ROYAL GUN

Evening Star, Issue 20666, 13 December 1930, Page 22

ROYAL GUN

KING'S FINE EYE A great day in Britain’s shooting calendar, and particularly in that- of King George, who has a reputation as an excellent shot, is October 1, jsays the New. York ‘Times.’ The pheasant season gives him the shots in which ho is most expert—fast, _ oncoming rocketer ” pheasants which, demand rapid and faultless aim. King George follows in the footsteps of his father, the late Kiug_ Edward VII., who was keenly desirous that his son should be brought lip in. the best traditions of sport, and _gave him a careful and systematic training. The present King, as a boy, devoted himself, among other things, to practise in shooting, first the humble air gun, then the single-barrelled, and finally the double-barrelled gun. He lost no opportunity in perfecting himself at the game, and developed his great skill despite the fact that he spent several years abroad as an executive officer of the Navy, and opportunities for sport were few and far between. Since_those days his frequent appearances with a gun have testified to his interest. Indeed, it was when out duck shooting in the winter of 1923 that he contracted his long and serious illness. KNOWS BIRDS. The King has a wide knowledge of the habits not only of pheasants. and partridges, but of wild duck. He times the speed of birds and estimates their height with a .skill that! reflects the careful training of his boyhood days, and drops a dozen “rocketers” with as many shots. His finest perfonnance, and one that would be hard to surpass, was taking four pheasants , with' four successive shots, the four being hit before the first had-reached the ground. When on.the Scottish moors at. bis Highland home; of Balmoral, the King tramps for miles over the heather, changing the vantage point at times and so shifting to where the best sport is to bo had. The King thoroughly enjoys the test of skill with grouse, and has been, known to take two birds, approaching with a right and left, another as.they sweep overhead like an arrow in flight, and two more going away—five birds in. all. This is a fine performance when one considers that it involves changing guns twice, a clean catch of the weapon, and no bungling—for in this lightuing game quarters of seconds are vital —and a rapid synchronisation of eye and arm, the whole adjustment having to bo repeated five times in about as many seconds; 1 GREATER TEST. Duck shooting, which comes .with October, calls perhaps for even better marksmanship than partridge or pheasant shooting. Few people realise;'that a duck when on the wing is moving at between seventy’-a ndv 100 miles per hour. It flies exceptionally fast When over land, tend makes auotfier real test of quickness and-accuracy of aim.'The King is also an excellent shot with duck. ■ . King George has had opportunity to show his skill as a hunter of big game. When he went to India ia 1911 for the Coronation Durbar the Indian chiefs vied with one another in dheir tehdeavburs' tb arrafige shoots of both small and big game, although the limited time at the King’s disposal and the vastness of the _ programme made it impossible for-him to accept more than one or two. > , The best of these was that arranged by the Maharaja of Nepal, whose territory includes the famous Terai running along the foothills of. the Himalayas, a noted haunt •of tigers. Altogether the Terai-is-j!one. of telle finest game tracts in the world, and the maharaja was determined to do things on a royal scale and leave no stone unturned to ensure" a 'record'Bag'; SPECIAL ROAD. From a chosen point on the railway he cut a road through the dense jungle some thirty miles in length, and at the far end established two -camps with palatial shooting • boxes, - one ol them being almost a perfect example,on a small scale, of a royal residence in London, so that when the guest entered his own sanctum and studj he might have been at home -in London. But this was by no means all, Lawns were laid, out and fine rose trees 'were planted; in - fact, the gardens of Buckingham Palace had. been reproduced in the heart--of the wild and little-known jungles of-Nepal. For more than' a year prior to the King’s arrival preparation . had been going on; the country for a considerable distance ' around had be'en left undisturbed, and' when the guest arrived he was certainly in " a hunter’s paradise. 5 But it' did . not • follow that with all these preparations the "matter of shooting would be an easy one; on the contrary, the grass is high and. dense, often growing ,to 20ft and, more, making it correspondingly difficult and dangerous to spot and account for the game / Six hundred and thirty-four e* e ” phants were employed for beating purposes, together with a whole army of retainers and servants, who, despite their numbers, never; hampered* the movements of the shooting party, TWO FEATS. The King spent several days in this wonderful camp. Arriving early -one morning he decided to go out,- so the elephants were brought up and a start made. They had gone only a short distance .when a tiger burst from cover with a roar and took a flying leap oyer a wide ■ ditch near where the King was passing. The tiger . was actually, in 'mid-air when he hit it with a beautiful ’shot through the Heck, which, killed it instantly. This extraordinary shot, was seen by a number of - the maharaja’s staff and retainers, and at a single leap the King’s prestige went sky high. - ; ■ " , In the afternoon of the_ same day ho was . out again. The line ■of elephants was advancing through the jungle, the grass at this point , being upward of 15ft in.height. The ,King’s elephant was crashing through it with measured" tread when some little distance ahead two rhinoceroses appeared.;. The rhino, despite his huge bulk and ungainly appearance,'is a rapid mover; ho can outdistance a horse, so ho provides a moving target. : Both animals had scented danger and were in full flight through' a clearing in the jungle when the King and his party came up. TliO' King dropped them both, the first with his right barrel—a cleah dead hit, the second being down with his left, and dispatched with another shot. King George is president of the famous Shikar Club, an exclusive' body of small and big game hunters, whoso vice-president and chairman are the Duke of Connaught tend Lord Lonsdale, the latter perhaps the best-known of, England’s sporting peers. The term “ shikar ” is a Persian, word signifying the pursuit of gamp in general, and “ shikari ” is a hunter. The ’ Club maintains a .high standard of sportsmanship, for squandered bullets and swollen game, bags do not appeal to it. The test lies in a love or forest, mountain, and plain, in the strenuous pursuit of wary and dangerous quarry, in the instinct for .a welldevised approach to a fair shooting distance, and in the patient retrieve of a wounded animal or bird.