Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

Game shooting

Wolves, aurochs —

and beer rationing

I recall a chap tried to mess about

with the general licences; Peckham,

I think his name was. Time dims the

memory as to what happened to him,

but I vaguely recall a rumpus about

frozen dogs. Talking of the general

licences, my thoughts rush back to

those halcyon days when pigeon

shooting was freely available for

nothing more than a friendly request

to a farming neighbour.

In the early 2030s, game shooting

became so popular that the cost

K. REYNOLDS

28 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

for a 100-bird driven pheasant day

exceeded the price of one of those

luxury Suzuki Jimny 4x4s. I do miss

cars, such practical things. It was

a huge pity when Prime Minister

Caroline Lucas banned them when

she came to power in 2027.

Inevitably, following the new-

found exclusivity of game shooting,

sporting agencies turned their

attentions to pigeon shooting as a

means of boosting business. Guided

pigeon decoying days or roost

Aurochs stalking and sport that costs a kidney — rather than an arm

and a leg — Richard Negus imagines shooting 60 years down the line

I

write to you from 2079. Thanks

to the wonders of high-speed

broadband, which fi nally

came to us in Suff olk last year,

I am now able to send articles back

in time. Don’t ask me how. At my age,

I simply accept new technology as

a wondrous thing. I remember some

of 2019 as if it were yesterday.

An unfortunate incident

during the Ramblers’

centenary walk