Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2011 | Page 70
COUNTRY LIFE
Country
with Sam Biles
living
Picture by Ben Wood Island Images www.islandimages.co.uk
The shooting season is once more
upon us, tweeds and waterproofs will
see the light of day after months in the
bottom drawer, trusty gundogs will
prick their ears and the Island's woods
will resound once more to the gentle
tap of the beaters' stick and the sound
of guns as game birds run the gauntlet
of the line. To those whose life
experience has not included traditional
English game shooting the rituals
of the shooting field is an unknown
mystery. The sheer range of shooting
that the Island has to offer is vast.
There are clay shooting clubs, rifle
clubs and game shooting ranging from
pigeon control over winter oilseed rape
through informal walked-up farmers’
shoots, to the grandest of days on
some of the finest shooting ground in
the South of England where captains
of industry, royalty and celebrities are
all pleased to receive an invitation.
Some believe that shooting is elitist,
male-dominated and only practised by
the very rich and on some large shoots
this can indeed be the case. On the
Island, more often than not it is the
complete opposite. Bea ters will often
include retired businessmen, wives,
families, students, farm workers and
the unemployed. The ‘pickers-up’ who
bring their dogs to collect fallen and
lost birds; include a high proportion
of women, doctors’ wives, farmers
and others who simply love to see
their dogs work as they were bred to
do. The guns on the average Island
shoot will include farmers, business
people, plumbers and builders. This is
a real cross-section of the community;
coming together without social
boundaries. They come to enjoy a day
out in the country; to participate in a
traditional way of life, from a young
man coming beating with his new dog
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to a nonagenarian who can still tap his
stick at the corner of a wood whilst
recounting stories of shooting before
the war to anyone who has the time to
listen.
Sporting potential is something that
really augments the value of a farm or
block of land, whether it is woodland,
high ground or a flight pond for duck.
Benefits to the Island’s economy are
not inconsiderable, employment for
keepers and beaters, hotels, caterers
and pubs all benefit to say nothing
of shops selling cartridges, dog food,
clothing and shooting equipment.
Land managed for shooting is by
definition managed for conservation
– hedges, copses and cover crops
planted for game birds inevitably
provide habitat and food for a myriad
of wildlife from songbirds to dormice
and red squirrels. I can’t help but
think that the Island’s landscape would
be the poorer if landowners keen
on shooting had not managed the
countryside over generations with this
in mind.
In a free society such as ours some
will hold the opinion that an activity
which involves killing animals for
sport is unacceptable and they are of
course entitled to their view. Others
see no harm in the harvesting of
animals for food from a ‘free range’
environment. The fact that it takes
some skill to dispatch a pheasant at 30
yards could be argued to give the bird
a better chance and a better life than
that of many a battery chicken.