I BOUGHT MY FIRST 12-bore when I was 16. It was a BRNO sidelock non-ejector, purchased from an advertisement in Shooting Times with the aid of a loan from my mother. The BRNO replaced a singlebarrel AYA .410, and it proved to be much more effective against the local woodpigeons. I was an avid reader of this magazine, and so I was well aware that though I had a suitable gun, I also needed an equally suitable dog. Thankfully, this was no problem: I recruited the family cocker spaniel, Kim, to join me on my shooting forays.
Kim relished our many shooting expeditions, and I'd love to recall that he was a natural gundog. Frustratingly, however, he wasn't. In fact, he was next to useless - so much so that in most cases, his only contribution to a day's shooting was his companionship.
This wasn't really surprising, though, as he came from many generations of show-bred dogs and could trace his pedigree all the way back to Tracey Witch of Ware, a famous cocker bitch that won Best in Show at Crufts in 1948 and 1950.
As all gundog books will tell you, if you want a working gundog, avoid dogs with show blood. Graham Gibson, in his book Complete Training for the Working Spaniel, notes: "It is imperative that the buyer chooses a dog with mainly field trial and working lines in its pedigree." This is echoed by virtually everyone who has tried to train a gundog. HPRS are an exception, as there's less of a division between working and show-bred dogs.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 10, 2023 من Shooting Times & Country.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة May 10, 2023 من Shooting Times & Country.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Serious matters
An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning
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
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
Country Diary
Patrick Leigh-Pemberton presents a beginner's guide to becoming a model houndsman at a new hunt - even if you might be bluffing it
Shooting proving hard to sell as season looms
It will come as no surprise, given the pinch we’re all feeling, that shooting for the forthcoming season is proving hard to sell.
Gamekeeper
Liam Bell says gamekeepers must be realistic about growing game crops without the use of any herbicides or artificial fertilisers
Number of shotgun licence holders is now in decline
New Home Office figures show that shotgun licence holders are down 4% year on year, while there are some worrying age and gender trends
A potter with a gun
Geoffrey Armitage considers the essence of rough shooting, where Guns pit their intuition and powers of observation against wild game