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.
A natural successor
Sir Tom Cowie passed the running of his Murton Grange shoot in North Yorkshire to his youngest daughter, Vicky, last year. She talks to Jane Pruden about her role as shoot hostess.
There have been occasions when a Gun, visiting Murton Grange for the first time, has shown astonishment that a girl in her twenties is in charge of one of the best pheasant shoots in the country. "I do get the odd look of disappointment," smiles Vicky, 27. "But I like to think it doesn't last long."
It must help that her short tweed skirt, leather boots, easy manner and the Cowie name - synonymous with both shooting and business success - eases any initial misunderstanding. Vicky is the youngest of her parents' ten children (her mother, Diana, is Sir Tom's second wife) and particularly close to her father who inspired her love of the sport as she followed him around grouse moors with his dogs as a child.
The first bird Vicky shot, aged 18, (with a Silver Pigeon 20 bore Beretta, which she still uses), was a grouse at Wemmergill. "I remember wondering if I would be able to pull the trigger and actually kill anything, but that feeling went straight out the window when one came towards me. After beating, flanking and picking up since the age of 7, I had finally shot something."
Sir Tom bought the North Yorkshire shoot at Murton Grange from the Guthrie family in the late 1990's. "The story goes," recalls Vicky, "that after a good day's shooting there Dad glibly remarked: "God what I wouldn't do to buy a place like this”. At which point the deal was as good as done.
The Murton Grange shoot is situated on the edge of Sutton Bank, east of Helmsley, an area of many high quality shoots. There is no question that it ranks among the finest, most of the shooting taking place in valleys, some with very steep sides, with woodland back and front. Cover crops are cleverly used at the tops behind the trees, and well out of view of the Gun line. Famous drives include Murton Grange, Sled Hill and Top Quinoa. But there isn't an ordinary drive on the place.
A day at Murton Grange starts with the usual meet and greet from Vicky followed by the obligatory safety talk. Two drives before stopping for Yorkshire-made sloe gin and crisps allows time for the weather to be assessed. Assuming all is well, two further drives before a hearty meal cooked by caterer Davina Lovegreen in a cottage converted into a shoot room will finish the day.
Vicky’s new career has been a natural progression. "Dad asked if I would take over last year when our former head keeper left and my role evolved from then," explains Vicky. "I was spending a lot of time at the shoot anyway during the winter, picking-up, shooting and dealing with a lot of niggles to save Dad's time. Now I hardly have time to pick up a gun at all because I prefer to concentrate on running the day."
With her first season under her belt, the second should be a breeze. "I have to expect a few sharp intakes of breath from people who don't know me but on the whole most people are unfazed," she says. Murton Grange is a hugely welcoming family shoot and proud to have a host who can more than hold her own.
For all shoot enquiries tel. Vicky Cowie 0793 982 8771 or Sara Oxley 01207 529 663.
Full article appeared in the Autumn 2009 issue of Fieldsports. Back issues of Fieldsports Magazine are available from our shop.