Glossary of Shooting terms…..
| All Out | What the beaters can call at the end of a drive |
| Back Gun | Is one or more guns that are placed behing the line of beaters to shoot birds that fly backwards or a gun placed behind the main line of guns to shoot birds that are pricked by the first line of guns |
| Bag | The number of game which has been shoot during the day |
| Bangers | Cartridges – also known as squabs |
| Beater | A member of the team whose job it is to flush the birds over the guns |
| Blank In | Driving birds from one cover to another to then be flushed over the guns |
| Bullshot | Spicy, Vodka infused soup |
| Bum-Belly-Beak-Bang | A correct way to swing a gun through a flying bird |
| Cheeper/Squarker | A young immature bird that should not be shot |
| Cleanly | To shoot and kill game instantly mainly by a head shot leaving the carcase undamaged |
| Covert | Refers to an area that holds game |
| Cover Crops | Fields of maize, kale, mustard etc that provide food and cover for birds |
| Covey | A group of grouse or partridge |
| Drive | This is an area or cover crop that is walked through and driven over the guns. There can be anything from 3 to 7 drives in a shooting day. |
| Flanker | A beater at the end of a drive whose job it is to stop the birds breaking out sideways. |
| Flighting | To shoot wildfowl or pigeon when then fly to or from their feeding or roosting grounds |
| Flush | A group of birds which breaks out or is pushed out of cover |
| Gun | A weapon and a name for the person shooting it |
| Hot Spot | An area or peg where a larger number of birds are expected to fly over |
| Mark | To take note of where a bird has fallen |
| Nye | A group of pheasants |
| Pattern | A spread of shot produced by a shotgun into which the quarry flies. |
| Peg/Stand | A fixed point were each gun will be on each drive usually marked with a stick with the peg number on. Butts are used for grouse shooting which are permanent numbered fixtures |
| Peg Dog | A dog that is trained to sit next to the peg where the gun stands awaiting the end of the drive to retrieve the shot game. |
| Pick up | To collect the birds at the end of each drive. The ‘Picker-Up’ has at least one dog which retrieves game that the guns have shot |
| Planes | A bird stops flapping it wings in flight and glides down on set wings |
| Point | A ridged stance of a dog indicating the presence of game nearby |
| Pricked | A bird which has been hit by the shotgun pellets but has not been killed |
| Over | Shouted by beaters when birds are about to fly order the guns |
| Over & Under | A gun with one barrel over the other on the vertical |
| Right & Left | Killing successive birds with both gun barrels without re-mounting for the second bird |
| Runner | A bird which has been shot but not killed and runs when it has landed |
| Sewelling | Strips of plastic tied at regular intervals to a long line/rope which is place in front of a line of advancing beaters and twitched to encourage birds to fly |
| Side By Side | A gun with the barrels next to each other on the horizontal |
| Slogasm | A drink of sloe gin and champagne |
| Stop | A beater who has been placed to stop birds running over of cover in the wrong place or along ditches away from the required flush points |
| Swing | To bring your gun and barrels along the line of flight of the bird to in front of the bird before shooting it then continuing swinging through after the shot is fired |
| Tower | A bird that continues to fly higher after being shot to then drop down dead |
| Vermin | Animals and birds which prey on game |
| Winged | A bird which has been shot and wounded but is incapable of further flight – also known as ‘Pricked’. |
| Wiped the Eye | A bird shot by a gun after being missed by another gun. Also a dog that picks a bird after another dog has failed to pick (retrieve) |
| Wish | A group of snipe |
A FATHERS ADVICE
If a sportsman true you’d be
Listen carefully to me. . .
Never, never let your gun
Pointed be at anyone.
That it may unloaded be
Matters not the least to me.
When a hedge or fence you cross
Though of time it cause a loss
From your gun the cartridge take
For the greater safety’s sake.
If twixt you and neighbouring gun
Bird shall fly or beast may run
Let this maxim ere be thine
“Follow not across the line.”
Stops and beaters oft unseen
Lurk behind some leafy screen.
Calm and steady always be
“Never shoot where you can’t see.”
You may kill or you may miss
But at all times think this:
“All the pheasants ever bred
Won’t repay for one man dead.”
Keep your place and silent be;
Game can hear, and game can see;
Don’t be greedy, better spared
Is a pheasant, than one shared.