I need not, I think, offer any instructions of my own as to
how Snipe should be shot, the more so that my advice would
mainly consist in getting a good gun, loading it lightly and
holding it straight; but I subjoin* very useful hints on the subject
by Captain Baldwin and Mr. Reid. Both these gentlemen,
however, are staunch " off-the-wind" workers, that is to say, they
advocate always working down with the wind (in accordance
with the accepted English method) on to Snipe, and it is therefore
only right to note that here, in India, in shooting vast flooded
tracts, where nothing rises above the level of your waist, it is
very questionable whether it is not often better to shoot them
" on the wind," i.e.. advancing on them against this latter.
True they go straight away, and twist a good deal at starting, but
they will lie much closer, and if you only let him get his distance
a Snipe's twisting at mid-day in India does not matter much,
and I have " many a time and oft" made good bags, by
working against the wind, amongst Snipe too wild to let you
get within shot, when worked with the wind.
And Snipe out here are not, as a rule, the birds they are
at home. A very fair Snipe-shot as a boy, (having been at
* " Always walk deliberately and slowly, taking short paces ; be ever at the ready;
learn to fire quickly and sharply, with both eyes open and well in front of the
object, as soon as the gun can be brought up to the shoulder ; and always fire at a
bird within distance, however difficult and twisting a chance it may offer. Never
speak yourself, or allow your allendants to talk, and make as little noise, or splashing
in walking, as possible. Try and mark where birds pitch that have risen some
distance off, and if a Snipe drops to your shot in thick grass or rushes on walking
up, throw your handkerchief as nearly as possible over the spot where you think
the bird fell, before beginning to search ; without such a mark, one is liable unwittingly
to wander from the vicinity of the lost bird.
"Walk down wind, with the sun at your back, if possible. As a rule do not
begin your shooting till the sun is well up, and the air warm. Early in the morning
the birds will seldom lie well, and by following them about from one spot to
another you may chive them away altogether ; whereas, if you wait till later, say
1 0 o'clock, these same Snipe will afford you excellent sport. Employ the early hours
of a cold weather morning in Duck-shooting—good Snipe jhils generally hold Duck
as well. If by yourself, four attendants or coolies are generally sufficient to take
the field with ; if possible place them all on one flank, so that your attention is
fixed in one direction, and you are prepared to turn that way only ; whereas if your
men walk on either side of you, it is doubtful on which side a Snipe may rise, and
your attention is divided."—^. / / . Baldwin. (In 'Large and Small Game of Bengal.')
" I have noticed that many young sportsmen, and even some old ones, make
a sad mistake when going after Snipe in pouncing upon the birds in the early
morning ; nothing spoils a day's sport like this. The birds are then as wild as they
can be ; every shot puts them up in whisps. and, favored by the cool morning
breeze, they will very likely leave the giound altogether. To avoid this, and to
secure a good bag, it is only necessary to ascertain, fust, that birds are abundant,
and then to leave them in peace and quietness until ro or II A.M. They will then
have separated and seltled down for the day, will lie close and seldom rise
more than two or three at a time, and what is of equal importance will rarely
fly far on being disturbed. This is all that sportsmen need to know to have fair
sport, but a knowledge of the habits of the bird will often be of use. One
constant peculiarity in the bird is that it invariably Jltes against the wind; in the
hurry scurry of rising it may start offin any direction, but once fairly on the wing
it will face the wind. Sportsmen, therefore, who are good at side or cross shots,
may have them to their heart's content by ivalking doivn the wind. When Snipe are
wild, and the day is windy, this is in fact the only way of securing even a decent,
bag."— George Reid.
it in our Norfolk marshes, from the time I was twelve years
old,) I flattered myself after the first few seasons here that my
shooting had vastly improved ; and when later I was returning
hugged myself in secret with the idea that I would now rather
show my friends at home how Snipe should be shot. Vain
delusion !—the very first day on the ronds showed me the
difference between a Snipe rising in a cold climate, on a dull
drizzly day with a strong wind blowing, and one rising here in
India in the hot noontide glare of a still cold season day. There,
shoot as well as you might, you were bound to miss a lot of
shots ; continually as you pulled the trigger, just as you thought
he had settled into the straight running, you saw too late to
hold your hand, friend Snipe dart off a good yard at right
angles to his course. Moreover, the pace they go at there
is far greater than what we are accustomed to see here. If
any one, who is beginning to think himself a grand Snipe-shot
out here, wishes to test his probable success at home, let him
choose some very cold day about X'mas just after the winter
rains, when there is a sharp, cold wind blowing, dense cloud over
head and mist around, and shoot his best from 7 to 1 0 A.M.
He will then vividly recall the difficulties of Snipe-shooting in
our beloved native land !
As a whole, my experience is, that even in India the Fantail
not only flies somewhat faster and habitually twists more than
the Pintail, but also that, as a rule, all conditions being equal,
it lies less close and well, On several occasions near Calcutta,
where the two species were mixed—and there were only a few
birds of each—I noticed that the Fantails mostly rose long shots,
while the Pintails rose within thirty yards ; as also that, when
I fired, all the Fantails near me rose, off ground on which,
having re-loaded, I still picked up a Pintail or two. It does
not do to generalize positively from one's own limited experience
; but I believe that, if the point be closely looked into,
and due allowance made for the ever-varying conditions under
which one is always meeting the two species, the facts will be
found to be as I say.
Colonel Tickcll says : " Snipe-shooting in Burma or Arakan
is a pursuit of pleasure under considerable difficulties. The
sport is in its prime long before the country has emerged from
the floods of the rainy monsoon; so that Auccps has to wade
through paddy fields up to his middle (if not haply higher,)
and under a sun which blisters his back, before he can make a good
bag. To a full-blooded man the cold water below, and the hot
sun above, are a severe trial, especially as full-blooded men are
generally short-legged. It must be remembered, too, that wading
in a paddy " khet" is not like wading in a clear salmon stream
with a smooth, sandy bottom, but demands a struggle at each
step to wrench your foot out of several inches of mud, and
another struggle to force your way through the paddy itself;