The GunsOnPegs Podcast

Jamie Horner, recipient of at Purdey Awards Special Commendation, shoot manager extra-ordinaire, game feed specialist and all-round good egg joins George and Chris to talk all about Iford Downs, the East Sussex shoot that will host the 3rd Order of the Garters shoot day. Jamie shares his enthusiasm for using the shoot to create a habitat that benefits not only his redleg partridges, but up to 84 different wild bird species including some vanishingly rare ones, as well as his passion for creating strong working relationships with conservation organisations... including the RSPB. Jamie also helps us to solve a couple of shoot day dilemmas and shares perhaps the greatest drive name of all time. Send your Whose Bird Is It Anyway submissions, Unpopular Opinions, Forgotten Drives and Memorable Drive Names to pod@gunsonpegs.com

As we enter barbecue season, Cai Ap Bryn, AKA Game and Flames, joins Chris and George. We learn how Cai, a Welshman born and bred, found himself stalking deer in the Sussex countryside and cooking game over flame for a living. Having recently been crowned 'Best Influencer' in the 2024 Eat Game Awards, and included in the Shooting Conservation Power 100 list of the most influential and important people in the shooting world, Cai is better placed than most to inspire us to cook wild meat on live fire. He shares his eloquently expresses his passion for cooking, tells us his favourite barbecue techniques, and shares a top pigeon recipe for you to try at home this summer. He also helps us to absolve a listener of his past sins in 'Whose Bird It It Anyway?'.

New legislation in Scotland (The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act means that Estates that wish to shoot grouse will require a license. Ross Ewing, Director of Mooland at Scottish Land and Estates joins Chris and George to explain what this all means for grouse shooting in Scotland. Seen by many as a catastrophe, is the new legislation as bad as all that, and are there any positives to be taken from the process, which saw pro-grouse shooting bodies secure several important amendments to the proposals. What can the shooting community in other parts of the UK learn from the Scottish experience? Also in this episode: George shares his own Unpopular Opinion and gets stitched up by Chris, we resolve a challenging shooting/marital quandry, hear about a Forgotten Drive from the USA and discuss the logistics of shooting clays on an aircraft carrier's flight deck.

Do you ever get nervous when you're on the peg, waiting for that first pheasant to break cover? Do you tense up, or worry about what other people might think of your shooting, or have a 'bogey bird'? Do you shoot badly when others are watching? How do you get back on form when the wheels have come off mid-drive? Oliver Spensley-Corfield is a professional sports psychologist who has worked with a wide variety of professional teams and individuals. He also happens to be an enthusiastic game shot who manages a small Oxfordshire syndicate. Ollie joins Chris and George to talk about the mental side of game shooting, and how having your head in the right place can help us all to become the best game shots we can be. He also helps to absolve a listener of his chicken-related sins, and solve a taxidermy dilemma.

We have another classic episode from the archives for you! This episode was originally recorded in October 2022 and features the one and only George Digweed, arguably the greatest shot ever. One of the reasons that we have decided to put this episode out again is because later this week Chris and I are recording an episode all about the psychology of game shooting, and how getting your head game right could help improve your shooting. As we all know, I need all the help I can get on that score, so I for one am really excited for it. This episode with George is a really interesting chat and his passion for game shooting shines through - but we also get a fascinating insight into his mental approach to both game and clay shooting. if you haven’t heard this episode before, I hope you enjoy it, and if you heard it the first time around, I hope you enjoy listening back to it again. ----more---- Chris and George are joined by shooting royalty, the G.O.A.T, George Digweed MBE. Despite being a World Champion clay shot multiple times over, game shooting is where it all began for George, and game shooting is still where his heart lies. George offers up his views on practicing for days in the field, greediness on the peg, defending shooting in a public sphere, and how he has maintained his hunger to compete at the top level for more than five decades.

In this episode of The GunsOnPegs Podcast Chris and George are joined by Alex Smith, an independent gunsmith based in Winchester. Alex is an expert in old English Shotguns, a dyed-in-the-wool side-by-side fan and a former Helice (ZZ) champion. He answers all the questions you've ever wanted to ask a gunsmith but were too afraid to ask, questions like 'Is it OK to cut down the stock on an inherited Holland & Holland?', 'Will my old shotgun take steel?' and 'Whoops, I tried to 'improve' my stock, can you fix it please?'. Alex also helps us to resolve The Mystery of the Missing Millionaire in Whose Bird is it Anyway?, deal with another unpopular gundog opinion and investigate Hagrid's Hairy Hole.

In this episode we get a unique perspective on the UK shooting world. Liz and Sean Delaney own and operate Delaney and Sons, a US-based sporting agency running shooting trips to the UK, Spain and Morocco for their American clients. The pair have an immediately evident passion for shooting in the UK, and take obvious pleasure in sharing that with their guests. Liz and Sean share the things that enchant and baffle American game shots about our shooting culture, how they help visitors to these shores to navigate the intricacies and peculiarities of our traditions and customs, and we examine how land ownership and hunting laws result in a different attitude towards hunting on the other side of the Atlantic. The pair help us to solve one listener's tipping dilemma and the question of how to approach the peg draw; do you have a method? We also share the first submission about drives with unique names in 'Timbuck-Two, Timbuck-Three'. Cover photo: Sarah Farnsworth

Here's a quick teaser for the latest episode of Beyond the Hedge. Savour the Shot: Woodcock Hunting, Cooking, and Conservation In this episode Patrick Galbraith goes out in search of the mysterious woodcock, a beloved bird of hunters, chefs and nature lovers the world over. Patrick's journey begins in Suffolk with farmer, conservationist and writer Sam Carlisle, and Sam's Hungarian Vizsla, Merlin. The trio head into the woods in an attempt to bag a couple of birds for their lunch. Later, Tim Maddams, the former River Cottage chef, offers his woodcock-cooking tips, and Sam shows Patrick his favourite way of preparing these remarkable and delicious birds. Finally, Patrick catches up with Owen Williams, a painter and woodcock conservationist. Owen discusses the complexities of woodcock management and helps Patrick to understand why the question of whether shooting woodcock is sustainable is more complicated than it might appear. How to listen to Beyond the Hedge Beyond the Hedge is available on all major podcast apps and platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

In this episode of the GunsOnPegs Podcast hosts George Browne and Chris Horne are joined by special guest Jamie Blackett, a former soldier in the Coldstream Guards, renowned author, columnist, farmer, political activist, and Scribehounder. We delve into Jamie's passion for nature, his pursuit to preserve British countryside values through his books, and his son's award-winning rum-making venture. As the end of the shooting season approaches, in Whose Bird is it Anyway and Unpopular Opinions we tackle the topics of tipping the keeper on a beater's day and wearing tweed breeks for beating. We also unearth some more forgotten drives and launch a brand new feature. Later on, Jamie shares the history of his family's estate - Arbigland - and the many changes that the shoot has been through over the years that have led to its current form: a privately run, family shoot managed with more than one eye on conservation. We also discuss the challenges to rural sports in Scotland and the impact of unfavourable legislation on communities in Scotland. Providing insight into rural narratives as they play out in legislatures, the press and online, Jamie challenges political and media opposition to shooting and rural traditions and makes a compelling case for the need to refute misleading news, and to tackle sensationalism on social media.

We're thrilled to share with you something that we have been working on for a few months now - a brand new podcast from Scribehound: Beyond the Hedge. Subscribe to Beyond the Hedge wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts Spotify The documentary-style podcast is hosted by Scribehounder, writer and former Shooting Times editor Patrick Galbraith, who will be going in search of the places, people, traditions and tales that make rural Britain extraordinary. Join Patrick as he heads out along the backroads to meet publicans, writers, hedgelayers, butchers, poets and keepers of everything from pigs to grey partridges to bees. He explores these often-complex and sometimes-thorny themes with the help of real experts – practitioners with their hands in the soil and academics who’ve spent their lives thinking about things like the cultural history of fishing. Beyond the Hedge gets to the heart of rural Britain, as it was, is now and will be in the future. ----more---- In this maiden episode of Beyond the Hedge, Patrick explores how writers depict the countryside. Who are the very best writers on the countryside today and what’s the difference between “rural writing”, “nature writing” and “sporting writing”? Why do so many so-called “nature writers” dislike the term? To help him to understand the subject, Patrick enlists the help of some old-hands. First he heads to Hampshire to speak to Jonathan Young, who edited both Shooting Times and The Field, Britain’s oldest sporting titles. Jonathan shares his thoughts on how sporting magazines have changed over the years and he reveals the three essential pieces of equipment that the Editor of Shooting Times, in its golden period, used to give to every new member of staff and he also shares his thoughts on what sort of day in the field makes for a great magazine feature. Patrick then meets up with John Mitchinson, the founder of the publishing house, Unbound. John, who is himself a pig-keeper, has an encyclopedic knowledge of great books on rural Britain. He also has a very clear sense of what the difference is between ‘countryside writing’ and ‘nature writing’. Do people, Patrick asks John, actually want to read about the countryside as it really is? Finally, Guy Adams, a features writer at the Daily Mail, explains how the internet has impacted economics of newspaper and magazine publishing and he reflects on the effect that this has had on countryside writing. They also discuss the importance of proper writing on the countryside and how new forms of publishing could revitalise the scene by offering writers the chance to be paid properly again for their work.

Master gundog trainer and breeder Ricky Moloney has been involved in fieldsports since an early age and has built a reputation as one of the nation's leading practitioners of the art of running a picking up team... though where Ricky is concerned it is more science than art. In this fascinating episode Ricky shares what he calls "The Procedure" - his foolproof way to pick every bird that should be picked, and none of those that should not. Ricky also shares the heartwarming story of how he came into fieldsports as a British-Pakistani, adopted at a young age by an English family in Lancashire, and how the shooting community welcomed him with open arms. We also solve more listener correspondence, including a challenging thank you present and a man who's missed his lunch and is not happy about it.

Christmas is over, the weather is grim and we're all back at work, so we thought we would re-share a classic episode from the archives - one of the funniest and definitely one of our all-time favourite episodes - to bring a smile to everyone's faces. Featuring husband-and-wife duo Charlie and Clare Brownlow, the anarchic recording never fails to make us chuckle when we recall it, so hopefully it will liven up your week as well. In a chaotic episode, Chris and George are joined by artist Clare Brownlow and her sporting agent husband Charlie. They offer one listener some marital advice, an American correspondent gets guidance on matters sartorial, and Chris and George get parenting tips. The team also discuss Clare's unique artistic technique and style, how 'directional splatter' got her into trouble, The Game Train ("The Hogwarts Express for people in Tweed) and much much more.

In this very special episode, Chris and George are joined by two members of the Most Noble Order of the Garters in George's sitting room ahead of a day's shooting on the Browne family farm. Over a bottle or something nice and a few of cans of something grim they get stuck into the inbox and answer some listener's queries. In the second half, George explores the history and future of the family shoot with his father, Simon, going right back to the early 20th century.

Steve Colmer was a grouse moor headkeeper for twenty years before retiring from full time keeping in 2020. He is widely regarded as one of the best grouse keepers of his generation. In this fascinating, touching, inspiring episode he joins Chris and George to share his passion for moorland management, some tales from his time on the moors, and his desire to share the wealth of knowledge that he amassed over two decades. If the tale of A1 Jockey doesn't make you laugh and cry, you're probably dead inside. (oh, and there's some of the usual silliness too).

For this episode Chris and George are joined by a titan of the shooting community, Mark Osborne of William Powell, William Powell Sporting and JM Osborne Rural and Sporting. Over a long career in shooting Mark has been involved in everything from setting up and running shooting grounds, gunmaking, grouse moor management and more besides. In a wide ranging discussion Mark helps to solve a listener's urgent query, shares his take on what is needed to run a successful grouse moor, discusses the future of lowland shooting and much more.

Louisa Clutterbuck is our special guest for this episode. She helps us to tackle an email from a listener who disagrees with some of the discourse of the last few episodes on the topic of the sustainability of shooting, and another on the rights and wrongs of double gunning. We also discuss Louisa's hard work with British Game Assurance and Eat Wild. We debate how to get more game onto restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, as well as the challenges, threats and opportunities that face the game meat market in the UK. We also look to the future and how a change in approach might help to make game more of an everyday option for UK consumers.

In this episode we delve in the GunsOnPegs Podcast Postbag to answer some listener queries that don't quite fit into the regular segments, with a bit of a focus on making your first steps into the game shooting world. Matt Kidd, fieldsports photographer and writer, former International Fly Fisherman and one-time First Class Cricketer joins us to share his wisdom and offer sensible(?) advice on those topics, plus tackle an HR question in Whose Bird is it Anyway and share his views on an Unpopular Opinion that puts Chris and George's choice of words under the spotlight.

Vintage gun enthusiast and side-by-side clay shot extraordinaire Simon Reinhold joins the podcast to share his fondness for old guns, sticky drinks and why he thinks competition clay shooting is ripe for a shakeup. Simon is one of shooting's deep thinkers, and we explore how the worlds of mathematics, psychology and even Oriental philosophies can act as a lens through which to look at game shooting, as well as helping listeners with the challenges of having tough conversations with syndicate members and how to resolve a family feud. PLUS is it possible (or even desirable) to complete a Macnab on one's wedding day?

What's the right thing to wear for hot September partridge days? What would you do if your partner was sneaking off to shoot without you? Is shooting overpriced? Do shoots make money? Is Stella still a good beer? Why are there so many craft beers? How can we redefine what a great shoot looks like? Discover the answer to some of these questions in this rambling and chaotic episode of The GunsOnPegs Podcast, with special guest Jonny Carter of TGS Outdoors.

Renowned wildlife artist and woodcock aficionado Owen Williams joins us for a blather over a glass or two. He shares his theories on the link between the pre-historic people who painted animal figures and hunting scenes on cave walls and contemporary sporting artists, holds forth on the topic of his beloved woodcock. He also helps to offer some advice to a listener in need of a way to spice up a shoot day, and opines on the merits of pre- or post-shoot day dinners. PLUS, there's big news about the season ahead and a wonderful opportunity for members of the Most Noble Order of the Garters.