The GunsOnPegs Podcast

George and Chris are live from the Carter Jonas Theatre at the Game Fair for the podcast’s fifth live show, and - with some creative accounting - its 150th episode.

After a round of “What’s That You’re Drinking?” with Carol from Gin Bothy, the audience helps tackle a listener question from a newly converted shooter looking for her first gun, essential accessories, and the best way to spend her partner's money at the Game Fair.

There’s also a blood-soaked sim-day dilemma and advice for a left-handed shooter looking for a classic side-by-side. PLUS George receives a surprise handmade gift from a listener.

George and Chris are joined again by Sir Brandon Lewis CBE, former Conservative MP and now Chairman of the Country Food Trust, to talk about shooting's role in , food poverty and the future of game meat.

Brandon explains how the Country Food Trust turns venison and game birds into high-quality protein meals for food banks, why shoots need a proper plan for their surplus birds, and why Guns should start asking what happens to the game after the day is done. He also explains why the CFT might be the best way of all to influence MPs and policymakers... and he should know!

Jake, Avian and Sam return for a slightly unauthorised Game Fair edition of the GunsOnPegs Podcast, previewing this year’s show at Ragley Hall and offering their personal picks for what to see, do and taste over the weekend.

George, Chris and special guest Sir Brandon Lewis CBE dig into the inbox and dive into some age-old topics - what are the things nobody tells you before your first proper shoot day, and whether travel between drives is best done by gun bus or four-by-four.

There’s also a beautifully written listener update on fishing, dogs and the deeper appeal of field sports.

The sun is shining, and the air is thick with the scent of charcoal smoke and the clinking of ice in a jug of Pimm's. George, Jake, Sam and Avian fire up the barbecue edition of the GunsOnPegs Podcast, with ideas for using up the last of the game in the freezer before the new season begins. From pheasant skewers and bunny burgers to venison jerky, and curried game, this is a smoky, hungry, slightly chaotic celebration of cooking wild meat outdoors.

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Recipes

Leon’s sticky pheasant strips

Ingredients

Method

Mix the peanut butter, gochujang, sesame oil, MSG and crispy chilli oil into a marinade. Add the pheasant strips and leave for at least 10 hours, ideally overnight.

Cook on the cooler side of the barbecue, not directly over fierce heat, because the marinade can burn. Cook for a couple of minutes per strip until nicely charred and cooked through.

Serve with: Lettuce/Noodles/Potato salad

Avian 's soy, ginger and chilli dipping sauce

This is more of a dip or sauce than a full recipe.

Ingredients

Method

Mix everything together and use as a dip or glaze for barbecued game birds or other fowl.

Jake’s braai lamb breast

Ingredients

Method

Sear the lamb breast over the coals, then cook slowly, turning and basting/seasoning with lemon juice, braai salts, Aromat and Worcestershire sauce.

The aim is to avoid burning or overcooking it. Cook until it is tender enough to slice and hand around as a starter.

Serving suggestion: Cut into small pieces and pass round as a salty, lemony, smoky starter.

Jake's curried pheasant and chorizo skewers

Ingredients

Method

Cut the pheasant into bite-sized pieces and pair with cubes or slices of chorizo on skewers. Season or marinate the pheasant with curry spices.

Cook over the barbecue until the pheasant is cooked through and the chorizo has released its oil and flavour.

Serving suggestion: Pass around as a starter or informal barbecue snack.

Jake's Simple barbecued venison backstrap

Ingredients

Method

Oil and pepper the venison. Cook it hot and fast over the barbecue.

Jake’s view was to avoid salting before cooking, then offer flakes of salt afterwards.

Serving suggestion: Slice and serve simply, letting people salt to taste.

Sam's Bunny burgers

Ingredients

Method

Remove the rabbit meat from the bone, dice it, and soak it in milk overnight in the fridge.

Drain, then mince with pork fat at roughly 80% rabbit / 20% pork fat. Add garlic, thyme, paprika, optional chilli powder, salt and pepper.

Press into burgers and chill in the fridge before cooking.

Cook on the barbecue and serve in a buttered bap, with optional mayo.

Sam's Middle Eastern-style venison with mango salsa

Ingredients

For the venison:

For the mango salsa:

To serve:

Method

Marinate venison with Middle Eastern-style spices: sumac, coriander, cumin and smoked paprika.

Cook over smoke, possibly hot-smoked or cooked slowly until tender enough to serve in a pulled-meat style.

Make a mango salsa with fresh mango, olive oil, lemon juice, harissa and coriander.

Serve on flatbread with herby yoghurt.

George’s easy game barbecue curry

Ingredients

Method

Use the smaller base sauce packet from the Spice Tailor kit as a marinade for the diced pheasant or partridge. Leave for at least an hour, or a few hours if possible.

Skewer the meat and barbecue over very hot coals until cooked, with a little char. It can be a touch underdone in the middle as you can finish it in the sauce later.

Meanwhile, make the curry sauce indoors: fry off the spice blend, add the main sauce packet, and simmer briefly. Add yoghurt or cream if desired.

Take the barbecued skewers off the fire, stir the meat through the sauce, and serve with naan brushed with wild garlic butter.

George’s magic green sauce marinade

Use as a marinade for whole pheasant or partridge breasts, venison steaks or backstraps

Ingredients

Method

Blend the herbs, garlic, Dijon, olive oil, red wine vinegar, optional lemon, chilli, salt and pepper until smooth but not runny.

Taste and adjust: add honey/sugar if it needs sweetness, or more vinegar if it needs sharpness.

Marinate your meat overnight if possible.

Cook game bird fillets on skewers over a hot barbecue.

Cook venison steaks or backstrap over very hot coals.

George and Chris are joined again by Terry Jones, former Director General of the NFU, to ask what the shooting world can learn from farming when it comes to politics, public perception and long-term survival.

Terry reflects on a decade at the NFU that spanned Brexit, Covid, Ukraine, avian flu, inheritance tax and a revolving door of prime ministers and Defra secretaries. He explains how farmers managed to shift the dial on inheritance tax, why constituency-level lobbying matters, and why prevention is almost always better than cure when dealing with government.

The conversation turns to lead, game meat, public trust and the opportunity for shooting to build unusual alliances around food, conservation and rural wellbeing. Terry also discusses his work with RABI’s Farmer’s Aid initiative, before finishing with a beautifully nostalgic Desert Island Shooting made up of lost and forgotten drives.

George and Chris are joined by Terry Jones, former NFU Director General, RABI trustee and long-time GunsOnPegs Podcast correspondent, to tackle some listener questions:

Get the popcorn ready, draw the curtains - its movie night! While shooting doesn’t feature on the silver screen all that much - unless it is as a shorthand for ‘these people are posh’ - and the accuracy of the depiction is often… questionable, there are films out with appeal for audiences of a tweedy nature. From animated feature films to gritty realist dramas, country house satires to hard hitting documentaries, Avian, Sam, Jake and George share their suggestions for a fieldsports movie night

George and Chris are joined once again by Harry Hutchison — deerstalker, whisky man, gym owner and one of the fastest-growing field sports voices on Instagram.

Harry explains how a throwaway rant about veganshelped kickstart his rapid rise online, and why he thinks the shooting world needs to get better at making its case in public.

The conversation takes in anti-shooting messaging, online pile-ons, dealing with death threats, and whether the current game dealer model needs shaking up.

There is also a deep dive into field sports on social media: when it is acceptable to show dead animals, why grinning trophy shots rarely help, and how to talk honestly about shooting’s weaknesses without handing ammunition to its opponents.

Plus: is it time for a Most Noble Order of the Garters whisky?

This week on the GunsOnPegs Podcast Chris and George are joined by rising Insta-star Harry Hutchison - deerstalker, whisky-afficionado, and self-appointed defender of fieldsports.

After an unusually abstemious What's That You're Drinking the trio discuss the age old question of tools vs workmen - should our correspondent forsake his beloved side-by-side in an attempt to improve his ratio. Later a proposed Unpopular Opinion brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 'time on peg' and sparks a fascinating debate about what makes a great 'day's shooting', the ethics of big bag days and whether the economic defence of shooting holds any water.