Available: Not sure if “Sporting” Opportunities fits but…

[Camdig]

I think if you watch the video in its entirety you'll see that Fieldsports Channel actually do a very good job of toeing the very feint line of impartiality.

Whilst it's not my cup of tea in any way shape or form, that does not mean that it doesn't deserve to be covered by journalists in a manner which feeds curiosity and awareness for the viewer. The beauty of life (and where we live) is that we have an apparent free choice to choose what we do/do not like. There will be a vast number of people, perhaps with backgrounds similar to those shown in the footage, that thoroughly enjoy this type of shooting and applaud that a professional media outfit has taken the time to show their cause.

As I am sure others will agree, many things go on in the world legally that I do not agree with - both in and out of the field sports world. However, I think that to say that it shouldn't be covered by a media outlet in its entirety is unfair. In my personal opinion, I think all 95% of media surrounding the shooting world is going to be met negatively by those that just simply oppose shooting - there's very little you can do to combat that and unfortunately just something we have to live with.

Open-mindedness to hearing one's views/way of life is, in my opinion, exactly how you find your own moral/ethical compass.

For those of you who are interested, Charlie Jacoby (founder/narrator of Fieldsports Channel), did a great podcast with Tweedl. They talk about similar things and how journalism in the Fieldsports arena has developed. In particular, they comment on seeing/reporting on things you may not personally agree with. Here's the link if you have Spotify (HERE)


Hatch

Very well put, I have hunted in Slovakia for boar and deer and the people I have met are very respectful of their quarry species and have a much closer alignment with them imo than most in the UK.
Like I've said i wouldn't want to do it but i respect different country's ways of life.
The birds themselves looked in good condition.

 

[Deerkeeper2]

It certainly doesn’t sit well with me but then nor do some UK gameshooting practices. Probably unwise to cover it on a UK based YouTube channel but I understand they like to court a bit of controversy just to keep in the limelight.
If you asked many US hunters what they think of us using TI and pointing dogs for deer stalking I think they would be horrified?

 

[ChesterP]

Totally unethical and unsporting. Personally I regard those taking part as rather pathetic individuals. They should stick to clays. It may be legal in some parts, but that doesn't make it sit right with me.

 

[Jagare]

Not my cup of tea but then neither is throwing pheasants of a tower as practiced in the USA. Large bags of poor quality pheasants will be the end for gamebird shooting in the UK. I'm sure they will be still shooting pheasants and ducks in Portugal long after its disappeared in the UK.

 

[sikamalc]

There are some morons in this shooting game. Not much different from pulling the tail feathers out of pigeons, which is considered sport in some part of Spain, trap shooting.
Field sports channel just scored an own goal. Idiots.

 

[alled12]

Was this not more or less the origins of clay pigeon shooting, and the original "trap" guns? Not to my taste, yet I'm happy to shoot a driven bird.

Live pigeon shooting was the origin of clays. Pigeon with its tail plucked to make zigzag, placed in a wicker box (trap) 20 yards in front the guns, with a long line to be pulled to release the bird, when called by the gun. When the bird was let go the gun had a single barrel to drop the bird before the 60 yards line, if the bird so much as rolled over the line then it was considered lost. It was a man v man competition with serious betting, one famous match was shot for 3000 guineas in the 1850’s. It was incredibly popular spectator sport through the 1800’s. I once had the opportunity to fire a black powder holland and holland live pigeon gun. 34 inch barrel full choke, took a dram of black powder and two drams of shot, the object was to obliterate bird to make sure it didnt cross the 60 yards line nothing to do with eating the bird you just had to kill it stone dead. The gun that i shot was superb came to the shoulder beautifully absolutely pulverised the clay target, instilled a lot of confidence in the shooter.
Now to today, the gent who's gun it was, was shooting in spain when he was offered an opportunity to watch a modern life pigeon match. Identical setup to the original but with modern guns and cartridges. He got to the shoot, at which point the limos started to arrive with various competitors, the betting was very large rolls of 100 euro notes. To put the money involved in to context its a 5000 euro fine for shooting live pigeons which apparently the competitors just coughed up before undertaking the days sport. Still very popular in Spain and Italy even today with commence rate levels of betting between competitors and spectators.

 

[Pedro]

You sometimes find old shotguns called "pigeon guns" for sale. They are shotguns that were specifically used for this. I think it's not good at all (shooting just released pigeons I mean, not the guns). Eventually (in this country anyway) they gave way to round glass balls filled with feathers that were launched into the air that when shot gave the impression of a pigeon being hit. Any surviving balls you might find are worth a bit I believe. If I recall correctly they look a bit like the glass balls used with fishing nets. And of course that developed into the clays we see today that are much more versatile, being more easily able to simulate (after a fashion) the sort of wild bird shooting you might see, such as driven, crossing, going away birds and the like and also bolting rabbits. Of course there are clay shooting disciplines that have moved on from that and developed into a more stand alone sport. Which I guess most of you know anyway.

Yes, I've heard of partridges being released on shoot days. Despicable. At least with reared birds that are done in the usual way, or on wild bird shoots, the idea is (or certainly should be) that you produce healthy birds that have good quality of life and a quick demise when they are harvested (i.e. shot).

Anyway here endeth today's sermon.

 

[Dunwaters]

I’ve seen something very similar on a couple of “ fill the bag “ duck drives.
It was quite a posh shoot too.