By The Field
Monday, 05 January 2009
Wise words from The Field miscellany
A FUSE TO BOLT BEARS
You need: 18oz sulphur, 15oz nitre, 6oz pitch, 3oz resin, 6oz powdered coal and 3oz mealed gunpowder. Mix sulphur, nitre, pitch and resin and melt gently over the fire. Take off; mix with the coal and when “stiffish” add gunpowder. Knead mixture and make into balls. This quantity makes about four balls for bears.
PARTRIDGE KITE
Having flown a common, large toy kite, the exact representation in size of a falcon is attached to its string at 50yd or 60yd beneath, so strung that it has liberty sufficient to sway to and fro, kept by its strings in a horizontal position. Its body, neck and head are flat and of light wood and its wings and the greater portion of its spread tail of canvas; its colour very dark. From the great distance at which the hawk is beneath the kite, it can be made to swoop close over the turnips or stubbles in which the birds are supposed to be, and rise, hover or move on again at pleasure.
Care should be taken by guns not to press too close on the hawk or to make any noise; the partridges’ attention should be riveted on their visible and apprehended foe.
Facts and Useful Hints Relating to Fishing and Shooting, edited by IEB Cox.
RAT SCENT
The herb valerian is claimed to attract rats in the same manner as catnip lures felines. The pied piper is said to have used it effectively on Hamelin’s rats. This legendary exploit may be based on the Children’s Crusade of 1212 when a German child, believing only the pure could take Jerusalem, led children across Europe to the Mediterranean, where they were promptly sold into slavery and never seen again.
A POACHER'S BIRD
Where a poacher finds game on Smith’s land and kills it there, the game is the property of Smith; but if, having found game on Smith’s land, he pursues and kills it on Jones’s land, it may be held to be the property of the poacher.
Fair Game, by Charlie Parkes and John Thornley.
KILLING A GREYHEN
Four conditions govern the killing of a greyhen. The first is that when you shoot it you will be standing in a conspicuous position, which makes it impossible for anyone else to have fired the shot. The second is that when the bird has fallen, there will always be a keeper close at hand who will pick it up and who, without rude ostentation but with a quiet, convincing thoroughness, will display the body to all beholders. The third is that you will shoot your greyhen before lunch, so that it will be laid out separately for all to see, and you will be questioned throughout the meal. And the fourth, governing all others, is that you will never miss a greyhen.
Shooting Days, by Eric Parker.
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