A SHORT AUTOBIOGRAPHY
I was born in a small village adjacent to the river Trent. Being raised in a countryside environment and having two older brothers I soon learned the usual boys stuff making dens, catapults, bows and arrows etc as did my younger brother. As children we learned about wildlife in general through bird watching and roaming the waterways around the area we lived in, our brothers guiding us. This area is surrounded by water and thus wildfowl are plentiful. It was I believe this abundance of wildfowl which led to my interest in this branch of the sport. My brothers, who are 10 and 12 years older than me, introduced myself & my younger brother to guns in the form of air rifles at a very early age and taught us the correct and safe way to handle them. A swift "clip" about the ear was our reward for disobedience when handling bows, catapults or guns in an unsafe manner.
I progressed naturally to shotguns, both my elder brothers owned 12 bores. My interest in wildfowling began to develop in my late teens. I started to spend many hours on the foreshore studying the behaviour of the birds under various weather, tide and moon conditions. I would watch the television closely for the weather forecast and check out what state the tide would be in and what birds would be about, this became almost ritual behaviour for me. You've probably been there and done that, this is one reason why I felt these pages would help.
Over the years shooting in general and wildfowling in particular has provided some excellent meals for myself, my wife and our five children. The children are all adults now but the urge to gather food in the form of Geese, Ducks, Pigeons and Rabbits is still strong, although not as pressing. It may be hard for anyone other than a shooter who reads this to understand that the thrill of shooting is not the killing although I confess I do derive a certain sense of satisfaction when I pull off a particularly difficult shot and an excellent meal at the end of my trip is a welcome bonus. Many, many times have I sat on the foreshore for hours and hours without a shot but I have still left feeling a sense of well being and satisfaction just from the pleasure of watching nature at work and being party to it all. I hope to continue enjoying these pleasures for a long time yet, god willing, but if the antis have their way this may not happen and future generations will miss out on some of the finer ways of life.
If the general public could experience these feelings not just the Shooters, Hunters and Anglers then perhaps there would be more understanding and less ill feeling towards us. The onus is on us all to explain to the general public about Country sports, whatever branch we are involved in. Unless we do what has become our way of life will never be accepted by them and could vanish into the mists of time. I for one do not want to see this happen and so I will explain and defend wildfowling as my chosen branch of Country sports and all others if I feel that even one persons opinion may be swayed in our favour.
I wish all Country sports participants & supporters Good Luck and Best Wishes for the future.
Dave