144 GUNS 



It is no use beginning covert shooting till the leaf 

 is off ; that is, sometime in November. In spots in 

 the v^oods where the bracken fern grows thick, late 

 December or even January is a better time than 

 November, because the brown masses of dead fern 

 are not well beaten to the ground till there has 

 been hard frost or snow, and it is difficult to shoot 

 rabbits or hares among this undergrowth. Often 

 you have to shoot at the spot where the fern is 

 moving, for the rabbit or hare is hidden in its 

 flight ; and in shooting thus you have to be ex- 

 tremely careful not to hurt the dogs. 



Large parties are not very good for beginners. 

 The pleasantest way of learning to shoot in covert 

 is to start out with one fellow-gunner and the 

 gamekeeper, and perhaps another to help carry the 

 game. Often, whilst out alone in the covert, I used 

 to wish much that I had somebody to help me 

 carry the game, or else a velveteen coat full of great 

 pockets like the gamekeeper's. It is astonishing 

 how much game one gamekeeper or gamekeeper's 

 assistant can carry at a pinch. I know a game- 

 keeper who has carried as many as thirty -two 

 rabbits in his pockets and ^'harled"^ on a stick 

 across his shoulder, but in that case a number of 

 the rabbits were paunched on the spot. If you are 

 likely to shoot much alone, a coat with ample 



^ A " harled " rabbit has a slit with a sharp knife cut in one thigh, 

 and through this the other leg is thrust. By this device you can thread 

 half-a-dozen rabbits on a stick, and carry them in one hand or across 

 the shoulder with comparative comfort. 



