14 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



of fashion or idleness, but has been proved by ex- 

 perience a necessity ; first and foremost, in order to 

 obtain the game which could not otherwise be killed ; 

 and secondly, as a means of showing sport to a num- 

 ber of shooters at one time. 



It is no use finding fault with a successful system 

 forced upon us by the improvements of the age we 

 live in, any more than it was of service, as our 

 ancestors did, lamenting the advent of breechloading 

 guns and railway trains, and upholding the advan- 

 tages of muzzle-loaders and stage coaches. 



Just a few lines on what is styled by self-elected 

 shooting critics, when they take to moralising, 'Exces- 

 sive game preservation ; ' though a definition of this 

 phrase is impossible, as some people term ' excessive ' 

 what others call ' moderate,' whilst what is considered 

 1 moderate ' by one person would be thought ' exces- 

 sive ' by another. 



It is all nonsense to maintain that game preservers 

 vie in a silly jealous fashion one with another as to 

 who can kill most birds in a day, and that ' excessive ' 

 game preservation is the result. I do not believe 

 such an idea enters the head of one owner of a 

 shooting in a thousand. 



An estate will not, as a rule, carry more than a 

 certain amount of game, do what you may or spend 

 what you like in the matter of artificial rearing. 



