How does shooting go?

[Jed]

I'm writing a book, and there's a couple of scenes where a character is going to go shooting. I've never shot animals before so I'm hoping to make sure it's accurate and nobody reading it thinks "hang on, that's not how it goes!"

 

Ok, so first scene is during the day. The character is in the country in South East England and he's going to go out and shoot a bird of some description. Doesn't really matter what it is. He'll have a dog with him. So... does he just walk out into some appropriate countryside and wait for a bird to appear, and shoot it? And, assuming the dog is trained, it'll run out and collect the bird? What sort of bird might he shoot and what sort of country would he find that bird in (woods, fields etc).

 

Second scene, night/early morning, he's going to shoot rabbits with a friend. As I understand it, you'll drive on to a farm at night/early morning (which? what sort of time?) and plug away at any bunnies that show up?

 

Anything you think I'm likely to get wrong, do mention (I know guns, but not hunting).

 

Any help much appreciated :-)

[Baldrick]

Jed, one man out in the field in SE England would be trudging round arable farmland in Autumn and Winter, probably using a spaniel to flush birds from hedgerows, scrub, parcels of woodland and patches of cover crops. Said hound would also retrieve the shot birds. The quarry would any or all of the following: pheasant, partridge (almost certainly French), woodpigeon, woodcock, hare, corvids, squirrels, rabbit, and potentially wildfowl.

 

Rabbit control is done typically from a vehicle, using a powerful lamp and a rifle, shotgun or both. Greatest success is usually had during darkness, on relatively windy overcast nights.

[Blunderbuss]

To do both those questions justice and provide an answer comprehensive enough to make you sound as if you know what you are talking about would take a very long winded answer.

 

A better place to start would be to visit the BASC website and read up on rough shooting (scene one).

 

Scene two could be played a number of ways, but the most likely would be lamping with air rifles or rimfire riles (.17 or .22 rimfire). The BASC site also contains lots of info on what quarry species can be legally shot and at what time of year.

 

Perhaps when you've got the basics come back on here and flesh out your knowledge by asking more detailed questions.

 

What's the rest of the book about? Is it your first book? Good luck!