Please chaps, don't believe a thing you read in the Daily Mail! Let me hasten to add, I am not being an apologist for our police or the grooming gangs, rather that the Mail is well known to sensationalise most of it's stories, sometimes, allegedly, with the truth!
Back on topic, the whole lead ban issue is a debacle. The science is bad, the lobbying is bad, the politics is bad, the legislation is bad. Or at least, it is to me. I do not want a lead ban in my country. I am not convinced the alternatives to lead have the same lethality and, yup, I know that steel has been used for decades in wetlands and I understand why it is used, but I remain, as I say, unconvinced. I am loath to put steel, bismuth, bioblue or any other alternative through my ancient Victorian SxSs and, yup, I know you can and have read all the advice about how to, when to and where to, but I remain, as I say, loath to.
What I am saying is that, in what is left of our free world, regardless of the arguments for the lead ban, my take on it is that I do not want it. It may be a subjective take on my part, I may be accused of ignoring this or that, but I am still allowed to feel as I do. I am not making a case here for anyone else, I am merely speaking, or at least writing, on my own, yes, selfish, account. Which leaves me with the big decision on what I do about it.
I have shot all my life and am now 71years old, still in active good health, thank you dear Lord. I have been fortunate to shoot some very fine driven pheasant, partridge and just a small number of grouse in our green and pleasant land with some equally fine gentlemen and a few ladies. I've also enjoyed days walking hedgerows with dog and gun, flighting woodpigeon, duck and geese. I have in the distant past been on hare shoots and woodcock shoots. In a good season I have had around a dozen days at driven game, so I am not someone who shoots an awful lot each season, but I have been ever so fortunate to enjoy some marvellous days. I still shoot around four days a season and go to the clay ground once every two months or so to have some fun and keep my eye in. I still enjoy the anticipation of each of those days, the countryside and the people. As a pensioner I can no longer really afford to shoot much more than I do.
However, if the lead ban comes in in 2029, as it looks as if it will, I think I shall retire from the field and enjoy reminiscing about those days afield, by reading through my game book and remembering those shots, that corner of a wood, that stand out in the open, that wooded peg with snap shots, that retrieve by my dog, those happy times with my father, family and friends. My children and grandchildren do not share my passion for the sport, so I have no one close to pass my great grandfathers gun on to, or my very modest collection of other guns. I shall be sad but grateful for those happy days afield.
Tim
