Shooting, whether it be for game to eat or  just for sport and pleasure, is getting a very unfair press in my opinion.  Shooting is enjoyed by a huge number of people around the world, but now unfortunately it is becoming increasingly under threat from social and political do-gooders.  Here in the UK a person can not have a hand gun unless it is kept in a gun club i.e. you are not allowed to have it in the safety of your own secure gun cupboard.  When are people going to realise that it is not the gun that is dangerous but the person or should I say idiot using the gun.  No matter what legislation the government brings in  these strict gun laws will not stop the use of illegal guns.  Street crime will not drop.  We are holding the 2012 Olympics and yet we may not be able to have a shooting team, how ridiculous is that?  I don’t have a hand gun and to be honest I don’t want one, but I do feel very strongly that it is my right to have one if I want to.  When are we going to stop this ridiculous nanny state.  When will the idiots of this country realise that man has been hunting his dinner since time began and I for one can tell you it tastes a lot better than anything you will ever get in the supermarket.    

I was brought up in the country just after the second world war with my three brothers.  My Father was a farm labourer and didn’t earn must money but my Mother always had a lovely meal for us on the table as soon as Dad came into the house.  The meal would usually contain meat.  As we were quite poor Mum very rarely went to the butchers for the meat, so where did she get it from?

Well Dad was what is sometimes known as a “hunter and gatherer”.  We would have Duck, Water Hen, Pigeon, Rabbit, Hare and any other kind of fowl that Dad could shoot.  At week-ends myself and my brothers would go with Dad and we were taught the need to respect the countryside and all the animals that live in it, including people. 

I am now a grown man and times have changed as have attitudes, especially towards hunting.  I still go shooting and take my two sons with me.  They have been brought up to respect and care for animals but also to keep things in there right perspective.  Animal were put on this earth for man to enjoy, that also means to eat.  I know that anything I kill has had a good free life, much better than any animal kept on most farms or battery chickens.  Anyone who eats meat should be prepared to go out on a fine Winters morning and bring home his own supper.  I can assure you that it will taste so much better than any farm reared leg of Pork that you get from your local butchers.

One of the most pleasurable experiences I have ever had was the time I went Deer stalking in Scotland.  We were up early in the morning when the mist was still hanging heavily around the trees.  We had a tracker with us to help, not surprisingly it is a very skilled job tracking the deer and getting up-wind from them.  We tracked the deer for 3 hours and in the end it still got away, but that didn’t matter we still had a brilliant time.  On average I would say that 80% of the prey escapes, or maybe it’s just that I am getting older and am no longer a very good shot. 

I am a country person born and bred and I don’t understand why everyone is now so much against blood sports, especially if they eat meat.  As for the veggies of this world they are just plain nuts.  Who knows, one day they will say that lettuces have feeling too.  All I say is get out there and try it.