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First Words image: Emily Damment
Cover image: Matt Limb OBE
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SCAN THE CODEhttp://www.sportingshooter.co.uk 3EDITORIAL
Editor Rebecca Green
0118 974 2508 [email protected]
Editor-in-chief Dom Holtam
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Staff Writer Emily Damment
0118 974 2521 [email protected]
Sub-editor Ben Palfreyman
Art Editor Trevor Ince
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Printed in England ISSN 1741-
Printing William Gibbons
EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS
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be sent by email to [email protected]
How do you measure whether your
shooting is improving? By how you feel each
time you go out? By the number of clays that
you hit (or miss)? As Alex Hatton discusses in
his tuition feature on page 18, improvement is often
hard to measure objectively when it comes to
shooting. However, following a particularly bad
shooting spell last season, Alex headed to the clay
ground with a shotgun coach to carry out a more
structured analysis of his shooting and what was
going wrong. Here, he shares with us what he learned
and offers up ideas on how we can all map out a
route to better shooting.
Sticking with the theme of improving our shooting,
Steve Rawsthorne tackles some of the most common
technique pitfalls shooters encounter and tells us
how to identify and avoid them (p42). Is there
anything more frustrating when you’re missing than
having a well-meaning friend telling you you’re
‘behind it!’ but not giving you any idea why or what
you’re doing wrong? Nope, didn’t think so. Steve
explains why this common problem occurs, how to
spot it and, crucially, how to fix it.
Just as Sporting Shooter was going to press, wereceived the good news we have all been waiting for:
Defra has released three new general licences which
have, by and large, been deemed fit for purpose by
our shooting organisations (see details on page 6) –
so it’s pretty much business as usual for anyone
needing to control problem birds.
It is a massive relief for everyone in the shooting
community, and it sends a powerful message to the
likes of Wild Justice that as far as government is
concerned, common sense WILL prevail, despite
their misguided attempts to thwart our way of life.
However, it is unacceptable that farmers, shooters
and businesses had to endure months of upheaval
and chaos and that livelihoods and wildlife suffered
as a result.
The situation is far from done and dusted, and no
doubt there will be further challenges ahead, but the
teamwork that was shown by our
organisations is to be praised –
without it we may not have
this resolution. For now at
least, we can get back to
doing what we know is right
for the countryside. REBECCA GREEN
Editor