In turning to the subject of pheasants I have not a great deal to say,
the opportunity of shooting them in these days coming but rarely to
women. There are many reasons why a woman is out of place in big shoots,
and as pheasants now are not often shot in any other way, it is not easy
to get much practice at them. Nevertheless, there are one or two places
on my father's property where, with a steady old setter, I can generally
find a brace of pheasants or more. A pheasant flushed in a hedgerow, is
no doubt sometimes an easy shot when you are in practice, but it is good
for beginners, as is everything that gives you confidence in yourself.
When you shoot your first pheasant and he comes down stone-dead, you
feel you really are a sportswoman, and a new confidence which brings
success in its train, springs up in your heart. In woods, of course, the
birds give a greater trial of skill, as you must as a rule make longer
shots, for they will be travelling much faster.
I seem to have said but little about pheasants which are after all the
most important game, but the principles of shooting are the same in all
cases, and with such pheasants as come in your way, you will be able to
deal, if you read and put in practice the general precepts I have given,
not forgetting to attend to the list of "Don'ts" to be found at the
end.
We now come to rabbits, which are very important from one point of view,
for the woman who can get nothing else can often get shots at "Bunny."
There are so many ways you can get him. You may bolt him with ferrets,
you may stalk him with a rabbit rifle or a gun, you may drive him out of
covert with fox terriers or beagles, or you may make him the occasion of
a big shoot of his own. There is one thing about the rabbit which is
invaluable, he hardly ever offers you an easy shot, and very often he is
one of the hardest animals in the world to hit. Rabbit shooting in
company, unless that company be one of the most select, is decidedly
dangerous, for more stray, careless and excited shots are made at
rabbits than at any other form of sport. I am somewhat solitary in my
sporting tastes, and much as I love the _chasse aux lapins_, I like it
in solitude, or at all events with one trusted companion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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