256 THE COMPLETE WILDFOWLER 



punt-gun to best advantage at fowl, and also how to work 

 a gunning-punt. We say, advisedly, an outline, for it must 

 not be supposed that all that is needed for one to become a 

 punt-shooter is to read up on the subject and go straight away 

 and perform successfully. Nothing can be more untrue. 



It is not until the instant before firing that a fowler could 

 tell you how best to take a shot. Thus experience is here 

 required, and must be of sufficient value to enable the operator 

 to act in such a way that the result may be satisfactory. In 

 other words, and what may perhaps be more simple, "You 

 cannot be certain of anything in punt-shooting." What have 

 appeared the most easy shots have often proved utter failures, 

 through, perhaps, one-tenth of a second in the timing of the 

 shot, taken riskily as a flying one ; and instead of forty or fifty 

 fowl dropping like stones from above the sky-line, one or 

 two have been the disheartening result. These things occur 

 with even those who have almost perfect gear, to say nothing 

 of constant practice. Of course, working with inefficient gear 

 is simply to court failure. In drawing attention to the old 

 proverb, which is very applicable to punting — "Experience is 

 the mother of invention and the best teacher" — we may all 

 know that, brought up in this way, experience is one of the 

 most costly as well as the most bitter teachers. There is no 

 reason why a beginner at wildfowling should not do fairly well 

 from the start, provided he gives his mind to the subject. It 

 is as easy for those persons whose faculties are proficient to 

 shoot wildfowl in a proper and sportsmanlike manner as it is 

 for them to shoot badly, if they will study what they are doing, 

 and what they are about to do. 



In setting or going to fowl, it is of the utmost importance 

 to make as little noise as possible. The rattling of an oar has 

 often been the means of alarming fowl and spoiling what 

 might have been a good shot. Noiseless, steady, and stealthy 

 approach, deceives fowl. The many ways of going to fowl 



