There's More To Shooting Than Shooting

A growing obsession with continual large bags is destroying the quality of the shooting experience, says Editor Jonathan Young, and damaging the reputation of the sport in the process

- Jonathan Young

“THE moment the horn sounds on the last drive you hear the hum of the engines, then the whirr of the rotors as the helicopters warm up to take them to the next shoot. There’s no discussing the day with other guns, no thanking the beaters or pickers-up, no hand shaking with the keeper as he’s tipped. There’s just the need to get to the next shoot, then the next and so on throughout the season.”

So ran the story told by an experienced shoot organiser as the gun bus rattled its way through the Somerset countryside. A bizarre way to enjoy one’s sport, I thought, but surely rare. Later that week, I talked to a man who’d been spaniel keen when we’d met three years ago. “How’s your season going?” I asked. “Well, I’ve given it a rest for the past two years,” he replied. “I just couldn’t stand shooting with people who only cared about shooting their share of the bag and would jump into a helicopter or a chauffeured Range Rover the moment the shooting was over.”