The Field Magazine

13/02/2025

Top Dog Awards 2025 competition now open! In association with 's and Pet Insurance

Click the link below ⬇️ to enter.

https://bit.ly/3CCM2k9

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13/02/2025

It is important to recognise gundog faults and put a stop to them no matter what a defensive be**er or picker-up may tell you about 'all that being just for trialling people'. The truth is without good dogwork, sporting shooting is impossible, says Janet Menzies.

It is important to recognise gundog sins and faults and put a stop to them no matter what a defensive be**er or picker-up may tell you.

13/02/2025

Out today. March’s issue of The Field is sure to set tails wagging across the land: it’s our gundog special packed with carefully curated, original canine content. Eleanor Doughty explores the challenges and rewards of working a mixed pack, while David Tomlinson explains why gundog day is always the busiest at Crufts. Lucy Higginson goes back to the classroom and learns that schools across the land are enlisting the services of dogs to help with everything from easing anxiety to accompanying prospective parents and pupils on tours. And if speed is your bag, look no further than lure coursing and the thrill of the chase it offers. The March issue also sees the launch of our 2025 Top Dog Awards, celebrating and recognising how canine companions - be they working labs or laps - enrich our lives.

We report from a Dorset shoot with conservation as its cornerstone where camaraderie and challenging wild sport rule supreme. Matt Clark rounds up his pick of workhorse guns that punch above their weight, getting the job done in style without breaking the bank. From Spain via the Amazon to Tibet - John Bailey rates some of the most thrilling hidden fishing spots the globe has to offer for those game enough. Mary Skipworth enjoys a day with the RAC Beagles and the students that are up with the larks to manage the pack, while Sir Johnny Scott remembers a showman of the hunting world: the legendary Johnny O’Shea.

Enjoyed SAS Rogue Heroes? Robin Ashcroft goes back to the winter of 1942-1943 and the challenges faced by the British Special Forces. Madeleine Silver says the more the merrier: why racing syndicates offer the highs and lows of racehorse ownership and a fraction of the cost but with a ready-made social life thrown in. Sam Rickitt digs into the pork pie, exploring how a picnic favourite became a sporting staple, while Gabriel Stone hails the farmwashing fightback and what we can all do to back British farmers. England Rugby star Tom Croft on his love of stalking and much, much more.

12/02/2025

From GSPs to vizslas, Large Munsterlanders to Italian Spinones 🐾

Do you have an HPR breed? Any photographs to share?

Do you know your way around the various hunt, point and retrieve (HPR) gundog breeds. Dog expert Janet Menzies has written a useful guide.

11/02/2025

Planning to cook something delicious for Valentine's Day?

Here are some tempting ideas from The Field, from pheasant parmesan breasts to salted caramel chocolate mousse.

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Whether you are eating "a deux" or feeding a crowd on the 14 February, The Field's Valentine's Day menu is guaranteed to impress. Have a go at our recipes

11/02/2025

This morning at 10am, The River Deveron District Salmon Fishery Board (RDevDSFB) and The Deveron, Bogie and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust (DBIT) are delighted to announce the opening of the Deveron salmon season in association with The Deveron Single Malt Whisky (Bacardi).

The Morison Trophy will be presented at the opening ceremony at Turriff Angling Association lodge (by kind permission of TAA) and the opening ceremony will follow thereafter. Special guests Mr. Ian Gordon & Jane McCarry will be in attendance to do the honours.

Raised on Deveronside, Ian is a master salmon angler and world Spey casting champion. Ian is pioneer of tackle innovation and a passionate advocate for salmon conservation.

Jane is a is a Bafta award winning actress and comedienne and has worked extensively in both theatre, television and radio throughout the UK. Jane is best known for her character” Isa Drennan” in BBC Scotland’s Still Game is one of the best loved and funniest on Scottish Television.

Mr. Craig Wyness, winner of the Morison Trophy for 2024 will make the first cast of the season. Craig secured the trophy by landing a 26lbs salmon from Laithers.

Thanks goes to Henderson’s Country Sports (Turriff) for sponsoring the salmon rod that will be presented to Craig for carefully releasing the winning salmon.

Richie Miller, River Director said “We are very much looking forward to the salmon season opening. The total number of salmon caught from the Deveron by anglers last season was 123% higher than the season before. This improvement was hugely welcome. We are delighted that Ian and Jane can join us to get the angling season of to a memorable start!”

10/02/2025

The legendary Jack Charlton on the salmon 🎣

Salmon fishing and a bygone era, a record of sporting and social history.

10/02/2025

Whether the way to your beau’s heart is on horseback, the river bank or even a boar hunt, for proper country sorts, the best proposals require a sporting setting and one muddy knee. Such intentions declared in the field are rarely rejected. But the field is not always the place to easily facilitate a romantic moment. So how to go about it?

What could be more romantic than the best proposals in the field, from river banks to ski slopes and even a boar hunt? Alexandra Henton has said yes

08/02/2025

‘With that sad why-should-this-happen- to-me? expression, a friend tells me the story of a labrador of noble line which seems to have found time on the moors to eat a grouse and then, during a rough ride down from the hill, regurgitate the partly digested bird, feathers and all, before the shocked gaze of his master and companions in the Land Rover..’
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F Warner Hill in a 1964 issue of The Field.

08/02/2025

Our 2025 pigeon shooting calendar

A pigeon shooting calendar tells you when and where to go for the best bag. Pigeon shooting is a year round necessity. Ensure you're in the right spot.

06/02/2025

That hedge looks a bit prickly 🥹

Quorn Hunt Tumblers Club!🐎
If you're going to have a tumble, why not do it for a good cause? Each £10 tumblers donation helps support our incredible Air Ambulance, and you'll be in the running for our end-of-season awards🥇🚁
Please fess up to Izzy or Nicky and pay using the link on our website👉 https://www.quorn-hunt.co.uk/qhpaypal_misc.html

British Hound Sports Association Countryside Alliance Hunting Penny Fillingham Photography

01/02/2025

The Field Annual Top Dog Awards are back! Nominations open on Feb 12th, so get your dog photographs ready. Categories this year include: Best retrieve, best gundog puppy photograph, best working dog photograph, ex-service dog award and naughtiest dog.

More details to follow ... 🐾

In association with 's and Pet Insurance

30/01/2025

A few tips. Including 'hiding' the new puppy in the garden so the older dog 'finds' it. Apparently this makes the older dog feel somewhat responsible for the new arrival.
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Does introducing a puppy to your one-canine household put the older dog’s nose out of joint? David Tomlinson advises on how to introduce a puppy

28/01/2025

Whatever happened to sheriffs, one may ask. The answer is that they are still around and still sporting breeks and fancy ruffs.

High Sheriffs roles today are mostly ceremonial. Almost the only official duty left is to look after visiting High Court judges and act as the returning officer in parliamentary elections.

27/01/2025

It's the time of year we're perusing seed catalogues and planting bare-rooted shrubs. Which will be ignored by deer? 🌹🦌
With thanks to The British Deer Society - Official for advice

Are deer devastating your garden. Here's a guide to some relatively deer-proof plants that are disliked by the species, which may help your garden bloom.

24/01/2025

Does the idea of waves of partridges charging past like Spanish fighting bulls or redlegs screaming high overhead on a hot day in February set your sporting pulse racing? If so, we have curated a list of the best shooting estates.

Whether you are looking for sky-high driven partridges or birds presented in traditional style, here's a list of the best game shooting in Spain.

24/01/2025

Any flies you are particularly proud of?