Anyone who has ever organised a rough shoot will know the awkward relationship between bag size and perceived success — something you might call the Goldilocks conundrum. I still feel disappointment following a day for neighbours I organised when the entire bag was four pheasants and three partridges. It felt too little. Yet I remember with great happiness and pride the day for Royal Marine mates when the total bag was one pheasant — shot by me. It felt just right.
Someone with a mathematical mind could probably put together an equation where b equals bag size, e equals expectation, w equals weather, h equals hospitality and so on to create the ideal formula for rough shooting success. I’ve recently come to a simpler conclusion as to what makes a great rough day.
A clash of dates had been causing headaches. The Saturday before Christmas is always a busy one on the shooting calendar. But this season has been more congested than ever with November written off due to the pandemic and many fixtures condensed into fewer possible days.
Loyalties
Around here in North Essex — and I imagine in most regions — certain key people are stalwarts of more than one shoot. It’s true of my own little affair, my friend Liam’s professional set-up and my lamping buddy ‘Ballistic’ Bob Feaviour’s shoots. If a Venn diagram were drawn with each of the three shoots represented by one circle, there would be a lot of names in more than one circle and several in the middle. I didn’t want to cause any division of loyalties or headaches for my shooting mates, especially when I knew that a number of key beaters had had to cancel for Covid reasons.
Denne historien er fra January 27, 2021-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
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Denne historien er fra January 27, 2021-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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United we stand
Following United Utilities' decision to end grouse shooting on its land, Lindsay Waddell asks what will happen if we ignore our vital moors
Serious matters
An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning
They're not always as easy as they seem
While coneys of the furry variety don't pose a problem for Blue Zulu, he's left frustrated once again by bolting bunnies of the clay sort
Debutant gundogs
There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting
When the going gets rough
Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique
The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition
In this excerpt from the 60th anniversary edition of the BDS's Field Guide To British Deer, Charles Smith-Jones considers the noise they make
A step too far?
Simon Garnham wonders whether a new dog, a new gun and two different fields in need of protection might have been asking too much for one afternoon's work
Two bucks before breakfast
A journey from old South London to rural Hertfordshire to stalk muntjac suggests that the two aren't as far detached as they might seem
Stalking Diary
Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill
Gamekeeper
Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside