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[Music]
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Welcome to Fieldsports Britain, coming to you this week from the People's Republic of
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China.
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Coming up: This is where the pheasant and the muntjac come from, and I'll be looking
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for both of them.
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I'll be visiting one of the factories in Cina that make all the kit we use to attract pigeons
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crows and ducks
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First, I'm going to this paradise island to look for deer, goats and rabbits
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So here's the story. In 2011, we carry a news report saying that the first man in China
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to own land is a petrochemicals millionaire who has bought a lease on an island near the
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city of Ningbo where, instead of opening a casino or a shopping centre, he opens a hunting
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reserve, and this in a country where it is widely believed that hunting is banned. Well,
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Erik van der Horst gets in touch with us to say he is based in Ningbo and would we like
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to go? I push in front of David, Roy, Mark, Crow, Dom and everyone else, and say yes please.
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18 months later, I am at a ferry terminal that may not be up to much but the boat itself
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is Chinese industrialist class.
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So we've left the Chinese mainland behind us and we are heading for we don't know what.
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But this is the birthplace of Chinese hunting - something that's been banned along with
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guns since 1949. Here, it's not only tolerated it's quite possibly legal. Let's find out.
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It's a half-hour air-conditioned whiz over the water past dazzling James Bond scenery.
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We come into port and, if you listen carefully, you can hear them say it: "The plane, boss,
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the plane". We land, we round a corner and there is the hotel.
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The following morning, we are up early to go stalking. Rosy-fingered dawn is spectacular.
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The potential for hunting less so. Erik spots a herd of goats or, as he disparagingly calls
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them, sheep.
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I reckon we will have about three to four hour stalk up to the sheep you just filmed.
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By the sounds of it we have got quite an experience and quite a good stalk. As far as I understand
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we will call in the sheep when we get near. It will be something like "sheep, sheep, sheep,
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sheep" at which point they will all come running in and we have got about ten minutes to shoot
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them.
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Just ten minutes.
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Probably ten minutes, yes.
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The gamekeeper hands out the firearms to Erik me and to Mr Yang, a Chinese industrialist.
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The 12-bore shotguns are marked with the word Ying - there: Yang with Ying - though it's
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hard to know if Ying is the make of the gun or its dynasty.
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We will use three-shot cartridges, whatever we are shooting at: deer, goats, rabbits or
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pheasants. It is indeed a long walk in to the goats. There is plenty of sign of muntjac
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but the undergrowth is so thick, you would have to be a muntjac to get close to them.
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We reach the farm animals. Erik and the gamekeeper stalk forward. The goats turn out to be too
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quick for Erik. Maybe this is not going to be easy after all. And Erik is cross about
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another gap between European and Chinese hunting cultures.
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It is a great and interesting stalk, but I am not going to shoot a goat at 50 metres
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or more with a shotgun. We will give it to our Chinese friend
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Another complaint Erik has is the speed at which the Chinese stalk
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Fastest stalk I've ever done in my life
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When I take over the gun, I slow the pace down significantly.
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However, apart from the bark of deer and the occasionally crashing noise, I see nothing.
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By 9am, the temperature has reached 30 degrees centigrade and the game is lying doggo, but
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at least the gamekeeper is keeping something - his sense of humour. We head for the hotel,
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where I ask Mr Yang what he thinks of the morning.
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He says there are not too much game in this island.
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Here the hunting is forbidden at night. But if we go out at night we may hunt some deers.
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I also want to know what the Chinese think of shooting and hunting - and do they enjoy
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it?
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He says in China people are only hunting on islands, Gobi Desert and forests.
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Ok and what kind of animals do they hunt in China?
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In northern part of China and eastern China, people hunt bears, and in Mongolia people
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hunt wolves.
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And for him is it about the hunting or eating the food afterwards or the whole thing. That
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is important for us to understand.
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People go hunting just for fun and you know that guns are illegal in China, so people
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who are interested in them just due to their interest.
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Throughout our trip to China, we were unable to find out whether hunting is really banned.
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Certainly, gun ownership carries a stiff prison sentence in some provinces, but plenty of
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people own guns, and some we met own them with the permission of the police. Look at
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the London 2012 Olympics. The Chinese won more medals in the shooting events than any
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other country.
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As you can imagine, Erik has strong views about the hunting - and about what he would
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do if he were running the gaff.
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At the end of our walk I actually had the feeling that what we did may actually have
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been wrong for the Chinese way. So what they do is they walk so fast and basically they
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bump into animals.
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They march the animals down.
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Where we now had to compromise with too many people and of course the stalker behind us
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chopping away on branches.
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Yes, and I noticed that if we stopped where we might have seen a muntjac that was a good
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opportunity to have a cigarette, especially if the wind was behind us.
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Yes, exactly.
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Interesting yes. And of course the misfires with the shotgun were absolutely ... you have
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to cope with a lot. But we are sitting at one end of this beautiful beach, it is not
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a bad place.
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Actually I think it is a really, really good place. The sea with the beach. The hotel is
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sunny and comfortable. I love the food it is really excellent food.
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I love the fact that you eat what you shoot immediately.
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Yes that is really good.
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Brilliant.
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And to be honest if they would buy two dogs and a buttalo call
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That would make all the difference.
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Absolutely. Actually I think it could be a really good mix. On the one hand for the Chinese
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people with the bunnies and the goats and on the other for Western people who have more
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stalking experience, but they need to learn a lot.
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They need to learn about muntjac stalking.
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Shall we go back in for a cheeky rice wine?
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Um that might be a very good idea.
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And perhaps take a surf later.
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Late afternoon before dinner we head off again, this time after bunnies which we have seen
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near the hotel and look suspiciously un-nervous. Our new Chinese friend limbers up by practicing
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on a nearby flag pole. It is only a few yards and we come upon a rabbit. Another 20 yards
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and blow me another rabbit lurking behind some rushes, but otherwise oblivious to our
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presence. Erik shoots, misses then goes to see if he can flush it out.
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It is wild enough to have gone into hiding.
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Further up the path, it's my turn to shoot and bring down another mighty rabbit.
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Well I can't show you too much, but two man team from Europe is one all versus China at
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the moment.
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As well as the rabbits, the island offers Chinese bayberries.
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These are really, really nice.
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With the scores running even, Mr Yang edges ahead with first one rabbit, and then another
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- but after we have one each, Erik and I are not quite so keen on the sporting side of
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Chinese rabbit shooting.
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The Chinese may have a lot to learn from us about shooting - but we have plenty to learn
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from them about eating. Everything we shot or caught on our trip we ate immediately,
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meat, feet, guts, backbone and all - and I might have come home smelling like a Chinese
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restaurant but it was delicious.
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Food for the Chinese is a social event that takes place three times a day. Whenever possible,
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it involves beer, rice wine and French brandy. Here's Mr Yang showing his skills as a calligrapher,
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writing Fieldsports Channel in Chinese - literally "hunting the weird". If the hordes sweep in
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from the East, this is our new logo.
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Then Mr Yang, partly fuelled by rice wine, shows how he will disable Erik when that day
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comes.
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The Golden Sand Bay Hunting Resort is expensive, but much of the cost is tied up in the price
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for hiring the boat. One night there comes to �200 a person, including ferry, bed,
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board and two outings shooting. Also, the price goes up significantly once the manager
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decides you are rich. If you want to find out more and you either speak Mandarin or
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you don't mind Google Translate's version, have a look at nbhaiyang.com
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Another hunting resort advertising in China is the Oriental International Hunting Park
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in Shanxi province, west of Beijing. Visit East-Hunt.com
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What do you reckon?
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I am not sure.
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Do you think shoot it anyway?
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Give it a try.
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Ok and now it's over to David on the Fieldsports Channel news stump.
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[Music]
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This is Fieldsports Britain News.
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The Netherlands has 300,000 greylag geese. The environment department of a Dutch university
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says that 380,000 geese need to be gassed over the next five years to bring that number
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down to 100,000. It costs around 18 euros to gas each goose. Holland banned goose shooting
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in 1981, except under licence.
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Our government says well when you hunt them the next problem you are going to have is
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what are you going to do with those animals and that is more or less one of the reasons
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that I wrote a book about it. How do you get it back in the food circuit.
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And you can watch more of that interview by clicking on the link.
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Now, Swiss MPs have voted against a ban on stray cat shooting. They rejected a motion
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to outlaw the cat hunt. The Swiss Government says there are around 1.5 million stray cats
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in Switzerland and it points to a British study which shows that cats kill 15 birds
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each per year.
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Staying with cats. A woman from Indiana in the USA who shot what she thought was a bobcat
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that had been attacking her own cats was surprised when it turned out to be a leopard. The owner
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of a local wildlife rescue centre that specialises in big cats denies that it is his.
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If you would prefer to see a live leopard instead of a dead one, then click on the link,
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to see our how to release a leopard film. Made all the better because Charlie nearly
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soils himself.
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Our own Roy Lupton has been appearing on ITV news this week. Roy was talking about the
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urban fox problem after ITV Meridian used our night vision footage of urban fox calling
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in Maidstone town centre. The report also featured a fox expert who suggested that walking
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a dog around the edge of your garden will keep foxes at bay. Yeah right.
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Schools Challenge TV is offering a competition prize this week. You can win a family ticket
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to the CLA Game Fair. Click on the link on the screen to watch this week's show, which
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says how Schools Challenge Academy members plan to take their shooting careers to the
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next level and bid for Olympic success.
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And finally, these South African tourists got a surprise when an angry giraffe started
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chasing them. Giraffes can run up to 35 miles per hour and have a lethal kick.
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You are now up to date with Fieldsports Britain News. Stalking the stories. Fishing for facts.
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[Music]
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Thank you David, very Oriental. Now the good news is I got him. Later in the programme
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we are going to do some real poaching in China. First, duck, Peking duck? Crispy fried duck?
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No, decoy duck, because China is where they are all made.
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It is hard to put into words how urban China is becoming and in such a short time. Cities
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I have never heard of before such as Ningbo and Guangzhou are already like a cross between
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Wolverhampton and Gotham City.
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So that racket in the background - this is where your duck decoys come from. I'm here
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to meet Frank, who is going to tell me all about it.
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I fly to Europe each year one time, two times so I see the chain stores, I see the shops
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and I get some ideas from them and I come back to China and make my lines for the hunting.
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How many of these are you shipping every year?
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Half a million pieces, normally, totally, together, like goose, crow, pigeon, magpie
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and ducks.
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That's goose, crow, pigeon, magpie and ducks
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It's not just deeks. Frank's company makes float tubes for fishermen and even standalone
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highseats.
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It's all too much for keen deerstalker Erik. He has to go and try it out. It's meant to
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cope with one tonne of weight. However, Erik may need to go easy on the wontons as he breaks
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the ladder on the way up - and has to use the other highseat ladder to come down. Back
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to the drawing board with that product.
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If you are planning to order around half a million decoys and you want to find out more,
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visit meitaisports.com
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Now from a beautiful beach resort to the high hills of Canton where I will be going pheasant
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poaching.
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Picture a group of country blokes sitting down to a good breakfast before going out
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for a bit of walked-up shooting. That's what we have here. There is lots of chat about
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what we might see, what pheasants look like, what eagle tastes like and that needless to
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say we should have been here last week.
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How do Erik and I establish that we know how to shoot a muntjac if we see one? We show
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them films of Roy Lupton of course.
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They tell us they mainly shoot pheasants here. But there is a variety of game. That is a
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leopard cat, which is common across China, India and the rest of Asia, and is fond of
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farm chickens.
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In the 1950s, there were tigers here. Locals say the government came and shot them all
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- but it is hard to see how. There is plenty of game in the tangle of bamboo. The rural
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China you see is hacked out of thick undergrowth. There's an awful lot of China you don't see.
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The guns our hunter friends use would not pass muster at a British shoot. Outside, they
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proudly show off a heavily repaired Manufrance No5 �Robust' shotgun and a single-barrel
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home made hammer gun, both of them 12-bore.Cartridges range from 3-shot to 7.5.
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We load up into vehicles and head out into the countryside.
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We're hunting here in Canton Province - and these guys are out after meat, so we're turning
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down the really little birds and going for the bigger ones
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At first, we drive round local farmland looking for birds. When we see one, we stop the cars
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and one of the two shooters hop out and have a go. Any biggish bird will do - like this,
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a common bird in the rice padis, a brown crake.
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Now, as you have probably noticed, they ask us to blob-out their faces, and they are not
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keen to be interviewed. I think they are unclear about whether or not shooting is legal in
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this province in the eyes of the police or the Government. But if you do go shooting,
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nobody else bats an eyelid.
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Unbelievable you would expect the farmers to just show up with strange people running
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all over their land. Especially us with the camera and the dogs and everything and there
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was absolutely no reply. Even if we passed them they were just very friendly, a little
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bit afraid of guns but it was really, really positive.
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At last we hit the trail of the bird we had come to see - the pheasant, which of course
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comes from here in China. The guys make their way across the field and a volley of shots
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follow our soon to be lunch.The dogs leave the bird for our hunter to retrieve who is
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very pleased with it. This pheasant ... is nothing like a michigan blue, but a subtle
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brown. It isn't going to matter what colour it is in a few minutes. After that it is time
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for me to have a go and I think there is a 50, 50 chance that I am going to the way of
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that last