Recipe for haggis scotch egg with oat crust and chutney. Ingredients 4 free-range eggs 350g haggis 250g sausage meat 12g parsley leaves, finely chopped Oat crust 40g rolled oats 40g breadcrumbs 2 tbsp plain flour 1 egg, lightly beaten Oil for frying To serve Salt Chutney Method Boil the four…
print-to-web-archive-free
Not all sporting dogs enjoy swimming
We all know that you can take a horse to water but can’t make it drink; it’s equally true that you can take a dog to water but can’t make it swim. Some years ago I photographed a selection of HPRs (hunt, point, retrievers) at a novice working test. They…
Early season shoot days
My enjoyment of early-season shoot days remains as strong as ever. But there is more to this appreciation of an August day on a moor, a September day in fields of stubble and an October day among leaf-clad trees than just nostalgia. Don’t get me wrong, I recognise and love…
Thomas Straker: the joy of cooking what you shoot
“We came to thrive over other species because we were able to hunt and cook and feed our brains,” says Thomas Straker. “That all stemmed from hunting. The most dialled in I ever am is when I’m out with a gun and a dog. Walking-up woodcock or trying to shoot…
Modern Airguns
The modern airgun is a sophisticated tool and the weapon of choice for professional vermin control. Perfect for shooting magpies and rabbits around the garden
James Murray: The Field interview
James Murray, or Jim as he likes to be known, is a phenomenon. He’s a celebrated actor, a talented artist, a gifted angler and a conservationist and campaigner who is truly making a difference in the murky waters of river management. When he was recently awarded the MBE, along with…
Smoking wild meat: the secrets to success
How smoking wild meat began Science is a little undecided but somewhere around two million years ago our hominid ancestors started to harness fire. It wasn’t until about a million years later that we have relatively conclusive evidence that Homo erectus, with a culinary ambition of a magnitude never before…
Shooting rabbits with an air rifle
Like many fieldsportsmen, my earliest memories of forays in the field take me back to shooting rabbits on warm summer evenings. I count myself fortunate to have had a grandfather who worked as a herdsman on a dairy farm for an owner grateful for help keeping numbers of those grass-gobbling…
The DSC1: vital for anyone serious about stalking
There was a shepherd, a farmer, a welder, a roofer and an ex-huntsman. No, it’s not the beginning of a joke but the attendees who gathered in Clynderwen Community Hall, deep in the wilds of Pembrokeshire, to undertake the Deer Stalking Certificate Level 1 (DSC1). This certificate is increasingly required…
A stalker’s breakfast
The movement of the muntjac buck can first be seen in the half-light. However, we have to wait for the pre-dawn grey to relinquish its grip, finally revealing the verdant green of the valley below, before we can catch sight of him once more. The buck at last emerges from…









