Grooming -- 1 month ago
SHOOTING AND THE ETIQUETTE
The shooting code is based on common sense, in as much as it is decidedly dangerous, as well as impolite, to ‘steal’ your neighbour’s birds, just as all the rules passed down from one generation to the next are designed to prevent the extinction of the species, as much as for the social niceties.
Many of the golden rules of shooting are included in this poem which i had to lean by heart before I was allowed to hold a shotgun, and they encapsulate the ethos of always thinking about others first, and the safety of those around you, above your own enjoyment.
A FATHERS ADVICE, If a sportsman true you’d be, Listen carefully to me. . .
Never, never let your gun, Pointed be at anyone., That it may unloaded be, Matters not the least to me.
When a hedge or fence you cross, Though of time it cause a loss, From your gun the cartridge take, For the greater safety’s sake.
If twixt you and neighbouring gun, Bird shall fly or beast may run, Let this maxim ere be thine, “Follow not across the line.”
Stops and beaters oft unseen, Lurk behind some leafy screen.
Calm and steady always be, “Never shoot where you can’t see.”
You may kill or you may miss, But at all times think this:, “All the pheasants ever bred, Won’t repay for one man dead.”
Keep your place and silent be;, Game can hear, and game can see;, Don’t be greedy, better spared, Is a pheasant, than one shared.
But of course there are always those who think the rules should not apply to them and turn up at a shoot with all the latest ‘gear’ but not a clue how to behave, they become ‘vexations to the spirit’ and should be avoided at all costs.
They also tend to brag about their achievements, which you will never find a serious shooting man doing, because he is there for the sport and the craic, not to count his personal tally after each drive. Whereas the newcomer will come out with comments like ‘I must have shot a dozen birds on the last drive and with only 15 shots!’
There is nothing more unbecoming that a gun ‘blowing his own trumpet’ and it is far more satisfying for your neighbour to come up and say; ‘you shot very well on that last drive’ without referring to numbers
I have noticed over 50 years of shooting that the very best shots tend to be the quietest and most self-deprecating, with the best sense of humour.
On one shoot, I overheard one gun saying to another about a new gun to the shoot, so and so has made a fortune in the city, and he’s a completely ‘self-made’ man, to which his friend replied ‘ well that must have saved God a lot of trouble!
And then of course there is the familiar image of the new, inexperienced gun who arrives at his first shoot with all the latest gear, including a Japanese 4-wheel drive, over and under shotgun, a jacket which looks like he has just competed in the Olympic skeet shooting competition and a ‘trophy’ wife with a small dog of indeterminable breeding, who she assures the assembled company is ‘brilliant at putting pheasants up’
Normally, such a phrase means that the dog in question is completely out of control, has been allowed to run around without any discipline whatsoever and disturb the pheasants at every opportunity; a gamekeepers nightmare!, The other warning sign that you are in the presence of someone new to shooting is their enthusiasm for their new ‘over and under’ gun, with its interchangeable chokes and ballistic qualities; really nerdy conversation.
Other warning signs are his propensity to shoot low birds and ‘swing through the line’, which frequently results in the rest of the guns in the line hitting the deck in quick succession rather than be peppered with shot! However, all such misdemeanours are forgiven in a trice as soon as the assembled guns hear that their new gun is thinking a buying a grouse moor!
The other clues to the social status of shoots, is that only the landed gentry have the time to shoot from Monday to Friday, whilst the professional classes shoot when they can at weekends.
Other social clues are that when you are shooting as guest on a proper shoot, the team of guns tend to all know each other well and are likely to have a formal lunch in the dining room of the host’s home which will involve eating the simplest food such as Shepherd’s Pie or Steak and Kidney Pie, drinking the finest wines and port and, if you are very lucky, being offered some serious cigars, which are kept in a proper humidor and are therefore in perfect condition.
If treated with respect, this fine cigar will last for the final two drives of the day, and enhance your enjoyment of the occasion.
I remember one particularly good partridge shoot at Belvoir castle, when one of my fellow guns, a larger than life South African, came up to me after the last, spectacular drive and in response to my comment about what a wonderful day it had been, replied, ’Yes, it is about as much fun as you can have with your pants (trousers) on!
However, as any serious shooting man will confirm, the real enjoyment comes from shooting with kindred spirits.
I concur!
By Robert Jarman
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