Newark, The British Shooting Show

Another year goes around and we find that the show organisers had delivered on their promises, a great show and almost all under one roof. I do feel that the fishing stuff would have been better in one line rather than across the top of gun dogs and game keeping as it seemed to form a boundary! The trade stand took almost 4 hours to build this year, only 1 to take down thanks to six helpers; In amongst the dog traders with the competition, good natured as always;

Paul and Richard supping tea early on saturday before it got too busy;

The layout with the new birds from Dokken, I need to practise with the new point and press;

So its a shooting show and I'm an RFD so I took a couple of walks about, I did happen across this stand and much to my pleasure have been offered loan of something for testing;

Something from the deep recesses of my memory and my youth;

Something I will really enjoy;

So the 2011 show season has started, hunting the outlandishly or innapropriately dressed punters season has opened. I bagged this Gent close to our stand;

This poor chap looked like a rabbit in the headlights;
The red cords made a very welcome return;

Even a matching ensemble was seen;



Large and small;

As sunday wore on and the crowds faded we squared away the packing and were very thankful for the heating which worked this year and wasnt stolen;



The crowds drew down to a trickle and we packed up and went back for a last night in the noisiest travelodge on the A1.

A wet start to the weekend

Sadly nothing to show for it, plenty of deer seen, we used a new high seat and bagged a fox but sadly the only doe daft enough to stand still didnt quite stand still long enough. To top it off Marty my client travelled down from Newcastle and on the way home his car broke down.
So back to wading through the emails and cleaning rifles.
Karen aka Miss Funnyfanny, sent this over, titled a brief history of Italy;

Its been a tad dark here recently so time for a bit of fun

Thanks to Clive for that one, the one below isnt safe for work apparently and I should warn you its very laddish;

Well you were warned, now where's me darwin candidates?

Its been a quiet few weeks since the season ended.

We dont catch up birds and breed here, its too small a shoot for that, we settle for buying in and any strays from the neighbours, well they pot enough of ours. Sadly though despite what the picture shows we dont do enough fox control. These were tanned ready for the British Shooting Show at Newark where I will be selling them;
This week did allow enough sunshine to get out and do some rifle training withh young Alix;

A quick check zero and time to put some work in on a deer target, last time we tried different shooting positions, this time we are concentrating on getting good shots in on the kill area as a confidence booster;

There is always time to have a pop with Dad's rifle as well;

No leaves on the trees means the shooting is a little easier;

Following some adjustment the rifles grouped nicely on the target;

Another week blows by

Or rather nearly blew us of the map, gale force winds and still nowhere near as bad as Scotland. Mind you the deer stayed put wherever they were and proved impossible to see. A first for me at this location. It cant have been great for the trainee stalker Will who I took out especially as we were surrounded by signs that the deer had just been there;

Nice view from the high seat though;
As the weather has been such a downer on us I thought that something should cheer us up and it should also be charitable;

Dont get me wrong, you know I'm a real ale man but we dont seem to do adverts the same!

That said I'm hoping to be here for every session this year, working but enjoying it nonetheless.

Watch the side of common sense

Farewell to the Harrier Jump jet?

Rumours abound that this was possibly a flypast in formation past Downing Street!