Fieldsports News

Did animal rights activists stage the death of Fred? On 15th February 2018, BBC presenter Chris Packham released a film on YouTube suggesting that a golden eagle he calls Fred, hatched last year, was killed by a gamekeeper. Its satellite tag, maybe still attached to the eagle carcase, was apparently dumped in the North Sea. […]

The Home Office may be about to attempt to force gun owners to pay their GPs for filling out an ‘initial medical records check’ and adding a marker to medical records. This is likely to be accompanied by a change in guidance to the police making it a requirement that an applicant’s GP responds before […]

Oil is good for woodcock. Birds returning to Europe and Asia from the UK encountered strong easterly winds last week. This picture posted on the North Sea Bird Club Facebook page shows them breaking their journey on the Tartan oil platform which lies midway between Aberdeen and the coast of Norway.

The home nations picked up a remarkable collection of medals in rifle shooting events at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 – but Commonwealth domination goes to India, followed by host nation Australia. In the Queen’s Prize Pairs, England’s Parag Patel and David Luckman take gold, Chris Watson and Gareth Morris of Wales silver and […]

Kenya has taken the first steps towards bringing back hunting. Following a conference in the European Parliament held by Africa’s hunting nations – which have the bulk of Africa’s wildlife – Africa’s non-hunting nations are considering big game hunting as a method for reintroducing species that have been wiped out since their bans. Work on […]

British bird charity the RSPB is to back off from wildlife crime cases after the police told RSPB that its actions could jeopardise prosecutions. Newly-released documents seen by The Times newspaper reveal the  Police predict the RSPB would “kick and scream” if excluded from investigations into crimes such as the suspected poisoning, trapping and shooting […]

The Danish hunting association and the association of gundealers are to phase out  non-bio-degradable materials in shot shell wads. Non-degradable shot shell wads will be gone from the market after a ‘short transition period’. There are bio-degradable alternatives on the market. The two organisations hopes that this initiative will spur further technological development.

The Crufts Best in Show award ceremony was disrupted when a protester from animal rights group PETA ran into the arena just as the winner was declared. The man, who was holding a sign reading “Crufts: Canine Eugenics”, was swiftly tackled to the ground by security staff. The winning two-and-a-half-year-old whippet bitch, Whippet Ch Collooney […]

Tesco has bowed to animal rights intimidation and removed a fox hunter fancy dress costume for children from sale after hunt saboteurs complained. The “red fox hunter jacket” is designed for children aged 7 and older on the supermarket’s website. However, antis say it is “encouraging children to become animal abusers”.

Sad news for the wildlife of Tanzania. The US trophy import ban on Tanzanian elephant and lion trophies is now having real – and potentially devastating – consequences, including the loss of decades of successful nature conservation. The following sad message is from Eric Pasanisi, one of the largest outfitters in Tanzania. Until now. “I confirm […]

A ‘stag selfie’ craze is emerging among walkers in urban and suburban public parks that contain deer. Members of the public have been pictured posing in front of fallow deer at London’s Richmond Park in order to get a good picture for Instagram. Others have been condemned for doing the same with red stags at […]

The British government is exploring the possibility of another gun ban as it releases a consultation paper on .50 calibre rifles. Despite the extensive background checks required to become a firearms licence holder in the UK, it believes that a ban on the rifles will stop them being used in criminal and terrorist activities. The […]

The vote to ban trail hunting on National Trust land was narrowly defeated. The result of the vote shows just how little anyone cares about hunting, just 30,686 people voted in favour of trail hunting, a figure that makes up just less than 1 per cent of the overall membership of the trust. Just 2% […]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he is ‘not keen’ on grouse shooting and is looking forward to a review of Bradford Councils contract on grouse shooting on the Ilkley moor. The Ilkley Gazette asked Mr Corbyn whether the Labour-led authority should end the arrangement. And he told the reporter that he has “never been grouse […]

There is a hunting controversy underway in Armenia after photographs of men holding dead griffon vultures emerged on social media. The photos date back to before 2013 and the individuals in the photos have been identified. One of the men is a village mayor allied to the Republican Party of Armenia. He told media in […]

A moose hunter says she is “thankful” for the multiple death threats she has received from antis after pictures of her Alaskan moose hunt went viral. Jessica Grays attracted the attention of violent extremists after posting pictures of the moose she shot on Facebook. She now says she’s “thankful” for the multiple death threats she […]

A US hunter who waited years for a ‘moose tag’ and spent thousands on it, has given it away to an army veteran. Rick Carosone from Idaho waited 18 years for his moose tag to come up in the state lottery, and spent $1,400 on it. But when he got it, he gave it to […]

Prince Charles tried to stop Tony Blair from banning hunting with hounds, in letters released this week. The Prince of Wales lobbied the then British Prime Minister not to outlaw the sport in a 2002 letter. His letter reads: “There is … complete bewilderment that the Government is apparently responding to calls to ban something […]

One of Britain’s top shoot owners will miss the start of the season because he is riding his horse the length of Britain. As the pheasant-shooting season gets underway in the UK, 81-year-old Sir Humphry Tyrrell Wakefield who owns Chillingham Castle in Northumberland is riding his horse Barack, named because the horse is half black […]

BBC TV presenter Chris Packham is in the limelight again after publicly supporting proposals to ban trail hunting on National Trust land across the UK. Trail hunting was adopted by hunts ten years ago after the fox hunting ban came into force. The legal practice involves dogs chasing an artificial scent rather than a live […]

The Countryside Alliance has launched a podcast. The online radio show is hosted by Rachel Smedley and the CA’s head of shooting, Liam Stokes. It is called ‘Voice of the Countryside,’ and presenters will regularly delve into topical rural issues. The first podcast is available to download now and touches on the topic of trail-hunting […]

One of the biggest problems facing pheasant shooters is calculating where they are to stand on a peg when the shoot captain has said ‘numbering left to right and moving up two’. There is now an app to solve that problem. Shooter and Fieldsports Channel viewer Stephen Brown designed the app, which is available free […]

Gunmaker Sauer is launching two new shotguns. They are called the Apollon and the Artemis. The Artemis is specifically designed for women. Top sporting sculptor and Fieldsports Channel regular Jenna Gearing, models the Artemis shotguns in the new campaign alongside her sister Ellen. You can see Jenna put the gun through its paces in an […]

A sea angler took two hours to reel in one of the largest tuna caught in British waters while he was hunting for shark. Using a rod he designed himself, Andrew Alsop caught the 225kg Atlantic bluefin tuna about 20 miles off the Welsh coast, near an area known as the Celtic Deep. The fish […]

Two firefighters who used an old duckhunting trick to put out a fire caused by Hurricane Harvey are now national heroes. Jason Hunt and Beau Bishop had been seconded from Arkansas to help fight fires in Houston. They attempted to attach a hose to a fire hydrant, only to discover there wasn’t enough pressure for […]