Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-11-25
SHOOTING EXPLOITS.
Record Bags Made BY old-Time and
Modern Gunners.

Could the redoubtable Col. Peter
Hawker rise from his grave and take
survey Of the present day shooting
field 1t Is probable that he would be
not little amused and would un-
doubtedly give voice to some Of the
sarcasm for which he was always ia
nous in his writings. And no doubt
the gallant colonel would be per-
fectly justified in questioning some Of
the methods Of latter day shooting,
which, as most people will admit, has
too great tendency toward the arti-
fetal. That, however Is to some ex-
tent a misfortune Of the age we live
in. and in a populated country like
our own 1t is difficult to see how a
certain amount of artificiality in sport
Is to be avoided.
We may be Certain that IL Col.
Hawker were among us today he
would be vastly interested in the re-
markable development Of the shotgun
and the great improvement in gum
powder and other shooting requisites.
And we should certainly find him
drawing invidious comparisons be-
tween the prowess Of the twentieth
century gunner, with all. his modern
advantages, and the sportsman Of his
own time, with his flint and steel or
percussion weapons, his black powder
and all the rest Of the cumbersome
|paraphernalia that he was obliged to
carry with him when he took the field.
The gunners Of the early part Of the
last century were not Of course all
Col Hawkers, but there were some
among them who were remarkably
good shots, as there is ample testi-
mony to prove. Really, when one
comes to think Of it, the accomplish
ments Of these early gunners were
very much more extraordinary than
anything that Is done at the present
time, because the weapons and amuni-
tion then in use, though they shot well
enough, were not nearly so easy to
load, fire or handle as those OF our
own time.
Some idea of what could be done
in the old days may be gathered from
the writings Of Col. Hawker and 9TH
ers in the last century. The former
tells us that he has seen fourteen sue
cessive double shots at partridges
scored without a miss, and on another
occasion fifteen rights" and "lefts'
straight off the reel. In both In
stances the guns used were Of a small
er calibre than those employed to-
day-the one a fourteen bore and the
other a twenty-two! Any twentieth
century sportsman who could do
equally we'll with a modern twelve
bore would have reason TO be proud
Of his performance, but the feat would
be very much less remarkable than
either of those just referred to. And
how many of us could emulate the
prowess of a certain friend of the
colonel, whose record for five days
shooting was sixty head Of game OF
various kinds in an equal number Of
shots!
Lord Walsingham, Of course, holds
the record for the most remarkable
single e-handed days shooting ever re-
corded in those islands. On August
2S, 1872. his lordship, using two muz-
zle loading guns and two breech load
ers in turn, bagged S42 grouse on
Blubberhouse Moor, Yorkshire, shoot
ing for about twelve hours. Sixteen
years later, however Lord Walsing-
ham eclipsed his earlier performance.
in the morning on August 30. 1888,
his lordship had killed to his own
gun no fewer than 1910 grouse by
7.3O o'clock in the evening. The birds
on this occasion were driven to the
butts by forty beaters, and four breech
leaders LOADED with black powder
were employed. The late Sir Fred
erick Milbank, one Of the most skill
full all round shots ever seen In this
country, had 72S grouse to his own
gun during a days driving as one OF
a party of several guns IN August
1872.
Heavy bags of snipe and woodcock
are. one fears, chiefly a thing Of the
past-they are at least much less COM
mon nowadays than formerly. But
strangely enough 1t Is only fifteen
years ago that the biggest bag Of
woodcock on record for single day
was obtained. This was at Ashford.
Ireland. on Lord Ardilaun's estate,
where no fewer than 2O5 cock were
killed on January %, 1895. The bag
for six days was SOS cock. LORD
Elcho once bagged 1880 cock in a
these being obtained in ten days
shooting. Nothing like this has ever
been done in England, the best single
days bag ever recorded being one OF
1O5 woodcock in Swanton Wood, Nor
folk during December, 1860.
Probably the most famous shot at
woodcOck ever made was that which
Chantrey the sculptor, brought off
quite by accident, it is said. By
great good fortune a couple Of wood
cock rose simultaneously, and hap
pening to cross at the moment that
Chantrey pulled the trigger, both were
brought down by the single shot. This
remarkable performance was immor-
talized by it's hero, who carved the
two woodcock in imperishable mar
ble.-London Globe.