IfOW TO BEAT A SNIPE- BOG 195 



approached, though as often as not we could see them 

 at some distance, and so had time to change our 

 cartridges if we wished to, but we troubled very little 

 about them when after snipe ; and I maintain that if it 

 is desired to make a bag of the latter birds, they alone 

 should be paid attention to, and other varieties of birds 

 unheeded, even if they do chance to get up within 

 shot. 



A snipe-bog should be beaten across wind zigzag, 

 i.e., perhaps rather more down wind than across it, and 

 thus every piece of it from side to side is taken. The 

 ground should never be taken at full length at once, 

 for nothing can be more detrimental to sport, inas- 

 much as all the birds will rise and go up-wind on the 

 beats which are left behind, or left unbeaten at the 

 sides. 



When partridge-shooting in turnips, the best way of 

 breaking up the coveys is to beat round the edges of 

 the field and gradually towards the centre, but avoiding 

 the latter part of the field until the end of the beat. In 

 snipe-shooting, however, it is advisable to keep as 

 much as possible on the whip-hand of them, viz., to 

 let them have their favourite flight of up-wind, and to 

 keep on the windward side of the beat. If a bog is 

 beaten on this principle many easy cross-shots will be 

 obtained. 



As I have observed, the less noise the better for 

 the sport, and I have made some very good bags of 

 snipe when shooting quite alone, and with no other 

 companion save an old retrieving pointer, though I 

 cannot lay claim to having succeeded in ever making 

 such bags as are often heard of being made abroad, 

 where the snipe are heavy with fat, and fly heavily 



