve the bird. Jasmine also managed to pick her first bird for the gun, who was most grateful.

We made our way back up the field to the truck to head to the next drive. Sitting in the back of the truck (yes that’s right the back, I know my place…) we headed to the next drive. Thankfully I was wearing my Monsoon Elite Smock from Ridgeline UK, more details of whichcan be found >>>HERE<<<

We drove the wood down towards the waiting guns. The birds didn’t fly as well as we thought they would (or had previously)from this wood. Still, there were a good few birds put over the guns. Drive over we made our way out the wood andto the third drive of the day.

Lining out on the fodder beet, Jasmine and myself were glad we’d chosen to put on our waterproof trousers. There’s nowt worse than walking a field of beet and getting your legs soaked cos you tend to stay wet the rest of the day.

This drive was a bit of a let down, it would’ve been great as a first drive but not the third. I think some re-thinking is needed for this one… There were some good birds over but they were dropping too quickly into the wood below rather than getting up above it. Drive over and it was time to head to the truck for some soup. The keeper always packs a great soup and today would be no exception!

Soup done, we headed to the next drive. There was only one more to do after this one but this was a big one. We were to blank round a horseshoe shaped wood and flush the birds from the corner where they would hopefully fly into another little wood which again we’d blank to push the birds up into another, slightly bigger wood before we’d then bring them back down and over the guns. That was the plan anyway. Jasmine andI were to wait in the bottom of the horseshoe to push the birds out into the next wood. This I explained to her, was the most important job she’d have all day. If we got this wrong then we had the potential to ruin the drive, no pressure then…

We waited patiently for the rest of the beaters to blank the wood round to us. When they finally came down they were preceded by a good number of pheasants that we managed to send into the next wood. We then made our way to blank that wood into a third before driving them all down over the guns.

The next drive would bethe final drive of the day. Jasmine was rather tired by now as she’d done a lot of walking through somedifficult terrain.

The last drive was through a small wood. The keeper had done a lot of work in this wood to improve the habitat for the pheasants which, in turn had done a lot to help the other wildlife found here. It has the makings of a cracking drive as the guns line out in a field below the wood. When the wind’s right these birds will scream over the guns and will be a challenge for even the most accomplished shot. We drove the wood to a corner where they were pushed out and down towards the guns. The final whistle blew and that was it, Jasmine’s first day on a pheasant shoot was over.

All in all, she really enjoyed the day and is already looking forward to the next one.

I asked Jasmine what her favourite part of the day was and she said, “I really enjoyedgoing throughthe woods clapping and tapping my stick on the trees to send the birds towards the guns. I liked seeing all the other animals that were in the woods and on the fields. I remember we saw deer, rabbits and some hares. Oh, and I also liked the bacon butty!”

The guns ended with about 75 birds so they were all happy too.

It had been a morning of emptying mole traps but the afternoon was free so, I decided that a couple of hours ferreting was in order. Ferreting can be a great way to relax,it can also be a great way to immerseyourself in nature andyour surroundings. You can become almost one with the situation, your senses on high alert, listening for the slightest sound of thumping emanating from below groundcoming fromthe mysticalplacethat is,the rabbit’s warren.

I’d chosen a spot in the Yorkshire Dales, not too far from where I do a lot of mole control.

This was a spot I’d been on before so knew the potential. However, I wasn’t after a huge haul, just to clear a few warrens on a couple of the fields.

Nodd and myself headed down the track to the fields I’d selected, I knew there were a couple of open warrens on these fields that would be ideal to ferret. Upon arrival we noticed a couple of roe deer on the bank side in a thicketnear one of the pheasant feeders. This time of year many animals benefit bythe gamekeeper’s routinely feeding.Wheat that was originally destined for the pheasants provides energy and a valuable food source for voles, field mice, songbirds, deer, etc.

We got to setting a few purse nets, these were only two hole warrens so netting took no time but we netted several warrens in the locality to save a bit more time.

We then got the ferret collared. I’d brought my little jill along, she’s a great worker and wont leave a warren unless she’s 100% sure it’s empty.

The ferret was entered, we stood back and listened for the sure sounds of rabbits being home, thumping.

We didn’t have to wait long, thump, thump, thump! Thump, thump, thump! The sound almost resembling rapid machine gun fire then silence… Boom! A rabbit bolts from the hole in a bid for freedom, only to be captured by the pursing of the net around him.

Nodd grabbed the rabbit and passing him to me for dispatch, proceeded to put another net over the hole. Boom! Again another rabbit bolts from the same hole in a bid to escape the predator below ground but as with it’s comrade before it, it’s captured in the swiftly pursing of the net. Two bolts and two rabbits caught.

The ferret came out after the second rabbit, sniffing the air to catch the wind for the rabbit’s direction of travel. I picked her up and entered her into a second hole. She went straight back down on the scent of what wasa third rabbit. After several minutes of no sound or sighting I got the locator out to try find where she was. A quick scan of the area revealed she was in a single position, not moving and 3 foot down. There was only one thing for it, time to dig.

Nodd fetched the spade and I started digging. After removing a foot of soil the locator was used again to make sure the ferret was still in the same spot, she was. This confirmed she either had killed a rabbit underground or had one backed up in a stop end.

Prior to breaking through into the pipe I used my mole probe to check for the top of the pipe.

The last thing you want to do is cut straight into the pipe and through the ferret! Using the probe will give you an idea how much soil needs removing before breaking through. The top of the pipe is always higher than the ferret so when digging to a ferret 3 feet deep, you may only need to dig 2 foot 6 inches of soil.

Finally breaking through into the pipe and the ferret was clearly visible, although the rabbit wasn’t.

I used my spade to hold the rabbit in place while I removed the ferret, I then was able to reach right into the hole and remove the rabbit.

Rabbit removed, hole filled in and on to the next warren.

The next warren was much bigger, it’s a well used warren, although it doesn’t seem to hold great numbers of rabbits. That said, we knew there was at least one rabbit in as we’d seen one go in as we approached. Nodd got to netting some of the holes while I set a longnet around the entire warren. The reason for the longnet was because some of the holeshad multiple openings that were awkward to net individually.

Nets set and the ferret was entered. The first rabbit bolted from an un-nettedhole, making a dash for safety up the bank only to be caught in the longnet. Nodd quickly went and dispatched it and as he was making good the net, another rabbit bolted from another uncovered hole on the opposite side of the warren. Like a whippet, albeit a slightly rounder, insanely heavier one, Nodd ran over to make good the dispatch.

The ferret came out the warren and showed no interest in going back down so it was decided to call it a day as we had to be somewhere else, a 45 minute drive away.

We had 8 rabbits inthe bagso not too bad for a couple of hours.

As we were leaving we spotted another warren on one of the silage fields. I’d never seen this warren before and only noticed it this time as three rabbits were sitting on top. I told Nodd I’d go back and ferret that warren, which I did.

The following day I wentback alone to the field we’d seen the rabbits on. There was a small warren by the gate I decided to ferret first. I dropped a couple of purse nets on the holes and popped the ferret in. It wasn’t long till the first rabbit hit the net and was in the bag. As I was dispatching it I had (so I thought) my foot in the hole to stop any other rabbits bolting. I suddenly felt a thump on my backside, as I turned round I saw a rabbit bounce and runaway. I guess my foot wasn’t in the hole properly after all… The ferret came out the hole so was gathered up and put back in her box. I pulled up the nets and placed one on a single hole I’d found a little further into the field. I was sure this wasn’t part of the gate warren. I entered the ferret but she wasn’t interested so I caught her up and we moved on. As we were making our way to the warren I’d originally come to ferret I noticed a rabbit on top which duly disappeared into the warren so at least I knew there was someone home.

I decided not to bother with purse nets on this warren, instead opting to surround it with the longnet. It was only small, three holes but I do like the longnet.

The ferret was entered and almost immediately I could hear thumping then a rabbit bolted from one of the holes and straight into the net. I went to dispatch it and while doing so a second rabbit hit the net, followed by a third! This third rabbit managed to escape over the top of the net as the second rabbit was kicking around. I managed to quickly dispatch it but just then a fourth rabbit hit the net, immediately followed by a fifth, sixth and seventh!! I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t keep up! Rabbits five and seven managed to escape as I was dealing with everything at once. I removed the four dead rabbits from the net and sat back, ready to pounce, although I thought the warren must’ve been empty, it only had 3 holes! Just then, an eighth rabbit came out the warren, it sat on top for a second while pondering its next move. Unfortunately for the rabbit, it was the wrong one as it hit the net to be caught and quickly dispatched by me. Five rabbits from eight out of a three hole warren is pretty good going, plus the three that escaped will probably be home next time I ferret that warren. In total I’d had 6 rabbits in less than thirty minutes andI’d ferreted the warren I’d come to do so I packed everything away and called it a day.