THAT’S THE LIMIT

In End of season blues [Howard’s Way, February issue], Philip Howard absolutely nails the greatest threat currently facing the future of shooting: excessive behaviour in the gameshooting field by a greedy minority that could not be more contrary to the traditional ethos of gameshooting. Rather as we wake up to the potential realities of global warming, so the shooting fraternity is waking up somewhat late in the day to the threats facing gameshooting. Ironically, one of the two greatest threats is from that very minority of well-heeled participants taking huge corporate days, who care only about numbers and bragging about them subsequently via social media.

Interestingly, in the same issue, Garry Doolan [Comment] very accurately describes how, unwittingly, the boasts of that egregiously arrogant minority of shots, via social media, pour fuel on the smoking fire that is composed of the other greatest threat to shooting, the antis and extremists. The use of social media by shots to advertise their exploits is actually an unequivocal admission of guilt even though, technically, no crime has been committed.

Is it perhaps time to curb ludicrously large bags by implementing a self-imposed bag size limit through the good auspices of BASC, the GWCT and the NGO? If we do not, a greedy minority will shoot gameshooting in the proverbial foot and thus the grim prognostications by Philip Howard and Garry Doolan will come true – and sooner than we think.

Michael Brook, by email