Happy New Year, 2023 is here and the season is running out fast with Game shooting already gone. On Monday past we began to get some snow which increased throughout the day and by the time the light faded that evening we were well and truly covered in. I put any plans for Tuesday…
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The Peak of the Season As we arrive into January and leave Christmas behind, the season is really in its peak before it reaches an end – The long spring and summer of bird rearing, dog training and the many, many other aspects of country sports that go on all year round…
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Where has the year gone? I say it each and every year but when I receive the final publication for the year, I take them all put and elastic band around them and place them in the loft. Every year seems to go by quicker and quicker and once again we find ourselves…
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Two weeks ago, now, the electrician called me and asked if I wanted to go for a stalk. A local landowner had been in touch and had a lot of deer roaming among his dairy cattle, and one Stag in particular was causing a lot of damage stressing the cattle a little. Never one to…
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Loads of them…. First published in Earth Dog Running Dog Magazine (2014) A few years back I had a call from a man who had got my number from the huntsman of the Beagle pack I hunted with at the time and he said he was having a serious rabbit problem and could…
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Old Beagling Days… From the book “The Seasons End” I find it unusual that more people don’t take up beagling. It is a great sport for the hunting enthusiast, and I think any dog person would enjoy it. There is little that can give a person more pleasure of a morning than to hear…
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And just like that the season is upon us. Even if you don’t make an appearance on the 1st it is pleasant knowing that its back to the winter routine which I found myself almost unknowingly slipping back into the last couple of weeks. I didn’t bother going out on the 1st day or even…
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First published in EDRD in 2015 Paco It’s been a great autumn, dry and crispy with just enough rain to keep the ground soft, and although a little warmer than I would like it hasn’t been too bad. While I thought I had all those little niggling jobs done round…
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By the time you read this the season will be well and truly opened. I am writing from sunny Spain at present and can think of nothing better than a cold frosty morning. Before leaving I had a couple of early mornings out with David at the request of a local landowner where he…
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First published in Irish Country Sports & Country Life Magazine Shooting has been there on my shoulder (no pun intended) since I was a child. My earliest memory which I may have written of before was of my father, every young boy (and grown mans if they were honest) hero, coming in the back…
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