Fieldsports Britain - Rabbit shooting pellets and how to forage for food (episode 157)

[Music] Welcome to Fieldsports Britain. Coming up when game chef Mark Gilchrist wants a fillet, he has to kill it. He is out deer stalking in Essex. We are going all vegetarian on you this week. Jonny Crockett from survival school is foraging up and down the hedgerows looking for plants you can eat. First if this was a normal television problem we would be telling you that some of the scenes you are about to watch you may find disturbing, but it is Fieldsports Channel so either you shouldn't be watching them in the first place or get over it. Roy Lupton is testing out airgun pellets on rabbits. Rabbit shooting is a sport for all - it's inexpensive, it's an animal in abundance, done right it is a delicious meat, and it can be a challenging quarry, especially with an air rifle. For the best results and the best animal welfare it's good to know what's the most effective way of putting them on the ground. Well, with a new Webley air rifle to try out and three different pellet types to play with, Roy wants to find out which is the best to use in the field. We have the round head - the Accupell.The flat head - the Verminpell. And old favourites these pointed Jets. All in .22. To make this as realistic (almost dare we say scientific) Roy chest shot some rabbits last night keeping the heads for us to operate on, with the rest of the meat heading for some hungry ferrets. What we have got here, is we have obviously got skinned up rabbit head next to our full rabbit head and just looking at that comparison wise it really does just go to show how small a kill shot or target area you have got with a rabbit with an air rifle. So it looks much bigger because you have obviously got the fur and the ears coming up here with the rabbit with the fur on. But when you compare that with the rabbit which has been skinned off it really really does highlight that you have got a tiny target to aim in on so accuracy is always key with air rifle shooting. But that again brings us to the part of the point of the experiment today and that is we want to trial all the pellets we have got test them for accuracy which is one of the most important factors. But the other incredibly important factor is how much penetration, how much damage the pellets do when they hit the target. So as the rabbit is one of the most probably common targets for a UK airgun shooter, we thought what we would do is get a rabb it head and then we are going to film shooting it with 3 different types pellets with slow mo cameras so that hopefully it will give us some kind of indication of the damage that it causes and may be points us in the direction of the pellet which is most effective in doing that. First off we're going to see how accurate the pellets are. Tucked out of the way of the wind, and the rest of the Lupton household, Roy sets up a target and positions himself 25 yards away. The ones we are going to try first are going to be the Accupells. Again we have got to bear in mind that this rifle is zeroed at about thirty five yards so at 20 yards it is probably not going to be smack on the target. But we are not looking to see if it is exactly on, we are looking to see what sort of grouping we are getting. The pellets are grouping, but in two distinct areas - Roy realises what has happened and there is a lesson to be learned. So we have taken 3 shots with the old pellets and then just opened a new tin expecting it to be the same and amazingly we are probably a centimetre and half, 2 centimetres above the same point of impact we had with the old pellets. Between changing the 2 tins of pellets the point of impact had changed. So again interesting point coming out of it is when you start a new tin of pellets and stick to that tin of pellets. Rezero and make sure they are shooting at the same point. I can't believe that there was that much variant between. Next up are the Verminpells. Their shape suggests they should be harder hitting but possibly less accurate. I think for things like squirrels and rats because you want to make sure you bowl them over and I think they could very easily do the job. We will see what the experiment concludes. Last up it's the Jets. These are the least accurate. There is poor grouping and - just as an observation - they appear to make more noise. With the accuracy test completed, it is time quickly to talk through the rifle.. As you can see we have got a new toy to play with. We have been sent a Webley Raider by Highland Outdoors. We have done a little bit of work with a rifle so far and from a nice relatively inexpensive entry level air rifle I have been incredibly impressed. Nice little 10 shot magazine, but more importantly it is very, very accurate. Most air rifles these days do come out of the box ready to shoot, but so far very impressed. Right the plan now is to zero the rifle for each pellet type then shoot through the rabbit skull. The first pellet on test is the Accupell. When Roy is happy, we secure the target and he shoots. He hits the mark and this accurate pellet passes straight through. So you can see here we have got the entry wound. So that should have gone straight through the brain, right through the base of the brain and exited there, the perfect kill shot, but I am quite surprised at the lack of damage. So it has drilled a very neat hole through the skull and not a huge amount of damage there at all. So yet again I am very used to seeing the damage that centre fire rifles cause. So when you can actually examine the damage an air rifle causes it shows you how little effect it does have. Again it really does highlight the need for accuracy. So you can see that if you had shot the rabbit anywhere around here in the jaw it wouldn't have been a kill shot or anywhere up here in the nose again it wouldn't have been a kill shot it would have just drilled a neat hole through and off he would have gone. Yes, it really is quite interesting that when you are using an air rifle you do really have to rely on every skill you have got and every bit of accuracy you can afford. Moving on to the Verminpell and Roy has to eat his words. The Verminpell is grouping beautifully. And that's not all. It seems to be a very destructive pellet design. So this is the Verminpell and looking at it just from the exterior it doesn't look like we have got a huge amount more damage than we had from the Accupells until you actually feel and touch the head. So here you can feel all the skull is broken away just behind the entry would in here and also at the back you can see here that it is all completely crushed, it has completely disintegrated in its entirety inside and it has actually broken the neck as well. That has caused a lot more damage. Lastly, the Jets. Roy is not as confident of hitting the mark - the first is low-ish and the second is good enough to compare to the others. We were using the jets for that shot and unfortunately they were flying up all over the place. They weren't or they are not an accurate enough pellet for me to be happy to use in the hunting field and you can see here the entry wound is very low and has gone in to the jaw. So if you were in a hunting scenario that is not necessarily a direct kill shot. The pellet has gone in and I am struggling to find the exit wound. So all in all it might be alright for plinking the targets, but not one I would use for taking out and doing anything serious with. All three do the job but the Verminpell is the one that catches Roy's eye. So with Roy confident of the rifle and pellet we're off to see if we can bag a couple of bunnies. Rabbit one is further than Roy wants but hey - he knows where this rifle is shooting and at 39 yards he is *** on. Ok so I am quite pleased with that one. The rabbit just stopped in front of the shrubbery there, he was spot on at thirty nine yards. Just put the first mill dot up on him and squeezed the shot off and down he went. Not a bad kick off. Rabbit two is not presenting a head shot but Roy is confident of a heart shot. This is also a 39-yard shot. The animal goes nowhere and the Webley rifle and Verminpell flatheaded pellet combo prove their effectiveness. Rabbit three is much closer but the end result is no different. Now I know it might have seemed a little bit gruesome taking the skin off the rabbit heads, but to get a true representation of what goes on it was an experiment and I think we got some good results off it. It really did hightlight the difference between shooting with the ordinary pellet where it almost drilled a hole through the target. Then you go on to something like the Verminpell and you get a fantastic exit wound. So it just gives you a little bit more margin for error. So if your shot is not quite 100% you are probably going to take out a vital area which will enable you to kill the animal cleanly and efficiently. It's been a interesting test - that not only shows how small the target area is but also that air rifle pellets are not all made equal. Roy Lupton on target there and if you want to see more films by Roy you can click on film that is appearing in the sky above me to go to his special YouTube play list. Now, for even greater accuracy it is David on the Fieldsports Channel News Stump. [Music] This is Fieldsports Britain News. The Ministry of Defence faces a £25,000 claim from a gamekeeper who says Apache helicopters are frightening his pheasants and partridges. Richard Hearn wants compensation from the MoD for disturbance, stress and threatening his livelihood. He says that every time the helicopters hover over his Essex woodland, the birds scatter and he has had to halt shoots due to the lack of birds. Brian May has been accused of hypocrisy for allowing deer culling on his estate in Dorset. Mr May who runs an animal sanctuary on his grounds lead a high profile campaign this year to try and stop the proposed badger cull. The rock guitar legend responded to the culling claims saying that the pro culling fraternity were trying to discredit him and he had stopped the practice a couple of years ago. The 2012 Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation held in London saw the North of England win the top prizes. The Gold Award went to Weardale Estate in County Durham for owner Michael Stone's work in heather moorland restoration. The Silver Award went to Pollybell Organic Farm near Doncaster in South Yorkshire, which also recently won Tesco's Organic Grower of the Year. The Bronze Award went to the Westmorland Wildfowlers Association, based near Carnforth, Lancashire, for its success in encouraging and training younger members, as well as for promoting and practising exemplary shooting and conservation policies. The human-animal conflict came to a head this week in Srinagar, northern India, this week. Angry villagers try to torch a bear alive in south Kashmir. It follows an incident in north Kashmire where a bear killed a 55-year-old man. Villagers later claimed they were trying to scare the bear away. South African police have arrested two more suspects in connection with the poaching of eight rhinos from a game farm. This brings to eight the number of people arrested, including a game ranger. Last weekend seven rhinos were found dead at the Klipkopspruit farm at the weekend another one was found on Monday. Finally, the award for most craven campaign goes to animal rights loony organisation Animal Aid. During the festive season it is highlighting the ‘horror' that is reindeer being transported up and down the country for us to poke and prod in Santa's grottos. You are now up to date with Fieldsports Britain News. Stalking the stories. Fishing for facts. [Music] Thank you David. Now we are off to Essex with top sporting shooter chef Mark Gilchrist. We tend to film Mark in daylight - "do you have to switch the light on" But today we're going stalking with him... We are going muntjac stalking which is good because only ever shot 2 muntjacs. If I get one today it could be my third muntjac. So it is quite a big thing for me. We are up in Essex where a friend of mine has got too many muntjac on the farm and they want them culled. So hopefully Amir and I are going to go out and get some muntjac. Amir is a seasoned stalker and mate of Marks who is far better prepared than the Game Chef turned ap entrepreneur - lending him a pair of binos and a choice of knives...call that a knife!... This is all a bit silly. Nigel gave me this one to sharpen. What is this for? I think that is for shaving yourself in front of other stalkers. What is this? They are legal aren't they? Are these legal? Yeah. What do you mean yeah? It is not legal. It is a good reason, reasonable excuse. What? Good reason, reasonable excuse. What is the reason for having a Rambo knife? In case you need to bleed it from the sternum. Where a bit of extra length is..... You don't need to lecture me about why....... As we've all got up early we'd better get on with it. Unsurprisingly it is wet underfoot - and there's a constant drizzle which doesn't fill us with a great deal of optomism for deer to be on the move - Mark is already feeling the Fieldsports Channel pressure - because as much as we love him the deer never want to play ball when we're stalking with the Gilchrist - we sometimes wonder if his game pies are actually full of quorn and hummus... Anyway, as we are here in search of deer, apparently muntjac (although we haven't seen any) - what is this chef's favourite venison... I have heard every one say that everyone is the best. So of all the 6 species everyone has said that the best one by far is the particular one they shoot. It depends whether you find actually that the people who shoot say predominantly roe learn how to cook roe deer really well. So that is why it is their favourite. Actually if you know how to cook all of them they are all very good to eat. That makes sense but the propsect of getting hold of some venison today is not looking good - we eventaully rendez vous with Amir who hasn't seen anything either. Amir is going to go and sit in this wood up here. We are going to go and stalk the thicker wood, mainly a fir wood, which I think is where the deer might be. And you always find on a cold drizzly day, always, well often they are in thicker woods so we will go and give that a go. Our last block of woodland is again a deer free zone - they might be creating havoc here but not today in the rain..So what has Mark got to say for himself? All in all it wasn't a great success I am afraid. It just goes to show, a reminder to your viewers why I am not on the Fieldsports Channel very often anymore when you have got people like Crow, Digweed, Roy Lupton, the favourites that deliver every time. You have moved on haven't you. Oh well at the end of the day it is a great privilege to be allowed to walk on somebody's land whether with a gun whether you shoot anything or not. We are here and I had a lovely morning and I am allowed to come back. So that is all that matters. One of these days it'll come good and we'll be able to show Mark being as accurate with the rifle as he is with the shotgun - however, he says he does have a chiller full ready for the festive season - so if you fancy a delicious game pie to tuck into over christmas and you can't supply it yourself drop the man a line theheadchef@gameforeverything.co.uk Now let's say you shot your deer, now you need some veg. Here is Jonny Crockett from survival school to provide it for you. My mates are coming around this evening and I have to prepare a delicious meal for them. There are no super markets here, but why would I need one. So to get a meal for these mates that are coming around we need to collect some stuff and what we have got here is pennywort or naval wort because it looks a little bit like a naval, but that has a taste of a bit of lettuce with a hint of celery and just slightly of raw runner beans, but it is good stuff and you can eat it raw or sling it on a salad. You can even cook it up as well. We are not going to take all of it. We are going to leave that so that it can regenerate. We don't want to just denude the place. So that is part 1. Now these ones are the haws from the hawthorn. They are great. They have a seed in the middle. You eat them a little bit like a cherry. Nibble around them and you have got slightly like the bruised part of an apple with just a hint of avocado. Get rid of the stones, but the rest of them delicious. I love them. They go very, very well especially if you let them just dry out. So we are going to pick a few of these and then we will put them in maybe with the bread that we are going to make later on. So here we have got one to avoid. Those brightly coloured berries up there that is black briany and black briany is bad news. That is very poisonous. Inside you get these sharp horridly pointed molecules and they attack you. Those are the ones we are going to avoid like the plague. So let's see whether we can find some edible ones a little bit further down the hedgerow. Oh yes, yes, yes let's have some of this. Now this is wood sorrel and this is one of my favourites. A lot of people think it looks like clover, but it ain't. Now then if we have a bit here. Oh that is sharp really tangy. Now it has got a taste of green apple skin, Granny Smith green apple skin. It is lovely. Now word of warning it has oxalic acid in it, so you shouldn't have too much, but for flavour, we can pick a whole load of this. Well this one is burdock. It gets its name from the burs on the sticky buds and dock which is the shape of the leaf. Which looks very much like this one down here. These leaves and those leaves look very, very similar, but this is a biannual plant. This is in its 2nd year. This isn't the one we want. The one we want is this first year plant. So this is the one we are going to dig up. It has got these nice big leaves and under here just poking down there is going to be something that looks like a parsnip and what we need to do is just dig that one out and we are going to dig this one out by using a digging stick. As you can see it has a chisel point on here and I am just going to lever the soil away from one side only so that the whole plant falls into the hole that I am making. There we are look at that. Superb, so this bit here will probably just lop the end off, chop it off at about there and that is equivalent I guess to a parsnip. From the world of plant life in the English autumn to the wider world of hunting on the internet. It is Hunting YouTube. This is Hunting YouTube, which aims to show the best hunting, shooting and fishing videos that YouTube has to offer. A viewer called Sam submits his new film Pigeon Shooting with the Browning Citori, which has some good pigeon shots, a useful comparison between the Browning 525 and 725, and even some carnivorous, car-eating horses. Heading west and we are in Ireland for Vermin Control- Shooting Crows & Pigeons. Showing once again the rise and rise of the headcam, TheIrishHunting gives us highlights from his day decoying. Staying with pest control, it's off to the USA where New Air Rifle Squirrel Kill: BIG SQUIRREL HUNTER by Nevis Walker shows what can be done with a Beeman Dual Caliber Grizzly X2 Air Rifle, Model 1073, with interchangeable .177 and .22 barrels, lovingly purchased from Wally World (Walmart). Our old friend and excellent British freelance cameraman Nicky Brown has also been to the USA where he tries flyfishing for cutthroat and brown trout in freezing Wyoming. This is the first of two films he makes with Reel Deal Anglers in the Jackson Hole area. Now Nicky describes his fishing as awesome and extreme, which are strong words to use when you are up against a man who hooks a black marlin from a kayak. It is Panama in 2011. Craig Miller decides to hit the water for half an hour after tuna in his Ocean Kayak Prowler 13. What hits his line is an estimated 400lb billfish that tests the limits of his catch-and-release-from-kayak technique. More tales of derring-do and this one is from Botswana where a leopard attacks a great white hunter. It's dramatic, but what is perplexing to me is what happened to the better-quality footage from the Sony Z1 camera that is plainly in view from this headcam footage. Was it broken? Was he pretending to film? I hope the client was more forgiving to the cameraman than he was to the leopard. Back to Europe and Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, which sponsors this programme, has a YouTube channel which you can go to get under the skin of the world's best binoculars and riflescopes. In this film, our old friend and boffin Herman Theisinger explains in English that is as faultless as his glass how the Zeiss Victory HT binoculars work and what is revolutionary about their design. Now to Poland, where Filip Sioch offers a video taken on his Go Pro Hero 2 scope mounted camera of a driven wild boar day. He is rightly proud of his fast double kill, both headshots and a pig speeding across arable land. You will notice that one thing scope-mounted cameras do is highlight muzzle awareness. You can click on any of these films to watch them. If you have a YouTube film you would like us to pop in to the weekly top eight, send it in via YouTube, or email me the link charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv We are back next week and please subscribe to this show. The button is somewhere up there in the sky above me. Or go to our show page www.youtube.com/show/fieldsportsbritain which should be appearing on the screen just here. You can click on it if you are watching on Youtube and you can subscribe to just Fieldsports Britain and not all of our stuff. Fieldsports Britain out of course 7pm UK time every Wednesday, or go to our website www.fieldsportschannel.tv where you can click to like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, or pop your email address into our constant contact box. Scroll down the screen a bit and it is there on the bottom right. We will contact you with news of our programme. This has been Fieldsports Britain.