HOOTING or hunting? Almost every Boxing Day since I was 17 has been spent enjoying one or the other, usually with canine company. However, my first Boxing Day shoot was memorable for the lack of a dog. I shot my first pheasant, and then spent 20 minutes fighting my way through a bramble thicket trying to retrieve it. I succeeded in the end, but my lesson had been well and truly learned – don’t shoot without a dog. As the years rolled by, the dog eventually became rather more important
