Airgun Fieldcraft

Mathew Manning combines a good deal of practical information and enjoyable, anecdotal text to give the reader a pleasurable insight into the world of air rifle hunting. In Air Rifle Hunting Through the Seasons, Mathew Manning has compiled a guide to air rifle hunting skills and techniques that is a must-have for anyone who wants to get the most from their airgun shooting and stay one step ahead of their quarry. The book covers the vast array of hunting techniques used by one of the country's leading shooting writers. Whether controlling pests on the farm or hunting meat for the pot, the airgun shooter has to pit his wits against the finely tuned senses of wild creatures that run the gauntlet of survival on a daily basis. Through this book, Mathew Manning shares his wealth of experience to help you tip the odds in your favour. The title covers in detail the skills of fieldcraft - the hunter's deadliest weapon. Join Mathew for a year in the countryside and learn how to read the signs provided by nature and then make the right decisions to enjoy consistent success in the field. Mathew describes more than thirty hunting scenarios encountered through the year, from decoying crows and magpies and hide shooting for pigeons to long-range rabbiting and woodland squirrel control. He offers easy-to-follow guidance on how to pre-empt the habits of quarry species along with the various techniques and tacti he uses to exploit hunting opportunities throughout the year. There are also helpful notes on game preparation and a selection of favourite recipes, including Pigeon Pasties and Rabbit with Apple and Cider.

Do you, like me, gauge your 'normal' life via a watch or clock, with British Standard Time applied? A wild creature won't. It will follow the angle of the sun, the rise of the moon, the direction of the breeze, the temperature of the day or night. It will note the budding and the fall of the leaf, the height of the crop and the ripeness of the fruit. It will sense the breeding cycle of its mate, the primeval need to mate and consequently the feeding and protection of its young. It will rely on its knowledge of the prominence of its prey and the existence of its own predators. It will live and breathe with a cautious eye, at all times, fixed on simply surviving each day. To be a 'hunter' you need to learn all these things that make wild creatures tick. When I put aside the clock to ignore time pressures, when I pick up the camera to record a wild creature, when I sit in deep cover watching quarry with a gun, when I shoot a wild creature, a pest species ... I put aside my 'normal' life. I am in a different life, with different nominal values and different priorities. It is a life I often prefer over my 'normal' life ... for it is deep, pure, precarious, colourful, exhilarating, unpredictable, non-committal and forgiving. When I'm out there with a gun, there is no-one to criticise me, but me. The only expectations are mine. Throughout this book I will frequently use an archaic and endearing term ... Mother Nature. For I can think of no other term to describe the Tao, the intangible spirit that wraps itself around both man and beast in the wild. Mother Nature influences birth and death, season and weather, dominance and subservience ... all in equal measure. What she gives, she also takes away in fair balance. She? I use the feminine deliberately, for only a female could be so devastatingly beautiful and bountiful; yet ... at times ... so viciously cruel. This book isn't just for the air rifle hunter. It is for anyone who roams the countryside attending to vermin in the interest of crop protection and conservation. It is for the boy with the catapult (for that's where I started) and for the mature adult stepping onto the hunting trail late in life. It doesn't matter what tool you carry ... the fieldcraft needed is the same. But if I convince you, by the time you reach the end of this book, that the air rifle is a wonderful tool and capable of many tasks ... then it's been well worth writing. Come take a walk with me around the woods and fields of Britain. I will show you what, where and how to hunt with that most versatile of tools ... the air rifle.

This book describes all you need to know about hunting with an air rifle and is suitable for beginners to experts. It also guides the reader through the lore of field craft from stalking and ambushing your prey to hide building and decoying.

Covers everything from rifle types--how they work and their uses--to choosing a rifle; sighting systems; ammo choice; accessories; gun handling; the uses of camo; general fieldcraft; hunting seasons; hunting technique; preparation of game; safety; and more.

Mathew Manning combines a good deal of practical information and enjoyable, anecdotal text to give the reader a pleasurable insight into the world of air rifle hunting. In Hunting with Air Rifles, Mathew Manning has compiled a step-by-step guide on everything a novice or an expert air-gun user needs to know when hunting and culling wildlife. Hunting with Air Rifles is a complete guide to the basi of using an air rifle - covering all elements of the sport from the nitty gritty (though not frighteningly technical) workings of the air rifle to how to choose the right gun, using sights, ammunition, accessories, clothing, camouflage, setting up, shooting techniques/stances, the law and acquiring permission to shoot and how to avoid the pit-falls of expensive or dangerous equipment. Manning deals with quarry recognition and the relationship between the hunter, his/her quarry and the countryside. Hunting techniques for various species are included from stalking to hide building, decoying, baiting, lamping and use of calls. Air rifle hunting is one of the most humane ways of sourcing meat and animal welfare and organic standards can't get much higher and food miles are minimal. The photographs are straight forward and support the text and readers will find clear instructions on converting shot quarry into meat for the table along with a series of simple and delicious recipes. This book is essential reading for novice and for expert air-gunners.

In the late 19th century, the Rockwellian city of Plymouth, Michigan, became the breeding ground for competitive air-rifle companies, putting this still-thriving suburban Detroit community on the map. Plymouth's Air Rifle Industry hones in on the three air-rifle companies and the spin-off .22-caliber rifle company that dominated the Plymouth landscape for years. William "Philip" Markham and his company, the Markham Air Rifle Company, first received an air-rifle patent in 1887. The Plymouth Iron Windmill Company entered the competition in 1888, when founder Clarence Hamilton introduced his prototype to the board of directors. After firing the rifle, general manager Lewis Cass Hough declared, "Boy, that's a Daisy," and the Daisy air rifle was born; the company was renamed in 1895. The Plymouth Air Rifle Company opened in 1888 and ceased to exist after its building burned in 1894. Hamilton went on to develop a .22-caliber rifle and started the Hamilton Manufacturing Company in 1898. The rifle era ended when the last of the competitors, Daisy, moved to Rogers, Arkansas, in 1958.