Fieldsports magazine... for game shooting & fishing field sports enthusiasts the essential quarterly magazine. Fans of field sports such as shooting and fishing will love it. Field sports for all.
Leading field sports artists, known for shooting and fishing pictures, featuring shooting and fishing scenes, are featured. Along with the best shoots and fishings and the great sporting estates where field sports abound.
Field sports fans love eating the fruits of shooting and fishing adventures, so game cookery is big in Fieldsports magazine. And Fieldsports also features top restaurants which offer pheasants and salmon in their menus.
Lots of fishing too. Salmon, trout and sea-trout - fishing all around the UK will appeal to field sports enthusiasts. Fieldsports magazine is for them too. A very high percentage of game shooters also fish in the summer.
Not forgetting field sports, both shooting and fishing, around the world. Partridge shooting in Spain, pheasants in Hungary, elephants in Tanzania and game bird shooting in Tanzania. Again Fieldsports magazine has it all.
Shooting instruction with invaluable shooting tips, and experts on new and old guns. A full guide to shotguns is included. Side-by-side-shotguns and over-under shotguns. Fieldsports looks at all the recommended makers.
Wild pheasants and partridges always appeal to field sports enthusiasts. Fieldsports magazine has shoots that have grown from practically nothing.
In other words every field sports enthusiast will love Fieldsports magazine. Fieldsports is a must.
Fieldsports magazine is the essential quarterly title for all who enjoy game shooting and fishing.
Features include field sport grouse shooting, partridge shooting, pheasant shooting and shoot conservation, It is an essential read for shooting enthusiasts, with much more editorial than any other shooting magazine.
Leading sporting artists who focus on game species such as woodcock and snipe are also featured. There are articles on the best shoots around the country and also the great sporting estates.
Game cookery is also a key element in Fieldsports, along with restaurants serving game dishes.
For the fisherman there are authoritative articles on salmon, trout and sea-trout, with fishing in all parts of the UK and overseas. A very high percentage of game shots enjoy to fish in he summer and Fieldsports is for them.
Not forgetting sport abroad in our fist issue there is partridge shooting in Spain, pheasants in Hungary, elephants in Tanzania, and game birds in Zululand.
Leading authorities talk about shooting instruction with invaluable shooting tips, and there are experts on new and old guns. The new issue has a comprehensive guide to buying an over-under gun. Many side-by-side shotgun users are now thinking about the over-under 12 bore and 20 bore, and the Fieldsports guide looks at all the recommended gunmakers.
Developing a shoot for wild pheasants and partridges is another key subject area with two stories of partridge shoots that have been established from virtually nothing.
In other words, a big, entertaining and informative read for the shooting and fishing sportsman. Fieldsports is a must.
Reflections on another pigeon year
Rupert Godfrey looks back on a year of mixed fortunes.
2009 was a strange one for woodpigeons in the South West: the changeable summer weather - especially after the hot spell at the end of June - meant that the birds moved from field to field, and were difficult to pin down. One day they'd be there in numbers, and the next, gone, or not flying at all, as a ridge of high pressure went through. It was very frustrating, and led to a long sequence of days with bags between 50 and 100; my average per outing, which had been well over 100 for the past few years, slipped to around 60.
It was a summer, too, when, on several days, there were more than enough birds around for a bumper bag, but they simply weren't interested in the decoys: they flew past within 100 yards but took no notice at all. One day, on an early rape stubble on the farm next to my home, I shot 90, but it could have been 300. They looked as if they knew all about rotary decoys.
However, one afternoon, a month later, I set up on a wheat stubble, two fields away on the same farm, where I'd seen a few birds the previous day, not expecting to shoot more than 30 or 40, and ended up with 120. I doubt that I saw more than 250 birds, but they came in ones and twos, and almost all decoyed, or came to have a fatal closer look.
It wasn't just the summer weather: early February snowfall caused a massive pigeon migration. I benefited from this when I went out on a 'duty' shoot for a farmer friend. I thought I might shoot 40 if I was lucky. I spent most of the first hour watching huge flocks fly across the field and left most of them, hoping they might return in smaller numbers, until I realised that they weren't likely to come back at all. They were coming from an area with virtually no holding woodland, and were definitely en route somewhere else.
I estimated that around 5,000 birds crossed the field in that first hour, and I ended up with 220 in the bag. It also showed the usefulness of the quieter Hushpower gun, as the big flocks took little notice of the shots.
I persevered with the Hushpower but eventually put it aside during one particularly poor day when I shot dreadfully with it. I had taken the 28 bore with me and proceeded to kill 19 birds with the first box of shells. Since then, I've had my ups and downs, but have struggled to shoot consistently with the 28 bore too. The last few outings on the woodies - and some wonderful downwind grouse - restored my confidence somewhat, though.
My overall pigeon average is down, but I'm killing birds which I wouldn't have raised the gun at a few years ago, so confident am I that the 28 will drop them at long range. I was a great close-quarters killer, but now I'm much more likely to miss the easy ones: my pigeon diary is littered with too many references to 'missed too many straightforward birds'.
Back issues of Fieldsports Magazine are available from our shop.