Is rough shooting a dying art?

There's a certain skill to a walkabout through a bog that you just can't learn while standing on a peg, says Jamie Tusting

A good friend of mine, who I won’t name for fear of embarrassment, has been shooting for many years, spending much of his time standing on a peg and plucking high birds from the sky. When he’s on form, he has an excellent ability to connect with pheasants that others won’t even raise a gun to. I was therefore excited and full of expectation when he accepted an invitation to come for a low-key rough day last season. We’d be out with some spaniels, exploring some hedgerows, then mooching across some boggy land and there’d be some woodland in the mix too. We’d have half a dozen shots and hopefully take home a handful of assorted game.

There was a problem though; when it came to it, he couldn’t hit a thing. It wasn’t so much that he missed the birds but missed the game entirely. There was a lack of anticipation, he couldn’t read the dogs and seemingly wasn’t able to get into the right places at the right time. There was only so much shouting and direction I was able to give him without spoiling things. Game would get up and away before the gun was ever in his shoulder. I was puzzled.

At the other end of the spectrum is another friend, who again I won’t name but for fear of ego-boosting, whose reactions are that of a Formula One racing driver. He can spend an entire day rough shooting with gun half-cocked, ready to tuck quickly into his shoulder to make a shot, always alert to what the dogs are doing and where he should be.

Fieldcraft