Badger is now a sniper. Offishul...
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:20 pm
Saturday dawned bright and fair but long before the sun had clawed its way above the autumnal horizon Badger was up, breakfasted and trundling down the A38. By the time he pulled into the car park of ye Traditional Village Inne it was almost light and the air was heavy with the delicious smell of bacon sandwiches. Badger parked the Orient Express between a ratty Ford Fiasco and a sleek Bentley Intercontinental coupe (it's a very egalitarian syndicate, and yes, the coupe is the 18th birthday present of a prior range report) and elbowed his way to the front of the sarnie queue. It doesn't pay to hang about at the back of the pack when the pan is sizzling...
An hour later Badger was again standing at the back of the gun line in the role of cripple stopper & backstop. Next time he's going to check the bag of billiard balls used to allocate pegs: he's not entirely certain that they are all differently numbered... Still, an hour later he had two pheasants from two shots.
After a spot of lunch it was time to try a new part of the shoot, an area of bog surrounded by willow and reeds. Far too gloopy for the beaters to enter, this was the province of the dogs. Five spaniels, two terriers and a couple of indeterminate four legged hounds of some sort or other were unleashed and whistled, shouted and yelled at to direct their enthusiastic efforts to find and scare up any birds. Badger had a prime spot for this part of the shoot, standing atop a small tussock of grass that was the only dry ground for about twenty yards in either direction. There was a sudden cry of "Bird up" and a duck came rocketing out of the reeds straight towards the gap between Badger and the adjacent gun. Judging it to be his, Badger raised and cocked his Blissett damascus barreled hammer gun, then fired the first barrel at the rapidly ascending duck. A flurry of feathers indicated that the shot had struck home but the duck didn't seem to realise that it was dead and carried on flying. Badger let the second barrel have a go as the duck was almost overhead. Another flurry of feathers and this time the message sank home, as did the duck as it folded its wings and plummeted earthwards to land not far from Badger's feet.
Barely had Badger time to reload than a new cry went along the line: "Bird up" The gun next to Badger - Bentley Jamie - shouted "Snipe" and started to raise his gun. The snipe, a small and very manoeuverable bird, began to jink left and right, up and down, all the time accelerating, first gaining height then sinking to hug the reed bed before wheeling around and heading between two willows. It put Badger in mind of an Imperial Tie fighter, or a Mosquito hugging the firs as it screamed down a Norwegian fjord...
Bentley Jamie fired twice and missed twice. Now it was Badger's turn. As the snipe bunted over the top of the willows and began a split S turn towards a patch of reeds, Badger fired. Just the once. The snipe almost stopped in mid air as the shot pattern enveloped it and then fluttered earthwards.
"Wow, you hit it," said Jamie.
"Good shot," said the gun to Badger's other side.
So there we have it.
Badger is now officially a sniper.
No-one seemed to have noticed he'd needed two shots to stop the duck.
An hour later Badger was again standing at the back of the gun line in the role of cripple stopper & backstop. Next time he's going to check the bag of billiard balls used to allocate pegs: he's not entirely certain that they are all differently numbered... Still, an hour later he had two pheasants from two shots.
After a spot of lunch it was time to try a new part of the shoot, an area of bog surrounded by willow and reeds. Far too gloopy for the beaters to enter, this was the province of the dogs. Five spaniels, two terriers and a couple of indeterminate four legged hounds of some sort or other were unleashed and whistled, shouted and yelled at to direct their enthusiastic efforts to find and scare up any birds. Badger had a prime spot for this part of the shoot, standing atop a small tussock of grass that was the only dry ground for about twenty yards in either direction. There was a sudden cry of "Bird up" and a duck came rocketing out of the reeds straight towards the gap between Badger and the adjacent gun. Judging it to be his, Badger raised and cocked his Blissett damascus barreled hammer gun, then fired the first barrel at the rapidly ascending duck. A flurry of feathers indicated that the shot had struck home but the duck didn't seem to realise that it was dead and carried on flying. Badger let the second barrel have a go as the duck was almost overhead. Another flurry of feathers and this time the message sank home, as did the duck as it folded its wings and plummeted earthwards to land not far from Badger's feet.
Barely had Badger time to reload than a new cry went along the line: "Bird up" The gun next to Badger - Bentley Jamie - shouted "Snipe" and started to raise his gun. The snipe, a small and very manoeuverable bird, began to jink left and right, up and down, all the time accelerating, first gaining height then sinking to hug the reed bed before wheeling around and heading between two willows. It put Badger in mind of an Imperial Tie fighter, or a Mosquito hugging the firs as it screamed down a Norwegian fjord...
Bentley Jamie fired twice and missed twice. Now it was Badger's turn. As the snipe bunted over the top of the willows and began a split S turn towards a patch of reeds, Badger fired. Just the once. The snipe almost stopped in mid air as the shot pattern enveloped it and then fluttered earthwards.
"Wow, you hit it," said Jamie.
"Good shot," said the gun to Badger's other side.
So there we have it.
Badger is now officially a sniper.
No-one seemed to have noticed he'd needed two shots to stop the duck.