Ensuring A Noble End

We all know people who are good Shots but, in the interests of ethics, marking pricked birds is an equally vital skill, says Richard Negus

Successfully marking game is an art form that is not recognized by the Turner Prize committee, largely due to the end result being both usable and comprehensible. How you mark a bird is often dependent upon the quarry, the terrain and manner in which you are shooting.

Accurate marking of birds is essential for a number of reasons.

First, while we all try to achieve a swift and humane kill, it is inevitable that you will on occasion wing a bird. If a bird is well marked, the process of promptly retrieving and humanely despatching it is much quicker, which should be imperative.

Secondly, we are in the food business. Each bird we shoot is destined to be eaten. Much nonsense is made of the ‘respect’ we show our quarry through donning a tie and a natty suit when we shoot it. To my knowledge game birds are fairly indifferent about neckwear and tweed, but I see no greater contempt for the noble partridge or pheasant than leaving him to rot in a ditch because, rather than marking his fall and getting him in the game bag, your attention is focused on shooting another of his fellows.

I will start with the most elemental form of hunting with a shotgun — rough shooting. You are largely walking-up, so you are shooting at going-away birds. For a few years I was a member of a small walked-up syndicate in the Brecks. The shoot was a square of arable surrounded by blocks of Scots pine and beech with an almost impenetrable understorey of Oregon grape and bramble.

Huge fun

Snap-shooting for pheasants and woodcock was the order of the day. Any hesitation and birds simply jinked away like wraiths into the wooded gloom to your front. If, however, you achieved a smooth gun-mount and crisp trigger pull as soon as a bird flushed, it was possible to connect with one or two. They were infrequently high and usually way out in front. Bags rarely made double figures but it was huge fun.