How to bring youngsters into shooting

Fieldsports are under attack. At a wedding recently, a fellow guest was generally sympathetic when we spoke about fieldsports but ‘raptor persecution’ and ‘the environmental wilderness’ of grouse moors put him off, he said. He wouldn’t be persuaded away from this view.

Shortly afterwards, a friend spoke of seeing ravens in Essex. But he was worried that a dead fox he’d spotted in a field had been laced by a gamekeeper to poison them. I explained how exceptionally improbable this was, but he was still sceptical. Our opponents are very good at sowing doubt.

What is the best form of defence against this scepticism and antifieldsports propaganda? Undoubtedly to challenge, undoubtedly to explain. But the very best form of long-term defence is to build a huge base of support