What exactly is a sporting bird?
After facing controversy, Nick Ridley considers what is an ‘unsporting’ bird
It is ironic that on the day I decided to sit down and write this article the UK shooting organisations announced a ‘voluntary’ ban on lead shot. This will have a profound effect on how we shoot live quarry in the future.
So, please let me tell you why I decided to write this article. At the end of the season I filmed two beaters’ days and put them on my YouTube channel. On both of the days I opted (and had been asked) to be a walking Gun, to try to shoot the pheasants that had learned, over the course of the season, to fly back over the beaters’ line. We have all seen it and there is no doubt in my mind that certain birds learn that this is the best way to survive.
On one particular drive, there is a white cock bird and on each and every shoot day he would skulk around the laurels, wait until the last minute before he would take to the wing and fly back over the beaters’ heads.
I was at the shoot last week and he was strutting around the gamekeeper’s garden as bold as brass. A born survivor.
Mistake
My mistake with the videos I uploaded was that I put the titles as Driven Game Shooting – Beaters’ Day. I did explain in the description and in my narration that I was a walking Gun. I had a number of driven game shooters who were new to the channel and they weren’t backward in coming forward.
During the two beaters’ days filmed I shot at birds that were breaking back. When I did this I tended to hold back a bit and picked my shots. I knew at all times where my fellow beaters were and only took a shot when and where I knew it was safe to do so. However, I had numerous comments about how unsporting the shots and birds were.
All this got me thinking: what exactly is a sporting or, indeed, an unsporting shot? I think it would be fair to say that most people would consider an unsporting bird one that is shot too close, although that is open to interpretation. As an avid walked-up and rough shooter, the vast majority of my shots are going to be well within 25yd and going away from me. But does that make them unsporting? To my mind, they are the most challenging and therefore sporting of birds. I have to watch my footing, I have to watch my dog to make sure it is not running in; I have to be aware of all sorts of safety issues, such as where my fellow Guns are standing or whether there are obstacles in the immediate vicinity that may obscure or affect the safety of my shot.
Prudent
The other comment that is often made is that shooting a bird going away from you is unsporting. Of course, 90% of walkedup birds are going away from you
and therefore a harder target. As such, it is prudent not to leave them for too long as they then become harder to kill and you are more likely to injure them, especially if you are shooting in woodland.
So, if we have established that to some Guns an unsporting bird is one you either shoot when it is considered too close or ‘up the backside’, let’s take a look at the king of game birds and perhaps even the ultimate shooting experience – driven grouse. In the first instance, the birds are not flying high; in fact, probably no higher than a flushed walked-up pheasant. Compared to a driven pheasant, most shots at driven grouse are going to be taken at fairly close range and once the birds have gone through the gun butts they can be shot behind. Sound familiar? I have yet to speak to anyone who considers a driven grouse ‘unsporting’, so why the disparity with a walked-up bird?
Let’s take a look at another extremely challenging bird, the woodpigeon. I know it isn’t a gamebird but should we not have parity in all things we shoot? When decoying woodpigeon, most shots will be taken at a fairly close range and at a low angle. Many will also be taken as the bird jinks away and will therefore be shot behind. Does that sound familiar?
Respect
I have also heard the comment, “Have respect for your quarry.” This is often used in reference to not shooting your birds too close. The term ‘pillow casing’ is commonly referenced, too. I have heard this phrase used over and over again when talking about walked-up shooting. I have a different take on what “respect for your quarry” means, especially in regards to a ‘sporting shot’. There seems to be a fashion for videos with titles such as Extreme Pheasants at Such and Such Shoot; High Birds at Another Such
Shoot and you see very good shots shooting at very high birds and you will see kill after kill after kill. Through my work I have been to some of the highest bird shoots in the country and let me tell you, the pickersup are kept very busy in the background clearing up after the Guns. I understand that it is their job but why not show the complete story instead of just the highlights?
So, back to my original thoughts on what is an unsporting bird. Could it also be one that is too high, perhaps, out of range, as well as one that is too close? Have you ever heard the words, “Those birds were really ‘unsporting’, they were too high/too difficult to shoot as they came over the treetops?” I doubt it. The phrase is kept exclusively for those of us who enjoy the challenge of walked-up shooting.
Finally, with the proposed ban on lead shot and from what I understand about steel shot and its ability to kill at range, we may all soon have to re-evaluate what is a sporting shot.
“I have yet to speak to anyone who considers a driven grouse ‘unsporting’”