Shooting Times & Country – 21 August 2019

SPORTING ANSWERS

52 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

Like a frog out of water

WILDLIFE

Irecentlyfounda froginmy
Londongarden.I don’thave
a pondandthegardenis walled
withnoaccesstowater.Should
I movethe frog to the local park?

Itis probablybesttoleavethe
frogwhereyoufoundit,though
it is intriguingtoknowhowit cameto
reachyourgarden.Thoughwealways
thinkoffrogsaswaterdwellers,the
common frog is a grass frog and only

comestowatertobreed.Thisis in

markedcontrasttothegreenorwater

frogs,whichrarelyventure more than

ahopfromwater.

Thebestknownofthewater

frogsis themarshfrog,a species

thatisn’tnativetotheBritishIsles

butwasintroducedfromHungary

toRomneyMarshinthe1930s.It is

nowwidespread,thoughlocalised

insouthernEngland.Commonfrogs

canbefoundthroughoutBritainand

Ireland,inanyhabitataslongasthey

have a breeding pond nearby.DT

Sneaking up onwary rabbits

AIRGUNNING

Therabbitsononeofmy
shootingpermissionsare
startingtogetwary.Thereseem
tobea lotabout,buttheyareso
skittishthatit is almostimpossible
tostalkwithinrange.Isit time
to switch to night-vision tactics?

Headingoutat nightshouldhelp
youtobaga fewmorebunnies,
butconsideringtheeveningsarestill
quitelong,it wouldmeanputting in
some very late sessions.

Beforeheadingoutonthe

graveyardshift,I wouldscrapthe

stalkingandtryusingambushtactics

instead.Setupclosetoa busywarren

andthingsshouldbemucheasier,

becauseyouwillalreadybewithin

rangesowon’thavethenoiseand

movementofclosinginforeachshot.

If youcanputupwiththe

discomfort,tryshootingfromthe

proneposition.Gettingdownonyour

bellywillkeepyouofftheskylineand

meansyoucanshootfromthesupport

ofa bipod,whichwillhelpto increase

your eff ective range.MM

Settingupanambushandshooting

fromthesupportofa bipodcanbean

effective way to outwit wary rabbits

RIFLES

Iamthinkingofbuying

a Boydslaminatedstockfor

myRemington 700 rifle.Canyou

tell me the benefi ts of doing so?

Therearemanybenefits

ofa laminatedstock,which

comprisesmanylayers of hardwood

pressedtogether

usingheat,

pressureand

resintoforma

uniformmaterial.

It allowsfor

aninternaland

externalstock

designthatis far

strongerthanany

standardfactory

woodorplastic

s t o c k o n o ffe r.

Laminated

stocksalsohave

t h e b e n e fit o f

beinghighly

resistantto

climaticchanges

andarevirtually

impregnableto

waterormoisture.

Theyretaintheir

rigidity,whichis

idealtomaintain

consistentbeddin

betweenthe

stockandthe

barrelledaction.

Thesestocks

arealsovery

goodinhot

weatherasthe

UVraysfrom

thesundonot

degradethem

andhumidityin

tropicalclimes

doesn’taffect

them.Thismak

themgoodfor

overseasstalkin

t r ip s.F i n a l ly,

Boydslaminate

stocksoffera

c o s t - e ffe c t i v e

waytoupgrade

froma traditional

walnut stock.BP

Laminate

b e n e fi t s

Theattractive

Boydsstocksare

strongandcanbe

used in all weathers

Commonfrogsare

frequentvisitorsto

gardensandonlygo

into water to breed