Too many shots - not enough birds
Everything was in place for an extremely enjoyable day.The company was good, there were plenty of birds about, the weather fine and yet I came home in a less than rosy mood. Why? That is an interesting question which I've been trying to unravel myself. By my own admission there are few things I'd rather do with my day, so it certainly wasn't the activity itself. My own skill (or lack of it) with the gun seems one likely source of frustration and my slightly hoarse throat points to another -the dog! Over the last decade my ability to shoot well has been extremely sporadic and even so this season is shaping up to be one of my worst displays in years. I had several chances at decent birds which I missed clean and I sense already that hard work will be required to stave off the despondency which is poison to any endeavour, particularly shooting. The dog is irritating on two levels; firstly and most obviously the constant shouting and berating from myself (necessary to maintain some modicum of order) gets me het up and angry. Secondly I am not so naive as to solely blame the dog for her bad discipline. I trained her and though she is undoubtedly very wilful, I carry a deep held frustration that I could have done better.
In general the rough day was a great success. 21 pheasants, 6 pigeons, 2 doves and a woodcock made up the final bag with Dad alone contributing five pheasants and 2 pigeons. I managed to cobble down a couple of pheasants and two pigeons (one of the woodies was in fact a rather nice bird) and C drew a blank -still at least he has his voice intact!
Dinner
Leftovers
No comments:
Post a Comment