Beating the drum for social wellbeing

Beating isn’t just good exercise, it fosters communities, promotes inclusivity and has mental health benefits too

- Jamie Culpan

Let me get this right, you’re proposing I get up early with you, wrap up warm to protect from the cold and cover myself in waterproofs in case the sky opens, all so I can traipse around the woods beating birds into flying so you can shoot them?” my girlfriend queried.

“You don’t beat the birds, you flush them, and besides, the dog does most of the work. You like seeing the dog happy, don’t you?” I replied.

After much persuading, she relented and agreed to give it a try, under the stipulation that if we woke up and it was raining, she was remaining firmly ensconced in bed. Well, we woke the next day to one of those glorious cold December mornings with a hard edge to the frost underfoot. I rustled my girlfriend out of bed and ran through the morning essentials: coffee, bacon roll, load the car, double check the car, pack whatever I forgot the first time into the car, another coffee, and we’re off.

To add context, the syndicate I’m part of is a friendly bunch of Guns and regular beaters with occasional guests. We operate on a walk one, shoot one basis, with walking Guns being permitted to shoot backwards but rarely bothering as the land is pretty challenging at the best of times.

Upon arriving, my girlfriend looked at me questionably when handed a bacon roll. “Do you always have two breakfasts when you’re shooting?” she asked, and seemed slightly disheartened when my response was, “Load up, you’ll need the energy.”

I took her around, introducing her to everyone and their trusty best friends. “I know you said there were a lot of dogs, but I didn’t know there were this many,” she said, delighted.