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[-112-]
CHAPTER XI.
GUNNING.
GUNNING is my theme; not the patronymic of those three
beautiful sisters who fired the hearts (if the dried-up integuments can be so
called) of the court gentlemen in the time of the Regent, but the great art of
shooting; on English manor or Scottish moor, from the back of a pony or the bows
of a punt, in solitary ramble or grand battue; indulged in by my lord with his
party of friends, his keepers, his gillies, and his beaters; by Bill Lubbock the
poacher, known to the keepers as an "inweterate," with his
never-missing double-barrel and his marvellous lurcher; or by Master Jones, home
for the holidays from Rugby, who has invested his last tip in a thirty-shilling
Birmingham muzzle-loader, with which he pots sparrows in the Willesden fields.
Gunning, which binds together men of otherwise entirely opposite disposition and
tastes ; which gives many a toiler in cities pent such healthful excitement and
natural pleasure as enable him to get through the eleven dreary months, hanging
on to the anticipation of those thirty happy days when the broad stubble-fields
will stretch around him, and the popping of the barrels make music in his ear.
Gunning, a sport so fascinating, that to enjoy it men in the prime of life, with
high-sounding titles and vast riches, will leave their comfortable old ancestral
homes, and the pleasant [-113-] places in which
their lines have been cast, and go away to potter for weeks in a miserable
little half-roofed shanty on a steaming barren Highland moor, or will risk life
and limb in grim combat with savage animals in deadly jungle or dismal swamp.
Gunning, whose devotees are numbered by myriads, the high-priest whereof is
Colonel Peter Hawker, of glorious memory, who has left behind him an admirable
volume of instruction in the art. Not unto me to attempt to convey hints,
"wrinkles," or "dodges" to the regular gunner ; mine be it
simply to discourse on the inner life of the art, showing what can be done, in
what manner, and for how much; and giving certain practical information in
simple and concise form to the neophyte.
And first to be mentioned in a treatise,
however humble, on gunning, are guns. A muzzle-loading double gun, by a
first-class London maker, costs forty guineas, or with its cases and all its
fittings, fifty guineas. The leading provincial makers, and those of Scotland
and Ireland, charge from thirty to forty pounds complete; most of their guns
are, however, in reality manufactured in Birmingham, where the price of a double
gun varies from twenty pounds to two pounds five shillings, or even less,
according to quality. The second-class London makers charge from twenty-five to
thirty-five pounds ; but most of their work is made at Birmingham, and only
"finished" in London. The London work is much the best; for, as the
wages paid are much higher, London attracts the best workmen from all parts of
the country. Another reason is, the greater independence of the workmen in
London. In Birmingham, especially - between trade agreements on the part of the
masters, and trade-unions on the part of the men - a man who can work better or
more quickly than his fellows is continually hampered; and he generally makes
his way to London, where he finds a fairer market for his labour, and fewer
restrictions. The situation of Birmingham, near to the [-114-]
coal-producing districts, renders the cost of fuel much less than in
London; and all the operations which require a large expenditure of fuel, such
as the welding and forging of the barrels, etc., are done at Birmingham, even
for best guns; and it is frequently asked, since all the materials, barrels,
etc. come from Birmingham, why pay the much higher prices of London makers for
the same thing? meaning, that as the London makers get their barrels (the chief
portion of the gun) from Birmingham, the prices they charge are extortionate.
Now, what the London barrel-maker really does get from Birmingham is simply two
rough tubes of wrought iron, not fit in their then condition even to serve as
gas-pipes. All that makes them of any value as gun-barrels - the boring, filing,
putting together for shooting, etc. - has to be done in London at four times the
cost, and generally with ten times the accuracy, of Birmingham work. The fallacy
lies in supposing that "the same thing" is obtained in both cases. If
what a man buys when he purchases a gun be merely the six pounds of wrought iron
and steel in the barrel and locks, and the half a foot of walnut plank in the
stock, the value of these materials at twenty pounds a ton for the metal and a
shilling a foot for the wood is less than five shillings for the whole, and he
may well consider he is overcharged if he pay a pound for the complete gun. But
what he buys is really the time and technical skill of the contriver, the time
and skill of the workman, the waste of manufacture (and how enormous this
frequently is, may be judged from the fact that ninety pounds of rough metal
will be consumed in making a pair of Damascus gun-barrels weighing about six
pounds when finished); these are the real things purchased, and whether the
buyer pay ten or fifty pounds, he will generally get only the value of his
money, and no more. Skill and time can never be brought to the same close
competition as the price of raw material, and the tendency [-115-]
of both is to become dearer, instead of cheaper, every day.
During the last four or five years the use of breech-loading
guns has become common in England. The system adopted is called the "Lefaucheux,"
from the name of its inventor, and it has been general in France for many years.
Twenty-five years ago some guns of this pattern were brought from Paris by Mr.
Wilkinson, of Pall Mall, who endeavoured to introduce their use into England,
but without success ; and they were finally sold at one-fourth their cost, as
curiosities only. The price of breech-loading guns of best quality is five
guineas more than muzzle-loaders they are sold in Birmingham at from eight
pounds to thirty pounds. The advantages of a breech-loader to young sportsmen
are, principally, that the guns cannot be overloaded, two charges cannot go into
the same barrel ; the charge can be taken out in an instant; and though, if the
gunner be clumsy, he may shoot a friend, he cannot by any possibility shoot
himself. This little distinction is highly appreciated, since accidents in
loading from the muzzle were by no means unfrequent.
To a moderate-minded man, three or four thousand acres in
England would be a good manor, of which four hundred should be covert. Potatoes
used to be good covert, now the best is clover left for seed, mangold, swedes
and turnips, beans, etc. The usual price is one shilling per acre; but in the
neighbourhood of London and large towns the rent is higher, and the value
arbitrary. For four thousand acres, to do the thing well, one should have a
head-keeper, whose cost will be as follows: a house, a guinea a week for wages,
five pounds a year for clothes, twelve pounds a year for ammunition, a
certificate three pounds, and a "deputation" from the lord of the
manor, without which he cannot, I believe, legally take a gun away from a
poacher. He generally has a pony and a spring-cart allowed
[-116-] him, sometimes the keep of a dog. It has
been well observed, that "it is not every fellow with a short jacket and
half-a-dozen pockets, that is fitted for a game-keeper." He must be
trustworthy; for he has in the mowing-time to pay a shilling a nest to the
mowers, sometimes to pay for the destruction of vermin, etc., and he can cheat
if he like. He should be a good, but not a noted or crack shot - not such a shot
as keeps his hand in by practice on his master's game; and he should be
thoroughly knowing in the habits of all manner of vermin, and in the mode of
destroying them. He should not be allowed to break dogs for anyone save his
master, or to rear pets, or in fact to do any extraneous duty. A game-keeper's
situation is a pleasant one when he and his master pull together. There is
always enough to do, both in and out of season, to keep a zealous man fully
employed. He should be brave, yet not pugnacious; amicable, and on good terms
with the neighbouring farmers, yet not sufficiently so ever to wink at poaching,
however mild - and the natural instinct for poaching, even amongst farmers of
the better class, is something marvellous - and civil and attentive to his
master's guests. (N.B.-It is usual to give a keeper five shillings for the day,
if shooting at a friend's manor, and then he cleans your gun; at a grand battue,
a guinea is frequently given, but for a day's partridge-shooting five
shillings is ample. This, be it remembered, is expected.) Your head-keeper will
want a man under him, with wages of twelve shillings a week, and a house, and at
certain seasons watchers or night-men. These are generally paid by the night.
The beaters employed at battues are very frequently old men or boys on the
estate, who are fit for nothing else; they get from one shilling to half-a-crown
for their day's job.
For such a manor as I have pictured, two brace of pointers or
setters, and one retriever, would be enough, and a good close-working spaniel,
or a brace or leash, according [-117-] to fancy. A
brace of well-broken second-season setters should be purchasable at from
twenty-five to thirty pounds; spaniels at five pounds each; a good retriever
would be cheap at twenty guineas, ten pounds being a very common price. If
possible, by all means breed your own dogs, or get them bred by your friends; a
purchased pointer is a pig in a poke-purchased, I mean, through the medium of an
advertisement or from a regular dealer. Some animals so bought have never even
had powder burnt over them, cower at the shot, and fly away from home
immediately afterwards; others have a kind of "crammed" instruction -
that is to say, they will be very good when kept in constant practice, but if
left at home for a few days will forget all they have learnt, and come into the
field wild and ignorant. Pointers are more useful than setters for
partridge-shooting, easier to train, less liable to take cold, more easily
steadied, and more tenacious of instruction. On the other hand, setters are
superior for grouse-shooting, being harder-footed. Spaniels are the most useful
of all dogs: there are two classes - the "mute," which are the best
for all practical purposes; and those which fling their tongues, begin their
noise as soon as they are put into cover, put all game on the alert, and send
every jack-hare and old cock-pheasant out of the other end. A spaniel should
stop when he rouses a rabbit or hare, should never range more than thirty yards
from the gun, should drop when the gun goes off and should then lie until
signalled on. He should go through any furze or brambles like a rat; should be
short on his legs, long in his body, have a long head, go to water, and retrieve
alive ; he should work with his tail down, and the set of the tail should be
down also. His ears should be bell-shaped, small at the top and large at the
bottom. The best breed is the "Clumber" spaniel, which is always mute,
always lemon-and-white in colour, but not generally fond of the water. The next
best breed is the Sussex, liver-and-[-118-]white ;
the darker the liver, the better; the best-marked have a white blaze down the
fact, white muzzle, liver nose, lips flecked with liver, and flecked legs, belly
and hips white, and white collar and chest. The most fashionable spaniels are
mute black-and-white, or black-and-tan, legs, feet, and toes well feathered
before and behind, and the feet round as a cheese-plate. As to retrievers : when
you hear people speak of a genuine retriever, do not place much credit in their
assertions, as there is no regular breed, and time best retrievers are generally
mongrels, half-poodle, half-spaniel, and sometimes with a cross of Newfoundland.
A well-taught retriever combines the qualities of pointer, setter, spaniel, and
water-dog, with his own peculiar instinct of fetching a dead bird out of any
brake, and carrying him with jaws of iron and teeth of wool. I need not say that
such a dog is invaluable.
If you go in for pheasant-breeding, you go in for expense at
once. The artificial food for three hundred pheasants, until they shoot their
tails, would cost fifteen or twenty pounds. By artificial food I mean eggs,
rice, greaves, chopped onions, lettuce, etc. I should say that every pheasant
shot on any manor costs twelve shillings, for they must be reared by
hand. The good friend with whom I have had many a pleasant day in the woods,
calculates the cost of his birds at a pound each; but he does everything in an
unnecessarily princely fashion, and has a staff of keepers and beaters inferior
to none in number or cost.
Grouse-shooting in England can be pursued in Yorkshire,
Northumberland, and Westmoreland, in some parts of Wales, in Kerry, Limerick,
Wicklow, and Tipperary in Ireland, and in the Scotch Highlands. Within the last
few years grouse-shooting has become such a fashionable amusement, that the
prices of moors have risen enormously, and have at length attained a fabulous
height. Twenty years ago, the highest price for a moor of from twenty to forty
thousand [-119-] acres, fit for four guns, was four
hundred pounds ; you would be lucky now to get it for double the money. This is
owing to the manufacturing gentry, who are tremendously keen groucers, and have
a general leaning towards gunning, and can afford to pay magnificently. Here it
may be well to call attention to the advertisements of moors to be let for the
season, the owner of which stipulates that the tenant shall "be limited to
a thousand brace!" He must not shoot more, for fear of thinning the stock
on the moor. Caveat emptor. The intending answerer of such advertisement
may safely pledge himself to abide by this stipulation, and if he and his
friends bag three hundred brace, they may think themselves highly favoured.
Setters and pointers (Russian and Spanish preferred by some) are the best dogs
to shoot grouse to; the time, between the 12th of August and the 20th of
September, though some talk of October, and even the early days of November, but
you will get better grousing between the dates I have mentioned; a large-bored
gun, and, if with a muzzle-loader, No. 3 shot. Colonel Hawker says: "Grouse
take a harder blow than partridges."
Also in the sporting journals, under the heading "To
Let," you will find the entry: "Splendid deer-forests." A
deer-forest is so named on the celebrated lucus a non lucendo principle ;
it does not contain a single tree, but is simply a Highland tract of land from
which sheep have been kept off - as sheep and deer will never feed together. The
most celebrated are the deer-forests of Lord Lovat, the Duke of Richmond, the
Duke of Athol, and, above all, of the Marquis of Breadalbane. For a good
deer-forest, a thousand a year is a low price; and every deer shot costs, on an
average, from sixty to eighty pounds. Let no man, un-possessed of great bodily
strength, with lasting power amid patience, undertake deer-stalking. To walk for
miles to the shooting-ground, to crawl on all-fours or on the stomach for [-120-]
several hundred yards through brake and brushwood, and then to take
steady aim at a distance of over a hundred yards at about the least, requires
men in high training and of natural bodily strength. But your amateur, however
good, is never equal to your gillie, whose eye is more acute than the best
Dollond or reconnoitrer ; whose arm is as steady as a rock, after any amount of
exertion; and who goes up any number of the stiffest braes without turning a
hair, or apparently without an extra pulsation. A knowing shot, your gillie, and
one who never neglects an opportunity. They tell a story of a noble lord who,
last year, was out on his moor with his favourite gillie, when he spied a noble
stag about four hundred yards off. The nobleman put his rifle to his shoulder,
covered the object, then lowered his piece. "Donald!" said he.
"Me lard!" said Donald. "That's a fine shot." "Et wad
be a faine shot for the mon as wad het it," was the Highlander's
sententious reply. "Take the rifle, Donald, sight it carefully, and give it
me back; if I knock over that fellow, the rifle shall be yours." The gillie
took the rifle and sighted it, and gave it to his master, who fired, and killed
his stag. According to his promise, he gave the rifle to the gillie. Since then
he has never been taken nearer than four hundred yards to any deer on his
estate!
Never let any ribald "chaff" any denunciation of
Cockney sport, prevent you from enjoying a good day's rabbit-shooting whenever
you have the opportunity. With a couple of mute spaniels and a sharp terrier,
you may have an excellent morning's sport; but you must remember that it is very
quick shooting, and you must keep your gun on the cock, and be ready to pull the
instant you see the rabbit run, if you would have a chance of hitting him. Be
wary, for rabbits are wonderfully "up to trap;" pretend not to be
looking after them, and you will throw them off their guard; but if you advance
in a business-like manner, gun in [-121-] hand,
depend upon it that a flash of white tails is all you will see of your game - of
the older ones, at least; the younger are less knowing, and more easily potted.
For any hints about wild-fowl shooting, go to Colonel Hawker,
and consult no other. He is a little rococo and old-fashioned ; but in the main
he is as right now as he was when he wrote, and his advice is sound, practical,
and sensible. Take it all with that "grain of salt" which the old
Latin proverb prescribes ; for though there lived strong men before Agamemnon,
there are not many men strong enough to undergo all the hardships which Colonel
Peter Hawker lightly touches upon in his hints on wild-fowl shooting.
It is unusual to take a dog with you when invited to a day's
shooting. But in partridge-shooting, when you receive the invitation, it is
common to ask the question: "How are you off for dogs?" and to take
them if wanted. To take your dogs over without having ascertained the wish of
your host, will cause you to be regarded as rather a cool hand. Perhaps, after
all, spaniels are the most serviceable animals; setters and pointers are not
much used in England, as there is little "laying" for birds under the
new system of farming, and now turnips are drilled, birds rise before the dogs.
Finally, do not imagine that you can leave the London season,
the jolly nights in the Club smoke-room, the heavy dinners with ingoted
East-Indian uncles, the twenty-one dances winding-up with a never-ending
cotillon, indulged in night after night; and then go down to Norfolk, or
wherever may be the manor to which you are invited, and shoot. The thing is
impossible. You must be, to a certain extent, in training; at all events, your
wind must be decent, your muscles braced, and your hand and eye steady. A long
waltz may be good for your wind, but it will shake your arm; and a pipe of
Cavendish or a couple of extra cigars will spoil your sport for the day. So do
not be down-[-122-] hearted at first if you fire
wild, or if the squire and his country friends grin a bit as the birds fly away
unharmed; wait - let your faith be "large in Time," as Mr. Tennyson
has it; and very soon you will feel your hand getting in, and you will find
that, as sweet Will, who has something on everything, says : " Your
shooting then is well accounted."