Irish Extra February 2022

It has been for many a February in the Irish Extra a tradition to open my column with my congratulations to the first Irish Salmon of the year. This year, the first was caught by Garrett Byrne from Dalkey, Co Dublin, on the Drowes river on January 13th and weighing about 12lb. Congratulations Garrett, tight lines in the future. I often would have liked to have an interest in Salmon fishing as does my father but unfortunately, while I admire the fish and the anglers it just never was for me. Our river at home in the North West, “The Roe” was a river I spent many hours on as a child both with my father and alone. Trout and specifically Sea trout on bait was always my interest, I wanted to fly fish and tried to fly fish but after breaking rods, tangling lines and getting caught in trees I gave it up. My dad on the other hand was and remains a fanatical salmon angler, and has spent his life on the River. Since a young boy he has fished every inch of it and knows it inside out. Many times, I avoided going along with him to fish as he never knew when to go home and to spend 16 or 18 hours on the bank in one stretch was something he done regularly, particularly as the season drew to a close.

Garrett Byrne with the first Salmon of 2022

Lead Ban Averted

Speaking of season drawing to a close, it is only a short time until the end of the Game shooting season, many ferreters and lampers will also cease and things again fall into that awkward period between now and Spring when other things can again be taken up. This spring I plan to increase my Larsen trap activities as I have quite simply never saw as many Magpies & Grey crows in my own area, and it is an area which is heavily trapped in summer.

Just prior to Christmas the hot topic of a lead shot ban in Ireland was brought to a welcome close with the announcement that there would be no blanket ban. With the initial proposal of a ban, it was feared that thousands of guns using lead shot would have to be decommissioned and replaced at an estimated cost of £241million . This was a concern for many shooters, myself included as my own firearms are not steel proofed as more modern guns are and it would have been the case that they too would have needed to be replaced as initial estimations by the IFA and others highlighted that under RAMSAR definitions, over 80% of Ireland could be classed as a wetland. However, the Department of Housing has now confirmed that just 18.72pc of the country has been designated as a wetland. If the wetland area had exceeded 20pc, then there would have been a blanket ban on the use of lead shot throughout the country under the regulations. The ban on lead shot in the remaining 18.72pc of the country will still come into effect in 2023 and NARGC Chair Dan Curley is calling for clarity on which parts of the country will be affected.

“We welcome movement on this, but the Department needs to engage with stakeholders now on both sides of the debate so we’re all informed as to how this is going to affect people on the ground,” Curley said. “There needs to be clarity to ensure that the ban is upheld and adhered to and that everyone understands where the defined wetlands are.”

Fallow for the freezer

I had a welcome invitation to a friend’s hunting area recently, not far from home. I left in the very small hours with “Remy” my young Teckel and my rifle. Our plan was to have a few hours early morning stalking and hopefully also give “Remy” some further education with Deer. His initial live Deer work had been limited as he arrived as a very young puppy in October 2020, while he did accompany me here and there, it would really be the 2021 / 22 season where he would start to learn. We had a bit of a rocky start as day broke, with things not going as smooth as they should and the first few deer accidentally winding us, but luck soon caught up with us in the woods when I had all my work cut out to shoot a fine Fallow buck between many off putting trees and branches, I then shot a pricket on an adjoining laneway and sort of engineered a “track for “Remy” who took it all in his stride. It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning and provided a lovely animal for the freezer with everything else going to the Teckels and Lurchers or kept back for summer blood tracking training.

New Year Meet raises £2,500 for Charity

Despite the setback of last year with lockdown, Tynan & Armagh Hunt were quick to pushed ahead this year with their annual New Year Day meet raising a wopping £2500 for charity.

The money was split between the NI Air Ambulance of which at least two people a day find themeselves in need of assistance of the AANI and Riding for the Disabled that benefits the lives of over 25,000 disabled children and adults. With fun activities like riding and carriage driving, providing therapy, fitness, skills development and opportunities for achievement. I’m sure you will agree two very worth while causes indeed.

CAI commend the fantastic effort by all those involved and it was also amazing to see so many young riders taking part supporting such great causes.

Bird Numbers

I am very interested, more than usual to hear of readers opinions on bird numbers over the 2021 / 22 season – Myself personally, I shoot more or less the same areas each year, mainly for inland ducks. These areas always have large numbers of Teal but this year there was a significant increase in Mallard, certainly in areas I shoot anyway. It would generally be hard to say if numbers of something are up down just because you didn’t see them as much, there are many factors not least the time you are on the ground, weather, etc – Snipe is a good example, for me I would say Snipe have remained more or less the same on my areas and I feel there has been an increase in Woodcock – But this may or may not be the case. However Mallard certainly were up. I saw and shot (at)! Mallard ducks in areas I never saw them before in the last decade. Get in touch, let me know – Are your areas up or down, it is interesting gauge the opinion.

Until Next time – Good Hunting.

Les B with Tilly

Mr Andrew Kennedy, after a full days shooting at only 92 years young! Keep at it Andrew