SPORTING ANSWERS
Marking quarry in the dark
AIRGUNS
Q I do a lot of pest control with my air rifle but I don’t have a dog, which can sometimes make retrieving shot quarry tricky. Most of the shooting I do is for grey squirrels and pigeons in woodland, and it annoys me when I can’t find what I have shot — especially when it is edible. Can you offer any advice?
A Like you, I find it frustrating when I can’t pick shot quarry and I seldom take a dog with me on my airgun trips, mostly because I have yet to train one to stay sufficiently still and quiet. My main piece of advice is to mark carefully the area where shot quarry falls. Use a distinctive tree or landscape feature as a marker and walk straight in to make the retrieve without delay.
It is surprising how quickly you forget where things fell when you have a few birds or squirrels on the ground, so it really does pay to pick them straightaway. Rummaging around in the gloom is even more challenging, so a quick pick-up is essential when roost shooting.
I also make sure I have a torch with me as the extra illumination often comes in handy. MM
Storing smoked pheasant
GAME COOKING
Q I want to smoke some of the pheasants that I shoot to give to people as gifts. I don’t want to make anyone ill, so could you let me know how long will the birds will keep once smoked?
A Assuming that you want to smoke only the breast meat,
