A HISTORY OF SURREY 



SHOOTING 



Surrey deserves to rank as a shooting 

 county, though its claims do not rest on the 

 dimensions of the bags made. In this respect 

 Surrey shootings cannot compare with others ; 

 but the character of the country lends to the 

 pheasant shooting a sporting quality which 

 atones for more than numerical shortcom- 

 ings in the head of game. The undulating 

 ground and the number and area of the wood- 

 lands combine to encourage the * tall ' 

 pheasant. A glance over the Losely Coverts, 

 the Hambledon and Park Hatch Hangers, 

 the Cosford and Witley Park Woods, and 

 those at Peperharow, Lea Park, and Lythe 

 Hill, shows at once that in such coverts the 

 birds must fly high and afford really sport- 

 ing shots. Bags on the average Surrey shoot- 

 ing are not large ; and 200 head, of which 150 

 would probably be pheasants, in any of the 

 places named means a thoroughly good day's 

 sport ; for he is a good shot who can show 

 one bird for every two cartridges used, when 

 the pheasants are flying strongly at the height 

 ususd on a typical Surrey shooting. 



It is only during the last thirty years that 

 the battue as now understood has become 

 fashionable in the county. It was in vogue 

 previously on some estates, but on very few 

 indeed were bags approaching 100 pheasants 

 made ; in fact, until some time after the 

 opening of the railways it was the practice 

 of the owners either to let their shooting 

 with the land at about sixpence or a shilling 

 per acre, or to shoot over it themselves with 

 the assistance of a pointer or setter and per- 

 haps a man to carry the game. In those days 

 the sportsman, after six or seven hours' 

 walking, would return home with a brace of 

 pheasants, a partridge, a hare, a couple of 

 rabbits, and a woodcock, his dog too tired 

 to hunt longer; every shot was then well 

 earned and every bird was retrieved, though 

 half an hour or more might be occupied in 

 searching for it. Such was Surrey shooting 

 until the early seventies, and it certainly 

 afforded more healthy exercise than, and 

 sport quite as true as, the modem system. 



How different is the shooting of the pre- 

 sent day ! A considerable stock of hen 

 pheasants is left at the end of the season; 

 almost all their eggs are picked up and hatched 

 under hens, and about the time when the 

 cocks can be distinguished from the hens 

 they are taken into the woods whence they 

 are least likely to stray. Few are killed until 

 the leaf is off in November, when perhaps 



the first real day's shooting takes place ; and 

 an average bag for five or six guns would be 

 198 pheasants, i partridge, i hare, 24 rabbits, 

 I woodcock. In the years 1897-8 on one 

 shooting the bag was : 2,986 pheasants, 784 

 partridges, 109 hares, 413 rabbits, 28 wood- 

 cock. Between l January and r February 

 in that year, both dates inclusive, 18 days' 

 shooting produced an average bag of 120 

 pheasants, 9 partridges, 3 hares, 12 rabbits, 

 I woodcock, the two best bags of pheasants 

 being 600 and 336, and the smallest 20. In the 

 year 1898-9 on the same shooting the bag 

 was — 2,433 pheasants, 260 partridges, 71 

 hares, 187 rabbits, 18 woodcock, the best 

 bag in that year being 254 pheasants. In 

 1 899-1 900 the bag was — 2,427 pheasants, 309 

 partridges, 74 hares, 259 rabbits, 21 wood- 

 cock. 



This shooting included about 5,000 acres 

 of land belonging to different owners but 

 rented by one tenant. The land may be 

 roughly classed as three-quarter arable and 

 meadow and quarter woodland. Pheasants 

 were extensively reared, but no eggs were 

 bought after the first season, and no par- 

 tridges were hand-reared. On one day three 

 guns walked up and bagged 55 brace of par- 

 tridges between 10.30 a.m. and 4.0 p.m., 

 but in an average year 20 brace of birds may 

 be considered a good bag for two or three 

 guns to walk up in September. 



This, it must be said, was a shooting larger 

 than the Surrey average in point of area. 

 Information which has been kindly furnished 

 by owners and lessees shows that Surrey 

 shootings as a general rule vary from about 

 700 to 2,000 acres, including woodland, arable 

 and rough land. There are few large estates 

 in the county of which the proprietors retain 

 the shooting in their own hands. Lord 

 Derby's shootings at Witley and Lord 

 Onslow's at Clandon suggest themselves as 

 the most prominent examples. 



The latter estate has long been famous for 

 the sport obtained. Evelyn writes in his 

 Diary, August 23 1681 : — 



I went to Wotton and on the following day was 

 invited to Mr. Denzil Onslow's at his seat at Pur- 

 ford, where was much company and such an extra- 

 ordinary feast as I had hardly seen at any country 

 gentleman's table. What made it more remark- 

 able was that there was not anything save that his 

 estate did afford : as venison, rabbits, hares, 

 pheasants, partridges, pigeons, quail, poultrie, all 

 sorts of fowle in season from his own decoy near 



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