Shooting Times & Country

The grandest danger

“If you shoot a bird from a boat and it falls on land, it belongs to the landowner; if it lands in the sea it is yours”

The number of punt-gunners in the British Isles is steadily diminishing but the number of enthusiasts who use a boat for shooting is growing,” wrote Richard Arnold in 1954.

His observation of trends in postwar Britain, the DIY nature of make-do-and-mend and his enthusiasm for old guns and old ways is beautifully captured in The Shooter’s Handbook. His words reflect the move away from a punt-mounted cannon to more conventional sporting guns in pursuit of waterfowl.

Punt-gunning today is a curiosity. Once it was a business. To some Victorian sportsmen, it was an art to be learned and practised. The punt, the punt-gun and the punt-gunner are characters

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