CHAPTER XX 
CONCLUSION 
Long shots--Callousness—Vermin the salt of the keeper’s life— 
Game-keeping as a road to fortune. 
Tue firing of long shots is a detestable feature of 
modern shooting. And good shots, I am afraid, 
are liable to be worse offenders than others. I was 
speaking on this subject to the head-keeper on a 
famous shooting estate; with a shrug of his shoulders, 
he said, ‘ They all does it.’ The abundance of game 
and the far from dead craze for big bags at present- 
day shooting-parties are indirectly the cause of an 
appalling callousness to the sufferings of dumb 
creatures. I am no believer in ultra-humanitarian 
ideas, but I do protest against that wantonly wilful 
callousness which besmirches a great sport. 
The place above all I should like to go to asa 
keeper would be over-run with all sorts of vermin. 
I should enjoy myself far better than on ready- 
made ground where game teemed. And I dare say 
there are scores of keepers who would enjoy a good 
season at vermin as a change from a surfeit of game. 
Vermin supply the salt of a gamekeeper’s life. 
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