Does everyone really hate us?

Fieldsports’ PR problem is not contempt but ignorance — so let’s talk, urges Adam Hart

-  Adam Hart

When the Editor posed the question “Does everybody hate us?” to me on the phone, I laughed. At the time, I was visiting a friend called Angus who attends the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester. His digs weren’t quite your typical student house.

There were pigeon decoys on the lampshades. Barbour jackets and wellies cluttered the hallway. Old copies of The Field were being used to get the barbecue going in the garden. Everyone I met came from the countryside and seemed to understand it. Angus’s friends loved field sports and talked about them.

Entire flats in halls of residence would go beating in the winter to earn themselves a free roast dinner. They went pheasant shooting on each other’s farms in the winter and decoyed pigeons in the summer. I was told by Angus that game, often still in the feather, could be found in their kitchen at most times of year.

So why on earth was the Editor asking such a question? Don’t all young people love shooting? At Cirencester, you could be forgiven for thinking so.

Game carrier

Unfortunately, the Royal Agricultural University is not an accurate representation of the real world, particularly in terms of young people. I realise my education was far from normal too. I went to a sleepy boarding school in Monmouthshire from the age of 11 to 18. Lots of the boys came from the countryside. One of them made a game carrier for his A-Level DT project. You get the picture.