Airgun Universe Spring Gathering

I was kindly invited to drop in and see the lads from web forum Airgun Universe over the bank holiday weekend, and what a treat it was. These folks must be one of the friendliest groups of airgun shooters I have ever met.
Unlike many of the online forums, Airgun Universe members are fortunate enough to have a regular opportunity to meet face to face, thanks to moderator Barry Hutchins. Barry organises the annual gathering in beautiful Dorset countryside where members can pitch up a tent and shoot a wide range of targets while enjoying lots of banter and good food. They also had a visit from master airgun tuner Lyn Lewington, who gave everyone a chance to sample the results of his work on the range.
Although the heatwave conditions may not have been ideal for shooting, it was certainly more suited to camping than typical spring weather and everyone seemed to be having a terrific time. Targets included a seriously impressive plinking range and an HFT-style course. Apart from the target ranges, with air supplies provided courtesy of Best Fittings, there was also an opportunity for members to take part in hunting trips. Nothing was wasted, and shot quarry, including squirrels, ended up being put to good use on the barbecue.
I'll file a more comprehensive report with more pics for a future edition of Airgun Shooter magazine. In the meantime, you can see what they got up to at http://www.airgununiverse.co.uk/
Thanks to all for making me feel so welcome. It was a thoroughly enjoyable couple of hours and I'm planning to stick around for longer next time.
Cheers
Mat




Some of the Airgun Universe gang - they don't just eat pies...



Dogfish recipe

Last time I said I'd share my very simple and delicios recipe for dogfish - here it is.

To serve two
You will need
Three dogfish (prepared for the table)
Olive Oil
White wine vinegar
One lemon
One clove of garlic
Fresh parsley and fennel
Salt and pepper

Method
Begin by making the marinade. Pour olive oil (about two tablespoons), white wine vinegar (about two tablespoons), juice from half lemon, crushed garlic and chopped parsley and fennel into a jar. Add a good grind of salt and pepper, screw on the lid and shake to mix the marinade.
Next, chop the dogfish into chunks of between one and two inches in length. Place into a bowl, pour the marinade over the top and mix until evenly coated. Cover bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge - for a couple of hours if you can wait.

To cook, simply heat a dash of olive oil in a pan, tip in the chunks of marinated dogfish and cook until golden brown, turning once or twice to ensure they're evenly cooked. They shouldn't take much more than five minutes.

The tasty brown chunks of fish will retain all the flavours of the marinade and taste delicious served on a bed of green salad leaves with a squeeze of lemon and a dollop of mayonnaise. Serve with crusty bread and butter.

Dogfish preparation

A lot of shore anglers don't eat dogfish, which is a real pity. They chuck them back because they'd rather be catching some of the more highly regarded (and more scarce) fish such as plaice, black bream and so on. The trouble is that by chucking doggies, which are scavenging predators, back into the sea, you're helping to conserve them and allowing their swelling numbers to continue munching their way through the fish we'd all rather be catching...
A lot of anglers don't eat dogfish because their rough, sandpapery skin is tricky to remove, but hidden underneath is tasty meat commonly sold be fishmongers as huss or rock salmon. And the knack of skinning them is actually pretty easy once you've done a few.

To prepare a dogfish, begin by giving it several hard whacks across the head to ensure a swift death as soon as you beach it.
Next, you need to remove that skin, which is somewhat like peeling a very rough banana. It's best done on the beach rather than in the kitchen...
Use your heel to pin the fish's head to the ground and, using a very sharp knife, cut down into the skin at the top of the fish, just in front of the tail. Continue this cut along the length of the fish to remove a thin, shallow length of skin from tail to head, removing the dorsal fin as you go. Then turn the fish over and repeat along the underside, making a shallow cut from the tail and following the length of the fish, cutting deeper at the belly to remove the guts and underside fins as you go. Cut the whole lot away when you reach the head.
You have now removed flaps of the tough skin from the top and bottom on the fish - but the main areas of skin remain on the sides.
Now make cuts behind the gills to free the remaining side flaps of skin and, keeping your heel on the fish's head, use pliers to grip the end of each side flap of skin and pull firmly upwards to peel away towards the tail. With both flaps removed, you just need to cut off the head and tail and your dogfish meat is prepared.

The long, pink lenghs of meat look quite serpentine but make wonderful eating. Best of all, because dogfish are cartilaginous like other members of the shark family, they don't have any small pin-bones. The meat is of a firm texture, similar to monkfish, and holds up well on kebabs. Next time I'll share a very quick recipe to turn dogfish into a delicious meal.

Shore fishing success - fresh plaice and chips

A visit to Chesil beach resulted in a good catch for the table last weekend.
Setting my sights high, I made plaice my target species and made the very long walk to a mark where these tasty flatfish move inshore to feed-up on mussel beds after spawning.

Baiting with squid-tipped ragworm, and fishing at long range, I was faced with the usual Chesil beach problem: dogfish. These ravenous scavengers often devour baits before target species get a look-in, and that was certainly proving to be the case. I ended up with eight doggies - not that I'm complaining because I think they're very good to eat once removed from their sandpaper skin - but it would have been nice to get a chance to present a bait to the flatties.

Eventually, my patience paid off, and I managed to pluck a plaice from the waves. Admiring these beautiful fish and their bright orange spots in the spring sunlight, it's easy to see why anglers devote so much time and effort in their pursuit. And they make fantastic eating, too.

That plaice turned out to be the only one of the session but it certainly made the journey worthwhile. Now I'm looking forward to going back for more.

Cooking
Plaice doesn't need fancy recipes to taste good. In fact, you'll drown out the sweet, delicate flavours of their flaky white flesh if you add too many ingredients.
After gutting my plaice, all I did was melt a knob of butter in a large griddle pan and then gently fry each side for about five minutes until it began to turn crisp and brown.
Served with chips and salad on the same day as it was caught, it was absolutely delicious.

Next time, I'll explain how I turned those nuisance dogfish into a tasty meal...

A proper day in the woods

I've just made the most of the rare opportunity to spend a full day in the woods.
Instead of the usual hurried couple of hours at a promising roost, I actually had time to really soak up the atmosphere, and to have a really good look around some of the parts of the woods that I don't usually visit. It is amazing what a difference it makes to the overall experience when you have plenty of time to take it all in.

The session started with a chance encounter with the keeper, who pointed me in the direction of one or two spots where the squirrels are causing real problems.

Later on, as I was wandering through the woods - following the course of a river that sweeps through the woodland - I spotted several squirrel's dreys, which will get some closer attention at a later date. You can see one of them below (it's the brown leafy bundle in the centre of the pic...)



As this session was a less hurried affair than usual, I took a proper packed lunch with me. While I was sat down tucking into my sandwiches, I was fortunate enough to see four roe deer walk past, no more than 20 metres from where I was sitting. Although the deer seemed to be aware that there was something out of the ordinary present, they didn't scent me and didn't bolt away. I even managed to grab my camera in time for a hasty snap as the last one passed by. Not the greatest wildlife shot you'll ever see...

All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable session, and I even managed to bag a crow and a woodpigeon before it got dark. In terms of the ratio of hours to quarry, it wasn't the most productive day's shooting I've ever had but it was one of the most satisfying that I've had in a long time - and I managed to find several promising spots to try in the future. I'll write up a more comprehensive account for a future edition of Airgun Shooter.

BVSCS talk

I was fortunate enough to join the Blackmore Vale Shooting and Conservation Society (BVSCS) for their monthly meeting in Wimborne, Dorset last night. This very active group works hard to promote shooting and fishing - and to create opportunities for young people to take part in country sports - in their local area.
As guest speaker, I did initially wonder how an airgunning talk would go down with a group that specialises in deer stalking and gundog training but it was encouraging to see that air rifle hunting is taken very seriously by the society. Members also managed to keep me on my toes with some interesting questions once I'd finished my presentation.
Thanks to Frank O'Conner and all at the BVSCS for making me feel very welcome.

Mass migration
Friday night's wet, warm weather (it was 10 degrees C and pouring down when I was driving home at 11pm) appeared to prompt a mass migration of toads. The roads were covered with them, and I assume the amphibians were making their way to their spring breeding grounds.
It made for an interesting drive home, and I'm pretty sure that I managed to get back without squashing any...

It doesn't always go to plan

A friend and I recently spent the best part of a day fishing for flounders in Poole Harbour.

The tides were good and the weather was good but we didn't catch a thing. They even managed to resist my mate's flashy flatfish attractors...



Just goes to show, you always need a bit of luck. Nonetheless, we still managed to have a thoroughly enjoyable day out in the fresh sea air - not that a couple of fish wouldn't have made it even better.
A recipe for flounder might follow if we have more success at a later date...