AS THOUGHTS turn to Christmas and families getting together, there may be worries about a shrivelled turkey or even the odd cross word fuelled by excessive glass-emptying. However, the perfect tonic to such thoughts is the prospect of time spent in joyful outdoor surroundings, whatever the weather, with mad dogs, even more excitable children and a gun in hand as one searches out the spinneys and hedge-rows to fill a gamebag.
Those days, hopefully crisp and cold, provide the ideal antidote to frayed Christmas nerves as entire families get together after months, or perhaps even a couple of years, apart. For a start, it makes present shopping for nephews and nieces so much easier. All of my early shooting accoutrements, from cartridge bag and belts to shooting stockings and caps, when not hand-me-downs filled with the usual signs of wear and tear from an elder sibling, were unwrapped at Christmas. The joy of this is that the
