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Guns (Punt gun can seldom be fired)

A punt gun can seldom be fired to the best advantage, even by expert gunners, without the aid of a gun-rest. Before attempting to approach fowl, the singlehanded punter lies down in position, trims his punt and sets his gun. This is done by raising or lowering the muzzle with the gun-rest, so that the sights bear on an object within ordinary shooting range. In a double punt the gun is also "set" for night work, but in the day-time the gunner can shift his rest as he pleases, even at the last moment before firing. He can thus draw a full bead on the birds, or elevate the muzzle for a flying shot. Correct distance judging on the water is a source of much trouble to the beginner. Plenty of practice is the only remedy.

Punt-shooting by Day. The fowler's prospects of sport by day in these islands mainly depend upon the state of the weather and tides. On rough, boisterous days, or during severe frosts, he will probably fall in with some of the more valuable forms of wild fowl, such as wigeon, teal, or mallard. On the other hand, in mild, open weather these fowl usually quit their feeding grounds at dawn, and fly to some safe retreat on the coast to spend the day. Such resting-places are generally too exposed and dangerous for punting, but by careful observation the fowler may, perhaps, track them to some accessible, though isolated, rocks or sandbanks, where he may advantageously follow them in his punt. A stiff following boat will, however, in such a case, be indispensable as a refuge in case of emergency. Brent geese are day-feeding fowl, and, though in certain places likely to be seen, they are extremely vigilant and shy of a punt. The sport, nevertheless, is so uncertain that, in addition to any luck he may have with the waders, plovers, &c., a good shot at geese or ducks may be secured when he least expects it. In foreign waters, where fowl are less persecuted, their rules of life are not quite so regular, and it has been the writer's fortune on many occasions to make excellent bags in mild, open weather. It would seem that, in the absence of a strong frost, plenty of wind and other elemental discomforts form the best recipe for successful gunning in harbour. Though fowl may be numerous, a shore or sea haze will often ruin the chance of sport, because the punt then looks like a barge on the water and the birds will fly up long out of range.

The most favourable moment to seek a shot is about dawn, when the tides are suitable, but there is always a chance at any time of the day, when the mud-banks are exposed, or about to be exposed, or recovered, by the tide. In cold weather the fowl will generally be found thickly massed when feeding on the flats, or just about low water when reposing and preening their feathers under shelter of the mud. The method of approaching fowl has been already described, but, in order to disguise the outlines of his punt, the fowler is recommended to "set" to them from some background, such as the shore-line, patches of rocks, or even the shade of the mudbanks. When drawing within range, he must quickly decide how he can make the most of his opportunity, having regard to the general behaviour of the fowl and their position. Any hesitation at the last moment leads to certain failure. After a shot there are usually a few crippled birds to be stopped with the shoulder-gun. These must be circumvented and gathered without delay. Generally the fowler should avoid (a) attempting to approach any of the duck species down wind, as their nasal organs are most sensitive in a light breeze; (b) any rolling or unnatural motion of the punt when in the act of approach; (c) habitually firing long shots (i.e., over 90 yards); (d) attempting to approach fowl, unless certain there is enough water to float the punt in range; (e) firing at scattered birds, especially at high water.

Punt-shooting by Night.-Calm moonlight, or bright starlight nights, with a clear horizon, are favourable conditions for the fowler's sport. Soon after dark, wigeon, teal, mallard, and other surface feeding ducks will usually be found on or near their feeding grounds, though they may flight thither somewhat later when the moon is large or the tides unsuitable. Grey geese, too, may in some localities offer a fair chance if their roosting places are accessible to a punt. A trained ear and an intimate knowledge of the haunts and habits of fowl are of quite as much importance for night work as keenness of vision. By paddling his punt to leeward of their haunts, the fowler will be better able to hear their cries, and thus ascertain their exact whereabouts. The only way to approach them by moonlight is to work the punt from the shade towards the moon, when they will eventually become visible under its beams. On starlight nights, without a moon, he must work from the shade of the shore towards the birds in the open water, otherwise he will not see them at all if working towards land. In the early part of the night, fowl are frequently too scattered for successful shooting. The best time to shoot them is on the ebb, when they commence to assemble thickly over the highest part of their feeding grounds, and again on the flood, when the tide begins to make over the mud-banks. By starlight the shallows appear white, and the fowl will be distinctly seen, figured, or in a black mass against the white background. Experienced hands prefer to shoot under a half- or three-quarter moon, which rises late in the night, because the punt cannot then be seen so distinctly by fowl, as is the case under a full, clear, overhead moon. [SHOOTING shooters, both amateur and professional, are naturally reticent about these matters, because publicity might lead to such an undesirable influx of fowlers into the locality as would speedily destroy the sport for everybody.

Below is given a table of shots made in home and foreign waters, which can be authenticated. Some of Colonel Hawker's performances are also recorded, as they were, of course, wonderful in his day.

Date. 1895 1880 Locality.

Cromarty Firth River Maigue, Ireland AT HOME.

Birds. 52 Brent geese 43 Bean geese Generally, the fowler must avoid (a) night punting, unless he is well acquainted with the creeks and channels as well as the 1887 Estuary, Essex 50 Brent geese various hollows and high patches on the The Blackwater Punter's Name.

Sir Si Ch. Ross, Bart.

Grimes (pro.).

Stubbins (pro.).

H. C. Folkard.

East Coast of England 52 Mallard Schariff Bay, 1864 Lough Derg, 50 Mallard Ireland { (Mick Considine (pro.). 1842 Ireland Dingle Bay, 90 Wigeon. Buckle (pro.) The Shannon, 1879 106 Teal Mr. A. Vincent.

Ireland The Shannon, 1879 Ireland 96 Wigeon Capt Nugent.. 1879 The Shannon, Ireland 83 Wigeon Sir D. Roche, Bart. 1880 Tralee Bay, Ireland 93 Wigeon Mr. E. Hickson.

Castlemaine 1879 Bay, Ireland 87 Wigeon Mr. W. V. Beart.

Castlemaine 1884 Bay, Ireland 81 Wigeon Mr.W.V Beart.

PUNT UNDER SAIL. mud-banks; (b) making any noise to arouse suspicion of danger among the fowl; (c) allowing birds to "scent” him; (d) working his punt into such a position that they can see it under the moonbeams; (e) any risk of being stranded on the mud-banks; (f) shooting by guesswork; (g) fowling at all on dark or windy nights.

Punt-shooting under Sail in a steady breeze is an exciting and occasionally successful way of shooting fowl, more especially the Brent geese. In places where they are daily accustomed to see about them numbers of fishing and other boats, it is supposed that they mistake a gunning-punt, with its small sail and low free-board, for a fishing-boat in the distance, and they are thus deceived to their cost.

Heavy Shots with the Punt Gun. - Considerable difficulty is experienced in verifying the reports of the big shots at geese, wigeon, and other ducks which come to hand during severe winters. Punt- Lambeth Public Libraries Many years ago Captain Latour obtained some wonderful sport in Cromarty Firth, and it is said that he once bagged IOI Brent geese at a shot by night, also 103 ducks and teal, the latter shot on floating ice. In Dornoch Firth a professional named Hossacks is reported once to have killed 127 Brent geese, and the statement has been corroborated by some of his contemporaries. Colonel Hawker's best shots in the Solent were as follows:-January 21st, 1829, 105 ducks and wigeon in eighteen hours (53 wigeon and 2 mallard, one shot); January 20th, 1838, 42 wigeon and 9 geese; January 27th, 1838, 49 brent in two shots; February 3rd, 1838, 57 brent in three shots.

Probably the best day's bag which has been made in these islands was that obtained by the late Mr. A. Vincent in 1870 on the Fergus section of the river Shannon in Ireland, namely, 140 geese and ducks.

In 1880 Sir R. Payne-Gallwey with Captain G. J. Gould bagged in one day 129 duck and wigeon on the same estuary in four shots. On February 11th, 1895, during the great frost, Sir Charles Ross bagged SHOOTING] 109 Brent geese in Cromarty Firth, the result of four shots, and in four successive days a total of nearly 300 of these fine fowl.

ABROAD.

Date.

Locality.

Birds.

Punter's Name. 1864 The Nile 1891 France 1890 South Holland..

East Scheldt 64 Wildgeese Lord Londes- 52 Brent 40 Bernicle 1884-85 River, Hol- IIO Wigeon land 1897 Holland } 121 Wigeon 1892 France 89 Wigeon 1893 France 85 Wigeon 1895 Holland 96 Wigeon 1894 River Loire, France 40 Mallard III Wigeon Germany } borough.

Mr. W. H. Pope.

Mr. T. M. Pike.

Mr. J. A. Mottram.

Captain G. J.

Gould.

Mr. W. H. Pope.

Mr. W. H. Pope.

Johannes Pape.

Mr. W. Crawshay.

Captain F. E.

Dowler.

The extraordinary numbers of grey geese killed in the 'sixties by Lord Londesborough on the Nile have been duly recorded in the Badminton edition of Moor and Marsh. In six shots, as many as 160 geese fell to his gun, loaded with I lb. of shot, in a single day. Captain Dowler, with a gun carrying 14 oz. of shot, killed 264 wigeon, ducks, teal, and bernicle geese in one day, and Captain Gould, 141 teal in three shots. These latter feats were respectively accomplished on the coasts of Germany and Holland.

The Essex Blackwater. - In severe weather enormous numbers of Brent geese sometimes assemble to feed on the mud flats near the mouth of this fine estuary.

Several of the recorded bags made by the local punters seem almost incredible. When these rare visitations of brent take place, it is the custom for several punters to combine their chances and set up to the geese together, the signal for firing being given by a recognised leader. That celebrated fowler, the late Colonel Russell, often acted in this capacity, and in fact he was in command when, about thirty-five years ago, 704 brent were said to have been bagged by thirty-two gunners on the Dingie flats. Again, in January, 1871, 471 brent are reported to have been gathered by sixteen gunners on the Main, and, more recently, about twenty years ago, 360 brent on the St. Peter's flats by eighteen gunners under the leadership of one, James Chaney.

This latter shot was made by moonlight.

Several of the participators in these deeds are alive, and corroborate these records in every detail. Mr. Miller Christie, F.L.S., in his Birds of Essex, likewise gives full information on the subject.

W. H. POPE.

GLOSSARY.

Clothes. Wool and flannel throughout, and light leather thigh boats; oilskins for bad weather. Elevating Gear is a contrivance consisting of a spindle and wheel for bodily raising the gun and its crutch so as to enable the fowler to shoot over the mud-banks. Useful for a light gun.

Gunner.-Term applied to the man who works the big gun aboard a double punt; aboard single, often styled a "big gunner." a Gunbeam. The principal beam in the fore deck, which supports the main weight of the gun in its crutch.

Gun-crutch. The spur in which the gun rests on the gunbeam.

Gun-rest (See Fig. of Punt). -A flat, wooden support for the barrel of the gun. It has a long handle, enabling the fowler to regulate the elevation of the gun. Puntsman, Punter. The man who propels the double-handled punt. Also applied to any fowler who uses a punt and gun.

Punt-carriage. - A specially designed light truck for transporting the punt by road from place to place.

Punt-cover.-A wooden or waterproof cover for keeping the cockpit of the punt dry.

Sculling. A method of propulsion with the oar, similar to the working of a screw-resorted to when approaching fowl in deep water.

Sculling-crutch. - The spur on the starboard side of the punt in which the fowler "sculls" with his oar. "Set" of the gun. -The elevation given to the gun as it lies on the gun-rest. 66 Setting" to fowl, -The act of approaching fowl when the fowler is concealed in his punt.

Shutter. The movable portion of the wash streak, through which the punter works his punt with paddles or set pole.

Waterproof cap for the gun. -To keep the stock and lock mechanism dry.

W. H. P.

SHORE SHOOTING. -By this term is intended the pursuit of the various species of plovers and sandpipers which frequent the mouths of rivers, seashores, tidal harbours and marshes by the sea, and which, by reason of their exposed haunts, extreme wariness and rapid flight, test the crafty powers of the fowler, his judgment and strength in stalking or punting, and his skill in shooting.

Many who delight in a long day's partridge shooting, grouse driving, or a big day at pheasants, are apt to refer contemptuously to shore shooting. Perhaps they have never tried it, or have never been very successful in their attempts.

The style of shooting is so different from that to which they have been accustomed that there are more "misses" than "hits," or, if they lack no skill in shooting, they are unable to exercise it for want of a knowledge of the habits of the birds, and the requisite skill to approach them.

To be a successful shore shooter, one must take that real delight in the sport which will incur the necessity of early rising, with energy and indefatigable exertion, and must be sufficiently observant of tides and wind to judge where birds are most likely to be found at any given hour in any given weather.

There are several ways of getting to birds. You may punt down the harbour at low water, and shoot them on the "muds," you may stalk them at high tide under cover of a sea-wall or bank of shingle, or you may "lie up" in their line of flight just before high water, and shoot them as they leave the harbour for the beach or marshes.

The last-named plan answers admirably if you happen to select the right spot, and as soon as the last "mud" is nearly covered, and the birds begin to move, some good shooting may be the result if the gun be only held straight.

As good a plan as any is to walk round a tidal harbour, starting about an hour before high tide, keeping, when necessary, under cover of the sea wall. The ad- LYING UP IN THE LINE OF FLIGHT. vancing tide will bring the birds nearer to the shooter every minute; whereas if he goes forth on an ebb tide, every minute will see the birds farther away from him.

As the tide advances, and the area of the feeding ground becomes gradually narrowed, the highest mud flats are broken up into little islands, on which the birds congregate and remain until the water reaches them and becomes too deep for them to stand in. They then betake themselves to the sea-beach or the adjacent marshes; the dunlins and ringed plovers going to the former, and the redshanks and curlews to the latter resort; while the golden plovers and peewits congregate on the fallows or wide open pastures, where they usually contrive to keep as far as possible from fences which might serve to screen the approach of a gunner.

At high tide a few hours may be enjoyably spent in tramping about the salt marshes and visiting the sides of the great drains or "rifes" which, intersecting the marsh, mark the boundaries of the different [SHOOTING holdings, and serve instead of fences to restrain the cattle which graze there.

In these drains at such times one may count upon finding the common sandpiper, redshank, greenshank, green and wood sandpipers, to say nothing of snipe, and occasionally Temmincks' stint, and the grey phalarope. These birds are often solitary, and though occasionally two or three may be found together, they are never so gregarious as, for example, are plovers, knots, curlews, whimbrel, or godwits, which must be looked for in very different situations.

It is a good plan, when visiting these drains, not to walk close alongside and parallel with the water; in a straight piece, should there be a bird ahead, it will instantly perceive your approach and rise out of shot. It should then be marked down and stalked in the open, by walking directly on to it, and looking quickly right and left for it to rise. It should be noted that a sandpiper of any kind, which has been flushed and marked down, is not to be sought for exactly at the point where it disappeared below the level of the drain, but some yards further on; and, should the bank be steep there, with little or no margin by the water's edge to offer foothold, the bird may go a long way under cover of the bank beyond the point where sight was lost of it before alighting. In the same way, therefore, that a huntsman has sometimes to recover the line of a fox where hounds are at fault, the shore shooter must be prepared to make a "cast" amongst the marsh drains ere he will get within shot of his fleet-winged quarry.

Dog for Shore Shooting. For this kind of sport a dog is indispensable so long as the shooter is ashore; not so much to find the birds as to fetch them when shot, for they will frequently fall in deep water, or among reeds, or on the opposite side of a wide drain, and without a dog much time will be wasted in making a long détour, or in fruitless efforts to reach them.

As to the best kind of dog for the purpose, opinions no doubt will differ. So long, however, as he can retrieve, the chief points to be attended to are size and colour.

Unless he can be trusted to lie down and keep quiet while his owner is stalking, and to come to him only at a whistle, he should be neither large nor light-coloured, otherwise the birds will see him at a great distance and never suffer an approach. For choice, there is nothing better than a livercoloured Sussex spaniel, or an Irish water spaniel. The writer has used both, as also a retrieving Irish setter, but the last, though invaluable in a snipe bog, was, from his size and colour, too conspicuous for shore shooting. In a punt, a dog is not only unneces- SHOOTING] sary, but, if allowed to jump out and retrieve birds from a mud-bank (to save his master the trouble of putting on mudpattens), he may become a positive nuisance by making the punt and everything in it as dirty as possible on his return, drenching his owner with vigorous shakes of his coat, and either whining with cold while moving restlessly about in his endeavours to get dry, or lying down generally where he is not wanted.

Shooting from Blinds and Pits. - Should the shore gunner be in the habit of making repeated visits to the same shooting quarters and finding birds sufficiently numerous to warrant a prolonged stay in the neighbourhood, he will, if sufficiently observant, sooner or later discover their favourite haunts, notice where they go at high water, and mark the spots which are first laid bare at ebb tide for to these they will regularly resort. A judiciously placed hurdle, or ambush constructed of seaweed and big stones, within shot of such points, will sometimes enable the gunner to screen his approach until near enough to get a shot or two.

Some professional fowlers are in the habit of digging pits in the line of flight when they have discovered it, and remaining therein for an hour or two, on the chance of intercepting the passing birds. This plan is sometimes pretty successful, but the necessity for remaining so long in a cramped position renders it distasteful to those who prefer a more active campaign.

Some experts, indeed, regard such devices as unsportsmanlike. Folkard, for example, in his excellent book, The Wild Fowler, remarks:- "There are various other tricks and means resorted to for getting within range of the wary curlew, some of which are beneath the dignity of a sportsman, such as digging holes in open marshes, burying casks on the beach, and lying in ambush in those unenviable positions, thus taking the birds by surprise. Such proceedings," he adds, may answer once or twice, but curlews soon forsake a place of resort when ،، so assailed."

The plan, recommended by Colonel