I lift the scope carefully from the table and bring it to my eye. It looks and feels like a quality piece of kit, but it’s slightly unwieldy because it’s not attached to a gun. I adjust the focus and the eyepiece until the reticle is pin-sharp and the image is perfect. There’s a stubble field beside the showground which slopes gently uphill to the edge of a wood. It’s midday in late summer. The landscape is flooded with bright light. I dial the magnification up to the max and scan the shadowy line between field and wood. The clarity of the sight picture is miraculous. If there had been an animal lurking there in the shade, it would not have escaped my gaze.
I’m impressed, and somewhat reluctantly hand
