How did you get in to shooting

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How did you get in to shooting
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Downsizer Forum Index -> Shooting and Trapping for the Pot

How did you start shooting?

Parents/family

14%

[ 2 ]

Lived in countryside, almost unavoidable

21%

[ 3 ]

Through work

[ 0 ]

Self-starter (lessons/club)

35%

[ 5 ]

Something else

28%

[ 4 ]

Total Votes : 14

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Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 05 12:21 am Post subject:

As far as I can remember, I've always shot. I started with airguns, and bows. Hunting with bows was made illegal so then it had to become airguns only.

At about age 18 or so I got an FAC rated pre charged pneumatic air rifle, a Titan MC010, then a few years later, my first proper firearm, an Austrian .22 semi auto, which I still have. I then got a .17 hmr, (lovely flat fast trajectory), and a 12 bore.

I'm currently applying for a .243 to control deer in the wood, and may part with either of the two smaller calibres. I shoot almost daily, bunnies, woodpigeon, etc.

When I used to help local farms in Hants with pest control, I would sometimes shoot up to 50 bunnies a night, so would sell most to local butchers, and cook a few for teh dogs, and freeze the best ones for us. These days, maybe being older, I'm happy to get half a dozen on a good night, and give teh dogs the old ones, and the best ones for us to enjoy with friends.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 05 8:01 am Post subject:

Madman wrote:

I'm currently applying for a .243 to control deer in the wood

Can you keep me posted on how you get on? I'm probably a few years away from thinking seriously about this but any info about any problems you've overcome or anything useful would be very welcome.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 05 9:36 am Post subject:
No probs, TD. Will do

Guest

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 05 9:32 am Post subject:

I started like most people using an air gun at the age of 14 to about 18. It was when FT was starting so I joined a club that also had rough shooting available.

Some of the lads had shotguns already so I naturally progressed to them. After learning at clays through contacts I joined my first wildfowl club which led to aquiring a dog and all the fun that training it brings.

From that start I got into beating on a few shoots, this always brings access to shooting in the close season and a few perks in season depending on how the shoot is run.

Presently I have 2 labs (both aging now) and a 2 year old cocker, a 525 browning 20 bore, beretta 12 bore and a CZ .22 rimfire. My list of quarry covers ducks, geese, pheasant and vermin.

Gervase

Joined: 17 Nov 2004
Posts: 8655

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 05 9:55 am Post subject:

I started as a youngster plinking at tin cans in a friend's garden with an air gun, and took up the shotgun after beating on a shoot and getting some lessons from the keeper in my teens.
I bought my first shotgun at 18 and have been pot-hunting pretty much ever since.
I've been a member of a fully-keepered syndicate and a guest on some large shoots, but these days I'm uncomfortable with the intensive scale of some shoots and am happier trudging up the hedgerows.
Fowling is one sport I love, having started doing it illegally when I lived in Suffolk and got a taste for foreshore mud, sleet and wind! I was a member of Chichester Harbour WFC for a few years, but the harbour now suffers so much from light pollution that a lot of the fun has gone from it. I'd love to get back into fowling now we're in Wales, but it might mean driving down to south Pembrokeshire to find some decent foreshore that I can shoot legally (that's the trouble with being married to a solicitor - I have to do everything by the book these days!).
For anyone looking to get started in shooting, beating on a shoot is still one of the best ways in. You'll meet people with all kinds of experience, and most of them are more than happy to pass it on and welcome you. Field sports are under such a state of seige at the moment that newcomers who can help the sport prosper and stop the spread of ignorance are particularly valued.
If you want to find out some shoots near where you live, look in the small ads at the back of the Shooting Times and contact BASC. In fact, if you're into any form of shooting, even with an air rifle, you should be a member of BASC, if only for its insurance and legal advice.

Uncle-silas

Joined: 20 Apr 2005
Posts: 10
Location: Lincolnshire

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 05 2:32 pm Post subject: getting shooting

To get some shooting in the best way I have found is to bush beat for your local small syndicate and get to know the farmer/keeper. You have to build up trust, who wants someone they dont know walking about their land with a gun? not many. You will get paid to beat and will be given some game if your lucky, if you beat all year you will be invited for a keepers day where cock pheasants are only shot and vermin days when rabbits, pidgeons, squirels and the like. If you get to know some of the guns you may even get an invite for a days driven shooting.

Hope it helps

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