A week's duck shooting at POOLE. 21 



under the orders of a professional chaperon. It is very 

 -difficult to get a good one ; tlie reason is obvious ; a man 

 who can make perhaps three or four pounds in a shot or 

 two is not likely to be bothered about a '^ gemman/' 

 who perhaps gives him half a sovereign. Even when 

 you do get a good man, he will not tell you any of their 

 secrets on any consideration, for fear you might set up a 

 punt for yourself ; and they will rarely " work you up '^ 

 to a good company of birds, as they are afraid you will 

 make a mess of it, and only frighten the fowl. They 

 naturally prefer to keep that company for themselves, 

 ^ffcer they have got rid of you. 



It is very difficult, as I have said, to shoot well with a 

 punt gun ; a beginner will almost invariably shoot over 

 everything. The best elevation for the gun, for general 

 weathers, is about 9in. over the snout of the punt ; you 

 then are not likely to shoot into the crest of a wave. If 

 your company is a large one, say four or five hundred 

 birds, the best distance to fire at them i* about sixty 

 jards, or even more ; the gun then must be pointed 

 slightly over the nearest birds, by which means the whole 

 flock will be raked. The wilder the birds the farther 

 you have to shoot at them, and, therefore, the larger the 

 shot you must load your gun with; when tame the 

 smallest duck shot does the most execution. Of course 

 the object of sighting the gun slightly over the first 

 birds is also to allow for the rising of the birds at the 

 flash. As regards ^^ cross ^' shots with a punt gun, I say 

 nothing more than that it requires a finished artist even 

 to attempt it. 



As regards the time for shooting fowl, the best are the 

 " ground ebb '' and the '' ebb-flow.^' Of these the '' ebb 

 flow ^' is the very best. In this case the right way to 



