SOME years ago I was picking up on a pheasant shoot, standing behind a Gun with an impeccably behaved labrador. It sat steady as a rock throughout the drive, not even flinching when a bird fell just a couple of feet from its nose. At the end of the drive I walked over and asked the Gun if he would like to send his dog for any of the birds he had shot. The answer was a polite no: it transpired that his labrador was his shooting companion, not his shooting dog. It apparently enjoyed coming out for a day’s sport but it left the retrieving to the professionals.
I’ve chuckled about this dog ever since. At the time, I thought it was somewhat eccentric but I’ve now decided it was an exemplary member of the shooting team. Many of us enjoy the company of our dogs but can’t take them for a day’s shooting because they are likely to misbehave. To have one that you have total confidence in, regardless of the temptation on offer, must be most rewarding. Though I hardly dare suggest it, it’s probably better to be accompanied on a cold winter’s shoot by a happy dog than a partner who would rather be somewhere warmer.
This story is from the January 2022 edition of The Field.
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This story is from the January 2022 edition of The Field.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
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