PUNT-SHOOTING AS A SPORT 133 



being able to use the weapon for sporting purposes. The skill 

 lies in being able to take shots at the right moment, and timing 

 the charge of shot just so that it will reach or hit a moving 

 object at a certain point. No doubt this feature is difficult to 

 explain, but we feel safe in assuring our readers that it is still 

 more difficult to perform. Heed not the words of those who 

 would, but cannot, tell you, and judge for yourself. In fact, 

 with regard to wildfowling, if you be determined to know the 

 truth, cast doubt on everything until you know by personal 

 experiment whether your information is right or not. 



We can, I think, safely advance the statement that in no 

 other sport entailing the use of guns, are there the same de- 

 mands wrought upon the shooter as in punting. He is his own 

 pilot, sailor, naturalist, and gunner. We would rather, indeed, 

 leave reference or comparison to other forms of shooting out 

 of the question, but we feel it necessary to insist upon them as 

 a means of making our meaning as plain as may be. 



In shooting driven game, the gunner has the birds to hand, 

 without one necessary thought of whence they came or whither 

 they go. All he has to do is to shoot them, which may be 

 pretty practice, and may offer excellent opportunities for dis- 

 playing skill with the shot-gun ; but after this is said, all is 

 over. With the wildfowler afloat all is very different. He has 

 no personal assistants to fetch him birds to hand, yet, thank 

 heaven, he has other assistants who can do it — the seasons, 

 the weather, the winds, and the tides, each one in itself a 

 study. The clever wildfowler can tell when the fowl will be 

 on his ground. And how? Why, by his knowledge gained 

 through long practice. The game-shot can go and count his 

 birds, and be certain on the morning of the shoot. His sport 

 is but for each day. The fowler's is of seasonable arrange- 

 ment, for he must be able to foretell projects some considerable 

 time beforehand. We do not make any further remarks on 

 any other form of shooting ; we have made sufficient for our 



