An introduction to shooting or don’t knock it till you try it!
If you are fed up with Saturday football, sitting watching TV, why not take up a sport that will get you out into the fresh air, give you more than enough exercise and will also put food on your table. What is it – it’s shooting. I am going to explain just a few of the different kinds of shooting that even a novice can do and then you progress as you become more experienced.
Rough Shooting. This is the most common method of shooting. Shooters use their trained dogs, I have my trusty Labrador to flush game out of the hedgerows, woods or other cover as they walk along. These dogs also retrieve the shot game. My Lab has jumped into many a frozen lake to retrieve my game, with her long coat she loves the water and doesn’t feel the cold. Should the quarry be wounded, the sportsman will retrieve and despatch it quickly and humanely. The countryside knowledge and hunting skills required plus the fresh air, exercise and the training and working of specially bred dogs makes rough shooting one of the most popular, rewarding and cheapest forms of shooting. I am also very fond of Wood Pigeon and Rabbit pie.
Driven Game Shooting. This form of shooting is much more formal than simply walking with your dog alongside the hedgerows, and is usually confined to pheasant, partridge and grouse shooting. On the shoot day, a team of Guns, line out at numbered pegs, under the gamekeeper’s instructions, a group of beaters and their dogs move through areas of woodland flushing the game out by shouting and making as much noise as possible. The aim is to get the birds to break cover and fly high over the line of guns. Shot game is retrieved quickly by trained gundog to where the shot game falls. Because of the organisation and number of people involved in a shoot of this sort, the cost of joining is considerably higher than in the other types of shooting. It can cost a couple to thousand pounds for ten days shooting.
Clay Pigeon Shooting Today clay pigeon shooting is a popular sport that covers all social classes, many women enjoy this sport and because it doesn’t entail long walks etc. it is one of the few sports in which the disabled can compete on level terms with able-bodied people. Most shooting is done through clubs with their own shooting grounds where there will be a series of traps which catapult the clays into the air to simulate a variety of wild birds. Many people begin their shotgun shooting by learning on clay pigeons and it is the ideal way to gain experience without committing yourself to a large outlay. I also know of quite a few “anti” and vegetarians who enjoy this sport. Clay pigeon shooting can be particularly attractive for those who live in towns or are limited in the amount of time that they can give to their sport. It can also be relatively inexpensive, compared with paying for a day’s live shooting.
If after all this you are still against country sports, well so be it, at least you have tried it. But please, please, leave the rest of us alone!
