Why all the very best Shots rough it at first

What is it that makes the best stand out from the rest on a shoot day? Simon Reinhold explains how to become the best possible Shot

- Simon Reinhold

Very often you will see a person’s true character when you drive game over them on a peg. It’s difficult for anyone to hide it. If you are greedy, lack respect for your quarry or have a tendency to moan, it’s likely to show.

We can learn a lot about our companions on a shoot day. Fortunately, we can also see the shining quality of good Shots as well as the dullness of poor Shots, but the peg is not the place to learn what the best Shots know — it is the examination, not the lesson.

All of the best Shots of my acquaintance share some things in common. Firstly, they are incredibly knowledgeable about their quarry, its habits and behaviour. Very often this knowledge extends from feathered game across the sporting scene to deer and fish. The knowledge crucially includes the conservation of the habitat in which these species live — how it changes through the seasons and over time, what is necessary to improve it and the greatest threats to its existence. You can’t learn this on ‘peg 4’.

Good grounding

I relish every driven game-shooting day that I am fortunate enough to be involved in. I think that its accessibility to all, regardless of your background, is one of its great strengths. But there is so much more to the sport than handing over your cash and gunning down game indifferently driven offa cliff.