We need to ensure best practice pays

I have an old friend, well known in gun trade journalism, who vocally disparaged ‘big days’ as vulgar, unsportsmanlike and gauche while romantically waxing lyrical that the essence of our sport is walked-up shooting over a pair of dogs.

However, as the old saying — “it just takes a bit of money to rub away the socialism” — suggests, so my friend hungrily accepted (some may say blagged) as many big-bag, driven days as he could get then blissfully killed everything that came within a sniff of his peg. He’s a very good Shot and I suspect his contradictory expression of preference is not unique among shooters. The well-heeled cynic might offer the opinion that those who pour scorn on big days are