Irish Extra March 2021
March is an odd month for on the calendar for me as it one which well and truly puts a stop to any proper country sports. With Game Shooting finishing in January, we hold onto February for dear life with many Saturday ferreting days and mid-week lamping sessions heralded as the last of the season before it gets a little warm. This year lamping for me ended a little earlier than usual and I have been “Teckling” a little more than usual.
Cider and I had another good day out and were hopeful for someone at home after a few days of snow and ice, unfortunately after checking a good few spots on a freezing Saturday morning last weekend we had no luck. Later in the afternoon I hunted some cover with Poppy and Oscar although there was some hunting for 15 minutes or so in one small area, we lost what I would guess was a fox and after we moved onto another area where young Poppy somehow managed to catch a Mallard duck in the cover which I released we called it a day!
A common phrase in Ireland to herald the coming of spring is “There is a quare stretch in the evenings” which translated means the days are getting gradually longer! With this “Quare stretch in the evenings” comes for me an opportunity to brush up on dog training and fitness. People with Lurchers often talk of their dogs “resting up” over the summer, something I have never really done, in fact I use it as an opportunity to keep them fit and improve their fitness by the time Autumn rolls around. It is a time for mornings on the beach with lure machine, or some evening along the river with the Teckels either blood tracking, retrieving or anything to keep them occupied, fit and busy. I recently acquired a Dummy Launcher and although I am far from keeping Field Trial Teckels, I do plan to use it to improve their retrieving, especially Poppy who fetched up shot Mallard and Teal over the winter. All of my Teckel training is place board based, a method I have found fantastic for instilling the much-needed obedience and recall into my Teckels as a very minimum. It is something I would highly recommend to anyone with any type of puppy let alone a Teckel.
First Salmon (s)
As I wrote in my last article, I usually report details of the first Irish Salmon of the year, but by the February 2021 Irish Extra deadline there had been no Salmon, one that is usually caught in early January. Since then I had no confirmation on the actual first Irish Salmon but Connemara’s first salmon of the year has been caught on the Delphi fishery. Delphi fishery manager David McEvoy was only angling for a few I minutes when he hooked a 6lbs 3 oz salmon in the “Waterfall pool” on the Bundorragha river, using a Willie Gunn tube fly. Within an hour, the Delphi estate manager Michael Wade also caught a 6lbs fish in the river’s “Rockpool”.Both catches recorded on February 1st – the first day of the season on the Bundorragha – have been verified by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI).
PSNI Pause New Firearms Magazine Policy
The PSNI have paused implementation of their recently introduced policy requiring firearms certificate holders to apply for variation of their firearms certificate (at a cost of £30 each time) when making changes to the number of magazines that they possess.
The PSNI have also agreed to work closely with Country Sports Ireland and other representative bodies to find a better solution that enables the PSNI to meet their legal responsibilities but doesn’t unfairly impact or inconvenience the shooting sports community.
These were the key outcomes of a meeting held yesterday and attended by the PSNI, Country Sports Ireland, other representative organisations, and politicians Patsy McGlone, Mervyn Storey, and Jim Allister. The meeting was organised following significant concerns being expressed by Country Sports Ireland and others regarding the detail of the new PSNI policy on licencing firearms magazines and also the absence of any consultation on it. The PSNI have accepted that this caused a great deal of unnecessary anger and upset within the shooting community and are now committed to working with us to find a better solution.
From The ICC
There is great sadness in Abbeyfeale, Mountcollins and further afield at the death of Jim Broderick, Knockulcare, Mountcollins, Co. Limerick who passed away peacefully on Saturday. Jim was a dear friend, supporter and sponsor of Abbeyfeale Coursing Club and a most popular gentleman with everyone at the club and all who knew him. His nephew Joe is also assistant secretary at the club. Jim had a passion for greyhounds and he & his family enjoyed some great days on the coursing fields and brought many a runner to Clonmel for the National Meeting. Nothing Fancy an Oaks Trial Stakes winner at Charleville in 2017 being just one that springs to mind. He will be greatly missed.
Our sincere sympathy to his brother Mossie, sisters Kathleen and Margaret, nephews, nieces and extended family.
Requiem mass on Monday February the 15th at 11 AM in the Church of the Assumption, Mountcollins. The funeral cortege will depart from his home at 10 AM for anyone who would like to pay their respects by standing in a guard of honour.
Events planned for 2021
I was recently delighted to hear news that some country sports events are in planning for this year and of course even more so that we can look forward to the Irish Game Fair who are working full steam ahead and have received “Good to Go” Covid accreditation. Hopefully as things begin to relax we might see a return in some capacity to the previous circuit of Working Dog Shows throughout Ireland annually which are severely missed alongside our larger events.