LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



Jitmforella ! otir guns, and a couple of loaders, with 

 several hundred cartridges ! 



, l : VjThese oaslaughts usually conclude in this manner: 

 1 A good walk with a brace of steady pointers or well- 

 broken setters, and a hard-earned bag, gives us far 

 more pleasure than would the killing of a hecatomb 

 [a famous word that, sometimes varied with ' holo- 

 caust'] of poor frightened birds huddled up in a 

 corner without a chance of escape.' 



In what part of our islands the so-called ' Shooter 

 of the Old School ' has seen all the startling attributes 

 of the shooting field he so vividly describes he has 

 never yet told us, and, I expect, never will ! Nor does 

 he enlighten us how and where we can, on an estate 

 farmed on modern principles, use our pointers and 

 setters with success though as regards the walking 

 part of the performance he may not be far wrong. 



The real < Shooter of the Old School ' (not the 

 sham hero of that name) is quite sensible enough to 

 fall in with the changed conditions of his favourite 

 sport, as necessitated by the bare, shelterless fields 

 and wilder game of the present day. 



In the ever- recurring discussions relative to the 

 custom of driving game, its opponents always fall 

 headlong into the same error. They one and all 

 fancy this system merely consists in methodically 

 sweeping the birds, by the aid of an army of beaters, 



