Shooting

SHOOTING. George Markland, in his poem Pteryplegia (1727), is the first writer to deal with this field sport from a modern standpoint. The first authority of his own and indeed of our own time is Colonel Peter Hawker, whose Instructions to Young Sportsmen in the Art of Shooting was published first in 1814 and went through edition after edition until his death. He was preparing the 9th edition when he died in 1853.

The possibilities of shooting have always depended on the quality of the weapons employed as much as on the character of the quarry. Hawker's days were those of the muzzle-loader ; he used first the flint and steel gun and, in his later days, the detonator or percussion cap; and it was not until breech-loading guns were introduced in the 'fifties, and later, when hammer guns were super seded by the hammerless ejector, that the perfection of the weapon combined with an intensified study of the management of moors and manors, brought modern shooting to its present position of importance.

Grouse Shooting.

The chief branch of the sport in Great Britain is undoubtedly grouse shooting. In Scotland, in the north of England and Wales, and in the north and west of Ireland grouse are to be found in all hilly ground where there is heather, and they have recently been introduced to Exmoor and Dartmoor in Devon shire. The great grouse county in England is Yorkshire, though the largest bag-2,929 grouse to 8 guns, belongs actually to Lan cashire; and in Yorkshire and the north of England generally the recognized method of shooting is by driving the birds over butts.

In Scotland on the other hand, the accepted method on the majority of moors is walking up the grouse over dogs in the earlier part of the season and driving in the later part of the season when the birds become wild and pack. There are, however, moors which are never driven, and others where driving is the in variable rule. Driving unquestionably provides more difficult shooting than walking, and grouse coming over the butts in a high wind, or late in the season when they have attained their full strength, are as hard a mark as any sportsman need desire. But

there is a pleasure of its own in walking up grouse over dogs ; in watching a well trained brace of pointers or setters range the heather and find their birds, while many men prefer the exercise of walking to the more stationary work of shooting from a butt.

From first to last the sport of grouse shooting depends very greatly on the fortune of the seasons as regards weather. Unfavour able weather prevents regular and sufficient burning of old heather, and so prevents the growth of young heather ; it prevents heather from ripening its seed, and so lessens the food supply of grouse in winter; and it prevents the proper regulation of the size of the grouse stock on the moor. In a word, it reduces food supply, and the provision of a sufficient supply of food is the single key to successful moor management.

Partridge Shooting.

Partridge shooting, like grouse shoot ing, can be separated as regards methods into two categories— walking up and driving. The former is the older form of the sport and still has many adherents—probably, indeed, the majority of partridge shooters prefer walking. Certainly it is a method which has its own charm, partly of old association, partly of simplicity, partly doubtless of September weather. A single gun may go out by himself, or with a companion, or if there is plenty of ground available, there may be a line of four or five guns—any larger number is apt to be cumbrous. The general proceeding on a Sep tember morning is to walk the stubble fields so as to drive the coveys into roots or other cover, and then to walk each piece of cover in turn so as to flush the coveys and to send them in the direction of other cover which can be walked in the same way. Working the different fields of a farm in this way needs careful planning and a certain knowledge of the natural habits of par tridges, which is one of the chief claims to consideration that the sport of walking up must have for the country sportsman.