SHOOTING.
It is my purpose, in the present chapter, as in the two preceding, to offer, as companion to the system of exercises described in the first part of this work, certain practical rules upon another of those popular field sports, a knowledge of which has in all ages been considered, in this country, part of a gentleman’s education. The perfection to which we have attained in the manufacture of all the implements connected with this branch of sporting, would make a dissertation on the materiel of shooting a piece of useless information to those for whose service these notices are intended. Instead, therefore, of filling these pages with elaborate instructions for selecting his guns, gun-cases, flasks, belts, and the whole catalogue of shooting gear, I present my reader with one solitary golden maxim, which will ensure to him the possession of a perfect apparatus, and that eventually on the most economical terms: Let him go, for every article of his equipment, to the most celebrated artist in the item of which he has need. It is true that, compared with the scale of prices in the provinces, the charges of the first-rate London gunmakers are startling things upon paper, and so are those made by coachmakers of the same class. Indeed, the same may be said of the rate of demand common to the leading dealers of the metropolis; but he will find that finis coronat opus. An economical friend of mine, who was recently quartered in Ireland, ordered, of one of the most respectable firms in Dublin, a travelling chariot, the price, with the usual et ceteras, being two hundred and fifty pounds: here it would have cost him three hundred, or three hundred and twenty. Just as it was completed, he was ordered home; and his new bargain broke down with him fourteen times between Liverpool and London. As a contrast to this: An old sporting associate, never particularly distinguished for his thrift, recently showed me a pair of shooting shoes, for which he paid Hoby two guineas, that he has had in constant work for sixteen years! No record has been preserved of the number of times they have had new bottoms. The only perishable portions of these cordwaining phenomena, however, are their soles: their bodies appear to be immortal.
To return to the appointments of the young aspirant to the honours of the trigger. Although I set out with supposing him equipped with the best double detonator that money can procure from a maker of known character, and all other mechanical appliances for the field, a proper management and judicious arrangement of them is by no means to be similarly obtained. Upon the condition of those mechanical aids his success depends, quite as much as the adroitness to which he may arrive in the use of them. Whether that department be in the hands of a gamekeeper fully competent to all its details, or there be an actual necessity for the master’s eye to direct it, a knowledge of the most approved means will be found equally essential. Proficiency in any art or science requires an intimacy with the whole machinery of its economy. It was this conviction that made an emperor a labourer in a dockyard, and should induce every sportsman to acquaint himself with the minutest particulars bearing upon his craft. To this end I will give a few rules, derived as well from personal experience as from some of the most approved authorities on the subject that have appeared in print.
Gun-cleaning.—Use cold water for the purpose of cleansing the barrel, and finish by pouring in boiling water, taking care to stop the touch-hole. Shake it up and down well, and drain it from the muzzle, which will clear the chamber. The hot water greatly aids the process of drying,—one of the most important parts of gun-washing. After the washing is concluded, by looking down the barrel with the touch-hole open, you will be enabled to see into the chamber, and ascertain whether it be effectually cleared out or otherwise. The foulness of the barrel of course must be the criterion by which the person employed in cleaning it will be decided. Should it require to be scoured, to remove powder encrusted on its sides, very fine sand and hot water should be used, and care taken to rinse it out thoroughly, at the last, with boiling water, to clear the chamber of anything that may have been driven into it by the washing-rod. The material in ordinary use for gun-cleaning is tow, to which there is the objection that particles are apt to become detached from it, and lodge in the chambers. To prevent any chance of this kind, I would recommend the substitution of cloth, which will be found to answer the purpose quite as well, being at the same time free from all such hazard. It is a bad habit to fall into, that of laying by your gun loaded: let the charge be drawn after the day’s work. If you have had but a few shots, the less trouble there will be in the cleaning: a mere hot-water rinse, and a good drying, will be enough. Should your gun contain an old charge when you go out, do not put your faith in it: the odds are all in favour of its hanging fire. Squib it off, first drawing the shot, and load again while the barrels are warm; probe your touch-holes; wipe your locks within and without; and if you cannot command success afterwards, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that you have taken the best course to ensure it.
Every time you load, observe whether your touch-hole be free: it is but a moment’s occupation, and a certain security against a monstrous annoyance—missing fire, probably at one of your best chances during the day. In all cases of hanging or missing fire, the seat of disease is the touch-hole or chamber, if your cap has exploded: to these apply the remedy. I speak only with reference to detonators, as they have now become so very universal: of course when a flint gun is used, the mischief may be caused by a faulty flint. Your last act should be, when the day’s sport is over, before you enter the house, to let down the springs of your locks: the less stress you keep upon them, the more power and elasticity they will retain. This is the plan to make one lock wear out the best Damascus barrel.
Powder.—The names of most of the great manufacturers of gunpowder are now sufficient guarantee for the excellence of the article bearing their signatures. Purchase your supply from any respectable house, and you will be secure that it is genuine: beyond the label you need not seek. Your care, then, must be to preserve the original strength, by putting it into canisters closely corked and sealed, after first having carefully dried it,—a process for which Colonel Hawker gives this excellent recipe: “Your powder should always be properly dried, in order to do which make two or three plates very hot before the fire, and (first taking care to wipe them well, lest any particle of cinder should adhere to them) keep constantly shifting the powder from one to the other, without allowing it to remain sufficiently long in either to cool the plate. The powder will then be more effectually aired, and more expeditiously dried, than by the more common means of using only one plate, which the powder, by lying on it, soon makes cold, and therefore the plate requires to be two or three times heated.” Nothing can be added to this, save the admonition that the operation be performed at such a distance from the fire as to prevent the possibility of a spark or cinder reaching you. The surest way is to dry your powder in one room, and to heat your plates in another.
Shot.—Here is a division of my subject much less easily disposed of than the last. The selection of shot is a question upon which many of the best authorities are at issue. Some deal with it only in reference to the game for which it is intended; others consider it merely as having relation to the length and diameter of the barrel for which it is required. I recommend the middle course,—medio tutissimus ibis. Colonel Hawker tells us that “it is not so much the magnitude of the pellet, as the force with which it is driven, that does the execution.” No one can accord more cheerful fealty than I do to the generality of that first-rate sportsman’s opinions; but I cannot allow my admiration to dazzle my common sense, or to subscribe to this hypothesis. With a swan-drop, you break the leg of wild-boar or red-deer; but could any force known to the science of projectiles accomplish it with a grain of number 9, or dust-shot? The rule should be, to suit your number to your game—the exception, to your gun and its calibre. Taking the average size at which fowling-pieces are now made, and the general character of English sporting, I have no hesitation in saying that there are very few instances in which number 7 will not be found to answer the purposes of a day’s shooting. It is not the power to penetrate that fills the bag. Many a bird carries off a quarter of an ounce of lead in his body; but break his wing, and what can he do then? The advocate of small shot urges the increased space which it covers, and consequently the increased chances in favour of its hitting; but to hit your bird, and to bring him down, are two very different things. Catch him anywhere with a good-sized pellet, and the odds are that he comes to bag; stuff him with dust, and he flies away with a whole charge, unless it has encountered a vital part. It is to be remembered that I am not here addressing my observations to first-rate masters of the trigger,—to such professors as Ross, Sutton, or Osbaldiston. I have not deemed it necessary to go into the relative merits of shot upon such minute niceties as the increased rotatory motion of the larger pellets, and the like. In an epitomised treatise like this, the length of my design only extends to offering the best general hints that suggest themselves to me, as applicable to the service of the novice. To such, then, I say, in all ordinary cases, make use of number 7: never go higher, for a jack-snipe will often fly away with the full of a charger of number 9 in his body. If, however, your sport lies exclusively in thick woodlands, or where only very long shots are likely to be had, supply yourself with numbers 2 or 3; but at the same time take care to provide a long and heavy gun, that will throw them even, and not in lumps and clusters.
Percussion Caps.—Detonating guns have now been so long in general use, that the familiarity thus produced with the various properties and kinds of fulminating powders, ensures the very general perfection to which these invaluable auxiliaries of the shooter have attained. They are to be had, of an almost uniform excellence, at all the respectable gunmakers in town and country.
Wadding.—Here again is a matter on which you will find a vast variety of opinion. Some get rid of it altogether by adopting the new system of cartridges. Upon this point I do not wish to offer any of the results of my own limited experience. I have shot with these, and with average success—a low average I admit, for I have no pretensions to the name of a crack. They are, however, worth the experiment of a trial, though I am disposed to believe the success or failure of it will much depend upon the accidental properties and effects of the materials submitted to the test. To return to the sort of wadding which may best serve those who still adhere to the old system of mere powder and shot. After enumerating the various claims of paper, hat, card, and leather, Colonel Hawker gives the preference to punched pasteboard,—the thickness to increase in the ratio of the diameter of the barrel. The best that have ever come under my notice are Cherry’s prepared waddings, suited to every calibre. They are manufactured from felt which has undergone a process that prevents the accumulation of damp after firing, and are to be procured at any gunmaker’s for the cost of the materials in ordinary use. These I do recommend, and I am sure those who accord them a trial will have no reason to regret it. They cover the powder effectually, and offer but little resistance to the shot, which is all that is required of wadding. Mr. Cherry would improve upon his invention by piercing the waddings intended to cover the shot, as it would facilitate the operation of loading, while the shooter made the distinction by carrying those for the powder in his left-hand pocket, and those for the shot in his right.
The Powder-flask.—It is strange that, among the many ingenious improvements effected in the implements of the shooter, the powder-flask, certainly the most important of all, should have been left in its present dangerous condition. I am aware that an attempt, and a praiseworthy one, was made some years ago by Mr. Egg, to reduce the chances of accident which the present construction of the flask involves; but I ask why has not some contrivance, without any of the old leaven in it, been suggested and effected? In the shot-belt the charger is wholly detached—where no risk, at all events, would follow, were it otherwise—whereas, when loading with powder, the charger, with the flask attached, is introduced into the muzzle of the gun, so that should it, by any accident, become ignited, an explosion (and most probably a fatal one) of the whole ensues as matter of consequence. However, to deal with it as you find it, with proper precaution, when you fill your charger let back the spring gradually, that no chance may be given away in the event of a bit of flint, or any substance that might throw out a spark, being struck by it. Never lose sight of the material which your flask contains. Let nothing induce you to fire with it in your hand. If a chance shot offer while you are loading a discharged barrel, throw it behind you, if there is not time to return it to your pocket.
Loading.—I have not thought it necessary to occupy any of my limited space with the shot-belt, because it is so simple, and at the same time so excellent in construction, that the merest novice cannot be astray in the use of it. Not so is it with the important office—that of loading your gun aright, although it is impossible to lay down any rules for it applicable to every case. Experience alone will enable you so to proportion your charge that you shall come at the full powers of which your gun is capable. The gauge, the length, the weight—all must be taken into account, and provided for. For the ordinary run of fowling-pieces, the following is a fair proportion:—A shot-charger that holds an ounce and a half of shot may be filled to the brim with powder, which wall serve to load with, as also to prime: the same measure filled up with shot will constitute your charge of lead. By these proportions, you can thus regulate the chargers of your belts and flasks. Against this system it is contended, by the ultra-particular, that it is a bad one in reference to powder, which is manufactured without regard to weight, only the projectile force being considered. These are minutiæ, however, into which I do not desire to introduce the learner. He will have enough to do with the more immediate affairs of preparing his nerves, forming a judgment upon sight and distance, and laying a foundation upon a basis of right principle and prompt performance, without which he will have little business upon that arena to which I am about to introduce him, after a long but still a necessary preface.
Shooting. The Field.—Unless where some positive mental or physical prohibition exists, a certain degree of excellence and dexterity in every art and science is open to such as seek with care and perseverance. Thus, although, from natural causes, every man cannot aspire to the honour of becoming a crack shot, there is scarcely any that may not acquire the art of shooting tolerably well. The sooner the essay is made, the better the chance of its success; and as my pupil is supposed to be in this condition, I proceed, without further introduction, to offer such practical rules and maxims as may best serve to promote the end he should have in view—that of becoming cautious in the management, and steady in the use of his gun.
The first step, assuming the learner to be a complete novice, will be to acquire the proper mode of putting his gun to his shoulder, and of bringing the sight to bear upon a particular object,—the latter only to be rightly accomplished with the breech and sight on a level. Having attained this preliminary, let him take a flint gun, with a piece of wood substituted for the flint, and practise at the object so situated, always remembering to pull the trigger the moment the sight is on the mark—a precaution he will find the vast advantage of as he comes to apply it to flying shots. After a practice so conducted till the eye ceases to flinch when the trigger is drawn, he may begin to load with half charges, and continue to practise at his object, occasionally, without his knowledge, small charges of shot being added, so that he shall strike his mark without the nervous excitement of feeling that he is making the attempt.
The great point—that of steadiness combined with self-confidence—being arrived at, he may now try his hand at small birds; but even after he has become adroit at these, he has still another ordeal to go through. This is the tremour at the springing of game, whether a pack of grouse, a covey of partridges, or a solitary cock-pheasant, which, indeed, often makes as startling a flight as either. In this case, it will serve him greatly to return to the system he began with, and learn to cover his game without the nervous apprehension of a miss. While at this practice, he may begin to use himself to cover with both eyes open, the advantage of which he will soon discover when he comes to quick shooting.
Being tolerably au fait at these points of practice (for perfection can only result from long experience, whence come skill and judgment), it will be necessary that he bear in mind those rules for rightly effecting his purpose when his game is moving. He must shoot before an object that crosses his point of sight; high for a bird rising in its flight, or skimming the surface; between the ears of hares or rabbits running in a straight line from him,—being guided, of course, in every case, by the distance between him and the mark at which he aims. For example, if a bird range forty yards from him, calculating the ordinary velocity of its speed of wing, he may safely aim six inches before it. No fixed rules, however, can be laid down, where the casualties of powder, a dull or lively-shooting gun, high winds, and fifty other et ceteras, are opposed to a system. One principle he may always adopt with success, and that is, to fix his eyes on the mark he has selected, and fire the instant the gun is brought to bear upon it. It is very difficult to say at what distance a bird may be which can be called a fair shot, because it rests with so many contingencies. Forty yards are generally considered as point-blank range, but it will often be found easier to bring down game at fifty than at thirty yards. The wind, as in cross shots, and various operating causes—all the result of temporary accident—must be taken into account. You will always have a better chance to kill long cross shots than those approaching or flying from you. It is very hard to do execution upon birds with a stern-chaser, and in coming towards you they present a surface off which shot is very apt to glance without penetrating. I have said nothing about the hold of his gun most convenient for the learner to accustom himself to, because, in whatever manner it may be put into his hands at first, he is sure, ultimately, to adopt a style of his own, arising from natural causes, or habits almost as forcible. The nearer it is placed to the guard, the less risk is run should a barrel burst. The grasp of the stock more forward affords the greatest facility in bringing the gun to bear upon its object, and more firmness of position.
While I am on the mechanical portion of the young shooter’s acquirements, or rather things to be acquired, I do not think a better opportunity can be chosen to introduce a few hints upon a more advanced state of practice, albeit some may, at the time of perusing them, be unfit to receive what may be termed finishing lessons. When you are about taking a cross shot at a long range, fire well before it, from one to three feet, according to the speed with which the bird is flying, and let your gun be thrown above the object. The same rule must direct you in firing at hares or rabbits, whether it be a cross shot or one in a right line. It is a most mischievous practice, as far as regards your day’s sport, to make much noise in the field, however strong the provocation from the disobedience of your dogs, or any cause whatever. Should your pointers prove incorrigible, I would rather recommend you, when they have sprung a covey, to cause them to be taken up, and then walk yourself as near as you can to the spot where you saw it drop. Should the birds rise singly or by the brace, continue to beat and shoot while you think one remains: it will be time enough to look after the slain (that cannot abscond) when you make sure of the living. This plan may also be successfully adopted when there is not scent enough to prevent the staunchest dogs from running in upon their game. In marking your covey down, remember they cannot fall so long as they continue to skim: they cannot alight till they stop themselves, and prepare for the pitch, by a flapping of the wings.
I should not advise you to begin beating for partridges, even in September, before nine o’clock, and then desist from it at noon. From three till dusk is the golden division of the day, at that season, for the partridge-shooter. If your ground happen to lie in the vicinity of manors that have been shot over during the day, you will be certain to meet the remnants of scattered coveys, of all chances the most sure to fill your game-bag. With pheasants, however, when they are to be sought in strong covers particularly, your system must be almost reversed. As the day advances, these birds resort to the thickest and strongest lying that the woodlands frequented by them afford. When beating, in the early morning, after rain, you will generally find them in the skirts of covers, or in the hedgerows adjacent. In such cases, always contrive to place yourself between them and the strong old woods: to these they are certain to fly,—instinct teaching them that there they are most sheltered and secure. In battue-shooting, all you have to attend to is the situation of the best opens, and such sides of the covers intended to be beaten, as the direction of the wind, and the ordinary resort of the game, point out as the most judicious stations; but when about to engage in a single-handed day’s sport, you will require a more skilful disposition, and closer attention to the manner of your tactics. In this latter case, your best assistant will be a steady old pointer: one that will range near you, work round every piece of copse and underwood, and poke into every nook and crevice; well broke he must be, so as to fall at shot, and crouch down on bringing in his birds.
In a treatise such as this, it would be impossible to give even the briefest epitome of directions for the various classes of game and wild-fowl shooting. Before, however, I close my address to the young disciple of the trigger, I will offer him a few familiar hints on a division of his craft neither the least in importance or interest,—namely, his relation to his best ally and friend, the dog. I am not going to suggest the species best suited to general shooting, as so very much depends upon the country to be hunted, and the chance that may direct selection; but whether pointer, setter, or spaniel, you will find your account in making such as you intend for coadjutors in the field your ordinary associates and companions. Try the experiment by committing one puppy of a litter entirely to the breaker, and retaining another (when the general rudiments of his education have been acquired) constantly with yourself, and at every opportunity subjected to gentle but firm discipline, and you will soon discover which is the better plan. Adopt the same system with a perfectly-made hunter—a master of his business; and you will soon find out the difference of being served by one who, from habit, will be enabled to understand your looks, and another who, at best, will have to puzzle out your wishes, or require to have them announced at the hazard of flushing half the game in the parish.
With this parting word on the social economy of shooting, closes the last of those notices of our Field Sports which the publisher thought it convenient to appear in this volume, and the treatment of which he confided to me. If his purpose has been fulfilled, my desire will be accomplished,—the wish to please being our unity of design. The little talent the writer possesses, at all events will not have failed from lack of anxiety to accomplish his task: what is writ is writ,—
“Would it were worthier!”