WING TO CLAY AND WOKENESS IN THE LATE 1800s

As you will see in this edition, and as promised, we have added subject matter. Wingshooting, or bird hunting, was the impetus that created clay shooting as a sport, albeit via a complicated route.

The Victorian age was a time of great excess, wealth and extravagance. The aristocracy and upper class of society saw hunting as a pursuit for the “landed” affluent. The hunting method transitioned from “rough shooting” (walk-up hunting for game with dogs) to “driven shooting”, where winged fowl were released and driven from a certain area towards shooters posted in a stationary shooting position. This style of game shooting was expensive and often reserved for royalty, estate guests or business gatherings of industry titans.

Land leased for driven game shooting was expensive and scarce by the mid-twentieth century but the desire from the aristocracy to capture the essence of game shooting existed in the urban areas around London. Feeding this demand, the Notting Hill Gun Club was founded by Sir George know that such activity, although not as widespread, existed in the late 1800s. This movement, or whatever one would characterize it as, actually played a pivotal part in creating clay shooting as a sport. The Notting Hill Gun Club mentioned earlier, along with other shooting organizations were being criticized by the Humanitarian lobby for their use of live birds for sport. Many clubs quickly capitulated, electing to move to new forms of targets such only pivotal in terms of our history but also pertinent for our current and prospective readers. Enjoy the forthcoming articles and we hope to continue providing the best quality coverage of shooting competition, shooting lifestyle, the wingshooting lifestyle and now even recipes. Make sure to try out the “Meat Candy” recipe in this edition. You can thank me later. n

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