It is no easy business to bring down these fast-flying birds, even with a hail of lead shot. They are also prized for the table. A similar summary might have appeared in an 1871 edition or even in the first, which came out in 1768. But as with so much else, duck-shooting is no longer entirely accepted without question. Many people find such practices barbaric, even though the ducks in question are mostly introduced and, not to put too fine a point on it, pests.
Steel shot is the favoured replacement.
It rusts away but, as a shooter pointed out in a letter to the editor this week, has the reputation of damaging the barrel or barrels of the shotgun. As well as often being seen as family heirlooms, these usually beautifully-crafted guns can be worth several thousand dollars. Their owners don't like to do any harm to them, preferring to restrict that side of the hunt to ducks. So, when the dawn broke on Saturday morning, it's a reasonable guess that there were fewer shooters huddled in their hideouts than in other years and that some of them felt less comfortable about what they were doing there. On the other hand, many will have just carried on as usual, knowing in their hearts that there are those who understand and those who don't, and that this will always be.