doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Which Prince of Wales it was who...

Drew House - thanks for the quotes. Lord Walsingham, apparently, was a very serious biologist. When I googled him up some time ago, some of the search results were references to his works in biology in quite recent research papers. An amazing man, a proof that being a hunter is much more complicated than simple bloodthirstiness, as the antis would like us to think.

I've got both Teasedale-Buckell's books, thank Google - wonderful reading - and I've got the other of Walsingham's contributions to the Badminton Sporting Library, the "Marsh and Moor". But I couldn't find a downloadable copy of "Field and Covert" which you quote from. If you have downloaded, or can download, that volume, won't it be too much of a bother for you to send it to me via an e-mail attachment? Can send my address via PM.

More on Ripon

Of his few peers India�s Prince Freddie Duleep Singh, was perhaps the sharpest thorn his side. The two men did not speak to each other, but squared off often. One drive the Prince shot a high bird crossing his front, which fell dead and nearly struck Ripon. Enraged, he stormed the hill, yelling various imprecations, including "bloody nig...r." Singh then proceeded to down only such birds as were flying toward his fellow guest and shot them so that Ripon was bombarded by several pheasant corpses a minute.

Sept. 22, 1923, Ripon, age 71, invited his old crony, the Reverend Morris, and his estate agent Oswald Wade to shoot. There were to be seven drives. As usual the keepers were told to concentrate all the-birds on their employer's blind. Ripon shot over three-quarters of the bag. In the first five drives he shot 40, 17, 25, 17 and 25 grouse. In the sixth he did best of all, but when the retrievers returned with the quarry Ripon reckoned that two of his grouse were still to be found, not to mention a snipe. Fuming at the incompetence he sent two spaniels into the heather and each brought back one of the missing birds. "You'll have to get some better dogs," he snarled. At 3:15 pm he fell to the ground dead. The 53 grouse he shot that drive were never added to his life total.


HD - I have links to lots of wingshooting classics here
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1x7uk0ii6-lPdWEZj5ctyqr1td19ZcsA5xGGoKBhP9o0/edit

Unfortunately, I don't believe "Field and Covert" has been digitized

Thanks for the links! By the way, I guess you know that, Col. Hawkers diaries have been digitized and are available from www.archive.org Great read, even though the repetitive accounts of never-miss big bags get boring occasionally

I think Queen Victoria gave her Gillie John Brown one of Prince Albert's guns which was a 14 bore.

I would think a lot of the scores would have been kept by the wives and others standing behind the line. It was something of a spectator sport in those days and the bags and scores were sometimes printed in the daily press. I doubt that would happen today! I should also think that the King's scores would have been slightly inflated. On a lot of the shoots where he shot there will be a stand known as 'The King's Stand' and regardless of his correct position in the line he would be given the best pitch. Also it is posible, by skillfil keepering and beating, to ensure that the bulk of the bag goes over a particular place in the line. Lagopus.....

Honi soit qui mal y pense.... ;-)

Gunwolf

I quite agree Gunwolf

"Shame be to him who thinks evil of it�. It is sometimes re-interpreted as "Evil be to him who evil thinks".

I would add a corollary "Evil to those who evil speak"

Though I admit I am imprefect, I think all here love double guns and the stuff about them.

and of course, what we can do with:

"When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first"

Ernest Hemingway
Winner Take Nothing

Kind Regards,
Gunwolf

Reminds me of an anecdote from the book I already quoted from - on one occasion about 4000 factory workers who had a holiday turned up to see the King shoot. Some of them climbed trees to get a better view and Edward unknowingly sent his load too close to where one spectator was holding on a branch.

Something that sure couldn't have happened now...

Humpty, you mustn't take it personally. Foxy Lady has hijacked more threads and brought them directly to the swamplands where only the most disgusting vermin can be found.

It's very wearisome, to be sure.


postscript: The above comment was posted much earlier in this thread. Upon further reading I am pleased to see the sheer volume of the contributions of our learned members was too weighty and interesting to force "the fox" to scamper away with his tail between his legs.

All in all, a most interesting and enjoyabole thread.