Irish Extra August 2020
Its been a long summer for country sports and we have all felt it. No large events, field trials, point to point meetings etc. Now as we enter August we are all looking forward that little bit more to getting back to what we love and seeing the darkness close in a little bit earlier each weeks almost builds excitement for those windy nights with the lamp, flighting ducks, hunting with Teckels or for me this season with a hawk on the fist as well.
My early autumn plans were set on Germany, for a few days wild Boar hunting and to bring back a puppy that was born in June at the kennels of my friend Doreen Klaus of Alten Freidrich.
August is a month that forever reminds me of the late Philip Lawton who wrote Irish Extra for many, many years before I did. Philip became a great friend of mine and always had things that he did at a particular time of year. One of these was to check EVERYTHING he owned for a season hunting in early August. That included shot guns, rifles, lamps and anything else. I often thought it was a great discipline to have because all too often we leave it until the opening day to realise the gun has broken a firing pin or the lamp needs a bulb! At this time too, I often check my paperwork, gun licenses, euro permits etc and stick them altogether in a file and under the front seat of the pick-up in case we ever get stopped by the police then everything is there.
Jack Charlton Passes
I was so very sad as was probably the entire population of Ireland this month when the news broke of the passing of Jack Charlton. I must admit, and many people laugh, but in my childhood I had absolutely no idea Jack Charlton had anything to do with football. My first memory of him was watching re runs of the ever-popular Country Sports television series he filmed called “Jacks Game”. And receiving a book that followed the series as a gift from my grandmother. He visited my home town of Limavady several times to fish on the River Roe for both television and pleasure and spent a lot of years in his holiday home in Ballina, County Mayo in Ireland where he spent the summers fishing the river Moy, a river I too was familiar with as my father spent many hours along the same banks. Jack became an adopted son of Ireland through football and country sports and was adored within both. His representation and passion for country sports and football was phenomenal and I was touched to see such a fitting tribute unveiled to Jack in the town of Ballina in the form of a mural on a wall facing the river on the “Ridge Pool” he declared as his favourite fishing spot in the whole world. Ballina was Jacks second home and it was a tribute to his memory to see so many hundreds of people lined out in his memory for the unveiling of a most fitting mural. There is also a beat on the Moy named after him and I am sure Jack will live on in Ballina for a long time to come.
Man O War Dog Show
With large events not running with the current situation, it was still possible for smaller events to take place and Saturday 26th July was the date set for the “Man O War” Dog Show organised and ran buy Charlene Rafferty, her daughters Chelsea and Brooke. The show was a massive success and was well attended with social distancing and sanitation adhered to throughout. I was unable to attend the show myself but received the results just this evening.
Overall Champion Dog – Pip Farrell with Zeus
Reserve – Perry Coonagh with Lockdown
Champion Puppy – Gerald McKeown
Reserve – Jade Dunphy
Lurcher Champion – Lisa Beggs with Nina
Reserve – Rose McCoy
Champion Whippet – Colin Tucker with Copper
From the Countryside Alliance Ireland
Ahead of the grouse season, the Countryside Alliance has produced a comprehensive Q&A briefing note on grouse shooting for parliamentarians which provides a factual response to the 10 most frequently raised issues about the sport and its associated moorland management. Despite the considerable environmental, economic and social importance of grouse shooting, there is often a lot of misunderstanding about it, and the purpose of the briefing note is to help MPs both when responding to any concerns which may be raised with them, and to ensure that they do not take at face value the unsubstantial and intentionally misleading claims that are all too often made by those calling for an end both to grouse shooting, and shooting in general.
You can also find the link on www.countrysideallianceireland.org
Inland Fisheries Ireland would like to remind members of the public and the catering and hospitality industries that it is illegal to purchase or possess illegally caught salmon or sea trout. Only salmon or sea trout that have been caught by licenced commercial salmon fishermen may be sold and must bear a colour coded green or white gill tag, or for wild imported salmon, a yellow tail tag. Anglers are prohibited from selling salmon or sea trout caught by rod and line, rod caught salmon must have a blue tag affixed but cannot be sold. Fishery officers carry out regular inspections of premises to deter the illegal trade of salmon and sea trout.
Inland Fisheries Ireland’s fisheries protection officers boarded a fishing boat off the Cork coast and seized 98kg of salmon and 256m of illegal net. The seizure was secured on Monday the 13th of July 2020 by Inland Fisheries Ireland staff who are based in the Cork district of the South Western River Basin District. Unfortunately similar seizures have taken place in Donegal and Mayo in recent days.
Dr Greg Forde, Deputy CEO and Head of Operations at Inland Fisheries Ireland, said: “We wish to highlight the importance of protecting migrating salmon and sea trout stocks against illegal fishing activity. The risk of targeted netting of salmon at sea remains the highest priority for our protection staff, who have seized 15 nets in the South Western River Basin region so far this season. Nationally a total of 91 nets, measuring 5,300 metres have been seized to date since the beginning of the year. The value of prompt and accurate information from concerned members of the public who report instances of suspected illegal activity or pollution alerts cannot be overstated. Information may be passed directly to local Inland Fisheries Ireland staff or by phoning our confidential Hotline number on 1890 34 74 24 or 1890 FISH 24.”
Until Next Time – Good Hunting!