Woodlore for Young Sportsmen: Survival in the Wild and Hints on Hunting

H. Mortimer Batten

Description

Originally published in 1922, this is a fascinating illustrated guide to various fieldsports and the woodcraft connected with them. Contents Include: Life Habits of British Animals Game Birds of Great Britain Vermin Destruction of Vermin Hints for the Gunner Angling and Habits of Fresh Water Fish Rabbiting Ferreting Snaring Trapping Rabbits, Moles etc. Making Walking Sticks Skinning and Preserving Skins Making Leather Goods A Permanent Home in the Woods Hunting Tips. etc. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Sujets

• Sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Recreation
• Sports
• Outdoor Skills

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 13 décembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781447496113
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

WOODLORE FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN

WOODLORE FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN
BY
H. MORTIMER BATTEN, F.Z.S.
AUTHOR OF HABITS AND CHARACTERS OF BRITISH WILD ANIMALS TRACKS AND TRACKING ETC.
WITH 55 PHOTOGRAPHS DIRECT FROM NATURE BY W. S. BERRIDGE, F.Z.S. 25 LINE DRAWINGS BY F. A. SIMPSON
AND AN INTRODUCTION BY
RICHARD CLAPHAM
AUTHOR OF FOX-HUNTING ON THE LAKELAND FELLS, ROUGH-SHOOTING, ETC.
T O T HE M EMORY OF A G REAT S PORTSMAN
Many of whose wise counsels are here handed on
This book is respectfully and affectionately dedicated
by his son.
AUTHOR S NOTE
I N this book I have endeavoured to provide a rough and ready guide to the various departments of outdoor sport in such a form as will appeal to those who have not the means or are without the inclination to set up a sportsman s library. If the reader should discover that I have treated his pet subject scantily, or even omitted to refer to it, I trust he will bear in mind that these notes are compiled solely from my own observations and experiences, and therein lies their incompleteness. Unfortunately life is too short for one man to obtain sufficient knowledge to enable him to write helpfully on all the branches of this great subject. Better far that he should be content to subscribe his own small quota by writing only about the things he actually knows, thereby minimising the risk of inaccuracy.
Every true sportsman knows that in the natural history of the birds and beasts he pursues lies the chief pleasure of the craft. He does not rejoice so much in the killing of them as in being amidst their haunts, and observing their ways with some definite object to lead him on. Sometimes his blank days are his happiest and most memorable. Moreover he knows that a knowledge of the ways of the creatures concerned is often as essential as straight shooting or casting a good line. Therein lies the charm of sports afield, and if we turn to that king of hunters, the American Indian, we find that his success is entirely due to his knowledge of wild nature. As a rule he is very indifferently equipped, yet armed with an antiquated weapon that no white man would dream of using, he seldom returns without game. To obtain the best results, then, from any outdoor sport, and to realise from it the maximum of pleasure, one must possess a sympathetic understanding of the creatures involved, and that is why I have devoted so much space to the natural history side of the subject.
There are many people who discourage the carrying of a gun as tending to harden a boy s natural sympathies for wild life. How can he love the wild creatures when he is always out to destroy them? they ask. The reply is- If he is a true sportsman, he will lack nothing in the way of sympathy. He will acquire a very real interest in the wild things he sees and hears, and it is impossible for him to come to know their ways without loving them and sympathising with them. Teach him to be a man , to take his place among other men, and when less pleasurable tasks are his, he will at least have an incomparable wealth of living memories which will make his way lighter and happier.
Finally let me say that though our sympathies are with the nature lover who pleads the preservation of certain birds and beasts by attempting to minimise the harm they do, there is not much to be gained by such generous expression of sentiment. Very often it invites contradiction from more reliable sources thereby defeating its own aims; and so in dealing with the predatory birds and animals, for which I can claim the sympathy of a very real interest, I have not endeavoured to hide the harmful side of their characters. To do so merely annoys the man who knows, and there are many birds and beasts whose numbers we must keep in check for the sake of those which are more useful, and which, perhaps, help to beautify the earth. What the garden of Eden would have been to Adam and Eve had a sabre-toothed tiger shared it with them, just such is the habitat of many of our gentler wild creatures where their natural foes are allowed to multiply.
I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Richard Clapham, for the interest he has taken in this work. Mr. Clapham is well known in the Lake District as a practical sportsman, and probably there are few so well acquainted with the habits of the Mountain Fox and with the art of circumventing the wily Brook Trout.
H. M ORTIMER B ATTEN .
Perthshire ,
Scotland .
INTRODUCTION
BY
RICHARD CLAPHAM
Author of:- Fox-hunting on the Lakeland Fells. Trout Fishing for the Beginner, Rough Shooting, c .
In the days when the late Charles St. John wrote that delightful book Wild Sports in the Highlands, the bird and animal life of this country was more prolific than it is at present. Sportsmen were fewer, travelling facilities were bad, and much of the land in the North was inaccessible except to the determined minority of people who were willing to put up with the discomforts of a slow and weary journey.
Since then, great changes have taken place. The sportsman can now leave London by a night train, and before noon the next day find himself, gun in hand, on some wild Highland moor. Shooting and fishing are now popular sports, and young people have for the most part every facility for enjoying one or both.
With the increase of shooters, came a demand for more game, and the consequent destruction of those creatures in fur and feather which were thought to be inimical to the interests of the game preserver. This has led to the almost total extinction of certain of our rarer animals and birds, such as the pine-marten and the kite, and it is only since the Law stepped in and provided the necessary protective measures that certain species of so-called vermin have been allowed a new lease of life.
The desire of the youthful sportsman who first takes rod or gun in hand is to kill. This is quite natural, for everyone to a greater or less degree inherits the hunting instinct. Gradually however, after acquiring prowess with his weapons, a youth discovers that field sport has other attractions apart from the mere filling of the bag. He begins to take a dawning interest in the habits of game and wild life in general, and as he grows older, he derives as much pleasure from the study of woodlore as from straight shooting. When we set out armed with rod or gun, the definite object in view is to fill the creel, or make a bag of game. This leads us on beside the river or through field and covert until we find ourselves in surroundings which, except for our love of sport, we should never perhaps have visited. As our American cousins say It is not all of fishing just to fish, for there are very many things to interest the true sportsman in addition to the actual slaying of his quarry. For those who go in search of game, rather than have it driven to them as is the modern fashion, a knowledge of the habits of wild life is essential to success. Woodlore covers a variety of subjects from the deciphering of a line of tracks, to conjecturing what an animal is likely to do next. It also teaches one what to do in an emergency, how to make oneself comfortable in the out o doors, and inculcates a spirit of independence that may be of infinite benefit under a variety of circumstances, trying and otherwise.
In Woodlore for Young Sportsmen, Mr. Batten has covered briefly but comprehensively a variety of subjects connected with sport and woodcraft, which cannot fail to interest the youth who is keen on country pursuits. Written from first-hand knowledge acquired both in the Canadian wilds and the English countryside, the book breathes the spirit of the open. Copiously illustrated with photographs of birds and beasts, and well supplied with diagrams, the volume forms an extremely handy encyclop dia for budding naturalists and sportsmen.
RICHARD CLAPHAM.
L ANE H OUSE ,
T ROUTBECK ,
W INDERMERE .
January, 1922
CONTENTS
AUTHORS NOTE
INTRODUCTION
LIFE HABITS OF BRITISH WILD ANIMALS:-
1.
F OX
2.
B ADGER
3.
O TTER
4.
S TOAT
5.
W EASEL
6.
F ALLOW D EER
7.
R ED D EER
8.
R OE D EER OR R OE B UCK
9.
B ROWN H ARE
10.
M OUNTAIN OR B LUE H ARE
11.
W ILD R ABBIT
12.
H EDGEHOG
13.
C AT
14.
S QUIRREL
15.
B ROWN R AT
16.
W ATER V OLE
THE GAME BIRDS OF GREAT BRITAIN:-
1.
B LACK G ROUSE OR B LACK C OCK
2.
C APERCAILLIE
3.
R ED G ROUSE
4.
P TARMIGAN
5.
P ARTRIDGE
6.
P HEASANT
7.
W OODCOCK
8.
W ILD D UCKS AND W ILD G EESE
9.
S NIPE
VERMIN, REAL AND UNREAL:-
1.
G OLDEN E AGLE
2.
W ILD C AT
3.
P EREGRINE F ALCON
4.
S PARROW H AWK
5.
F OX
6.
H OODED C ROW
7.
M AGPIE
8.
S TOAT
9.
B LACK B ACKED G ULLS
10.
P OLECAT
11.
H EDGEHOG
12.
K ESTREL
13.
T AWNY O WL
14.
S HORT-EARED O WL
15.
W EASEL
16.
P INE M ARTEN
17.
R AVEN
18.
L ITTLE O WL
19.
B ADGER
20.
O TTER
21.
B UZZARD
22.
M ERLIN
23.
B ARN O WL
24.
L ONG-EARED O WL
THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN
MINOR HINTS FOR THE GUNNER
ANGLING AND HABITS OF FRESH WATER FISH
1.
A NGLING
2.
S ALMON
3.
S EA -T ROUT
4.
B ROOK T ROUT OR B ROWN T ROUT
5.
P IKE
6.
P ERCH
7.
R OACH
8.
G RAYLING
9.
C ARP
10.
B REAM
11.
T ENCH
12.
C HUBB
13.
E EL
RABBITING
1.
H ANDLING THE F ERRET
2.
F EEDING THE F ERRET
3.
W ORKING THE W ARRENS
4.
M UZZLING THE F ERRET
5.
H OW TO WORK THE B URROWS
6.
T HE L INE F ERRET
7.
N ETTING
SNARING
BOX TRAP FOR RABBITS
MOLE CATCHING
MAKE YOUR OWN WALKING STICK
SKINNING AND PRESERVING SKINS
1.
S KINNING AN A NIMAL FOR M OUNTING
2.
P RESERVING S KINS
MAKING LEATHER GOODS
1.
T ANNING
2.
L EATHER B OOTLACES
3.
T HE P OCKET M ONEY B AG
4.
P URSES
5.
B ELT S HEATH FOR H UNTING K NIFE
6.
L EATHER G AUNTLETS
7.
An A XE S HEATH
8.
T HE I NDIAN D ITTY B AG
9.
A D OG S LIP
10.
T O MAKE YOU