SHOOTING 103 



than the rest, should receive a charge of shot not in- 

 tended for him. And here the schoolboy should be 

 told to take the cartridges from his gun, and watch 

 the cool procedure of the older hands. He should be 

 taught always to ' play for safety,' and never to risk 

 a shot where there is the least danger of striking any- 

 thing but the object aimed at. It is so easy to kill a 

 rabbit and a dog with one shot, or miss a rabbit and 

 pepper a beater, that the wonder is it does not happen 

 oftener. The beaters themselves often get so excited 

 as to create an element of danger by the excitement 

 they cause in others, especially in young sportsmen, 

 who for want of experience have not yet acquired the 

 nerve and self-control so essential when rapid firing is 

 going on. The danger arising from this cause is even 

 greater in covert-shooting, owing to the fact that the 

 beaters work towards the guns, and are nearest to 

 them when the heaviest shooting takes place. It is 

 then that accidents are more likely to occur. In pure 

 thoughtlessness we have seen a young sportsman, aye, 

 and a middle-aged one too, who ought to have known 

 better, fire at a rabbit in covert when the advancing 

 line of beaters was within range of his gun. This is 

 bad enough when the object fired at is on the ground, 

 as in the case of a rabbit or hare, but it is ten times 

 worse when the shooter recklessly fires at a low-flying 



