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The Transformation of Lowland Game Shooting in England and Wales since the Second World War: The Supply Side Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 September 2011

JOHN MARTIN
JOHN MARTIN*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Humanities, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH, [email protected]
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Abstract

The history of game shooting since the Second World War might be seen as an enigma. In spite of unprecedented changes to the countryside resulting from the intensification of farming which contributed to a rapid decline in the partridge population, the size of the national game bag increased due to the enhanced popularity of the pheasant as a sporting quarry. This article evaluates the reasons for the expansion of the sport in this period, focusing on the management of the countryside, the evolution of game keeping, the growth of artificial game rearing, and the increasing popularity of game shooting.

Type
Research Article
Information
Rural History , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , October 2011 , pp. 207 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

Notes

1. In upland areas, where heather moors have predominated, red grouse were the most important game bird. Changes in the upland habitat resulting from agricultural intensification and forestation in these areas have contributed to the long term decline in population numbers of these birds. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, by 2005 the number of grouse shot each year was in the region of 200,000. It has not been possible to supplement indigenous populations by artificially rearing the birds in large number in the same way as with pheasants and partridges. Given these fundamental differences in the history of game shooting between the two areas, the history of game bird shooting in the uplands merits a separate study. For a more detailed analysis see ADAS, The UK Game Bird Industry: A Short Study (Epsom, 2005).

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74. Tapper, Game Heritage, p. 42.

75. Tapper, Question of Balance, p. 70.

76. Ibid.

77. Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting, p. 9.

78. Ibid., p. 22.

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82. Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting, p. 66.

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86. Tapper, Game Heritage, p. 40.

87. Ibid.

88. McKelvie, A Future for Game, p. 53.

89. Aebischer and Baines, ‘Monitoring Gamebird Abundance and Productivity’, 30–43.

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92. Farm Animal Welfare Council, Report on the Welfare of Laying Hens (2007), p. 16.

93. McGill, Pheasant Rearing Techniques, pp. 1–30.

94. Representatives of the shooting industry, headed by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, agreed with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the Code for the Welfare of Gamebirds Reared for Sporting Purposes (2010).

95. The Shooting Times and Countryman originally covered a wide range of field sports, but increasingly focused on shooting, as indicated by the dropping of ‘and Countryman’ from the title.

96. British Association for Shooting and Conservation website http://www.basc.org.uk accessed 6th July 2010.

97. Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting, p. 96.

98. Ibid., p. 28.

99. The use of the term estate follows the Public and Corporate Economic Consultants’ definition

100. Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting, p. 12.

101. Ibid., p. 21.

102. Ibid., p. 19.

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110. Daily Mail, 17th January 2004, p. 10.

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112. Cobham Resource Consultants, Countryside Sports: Their Economic Significance (Reading, 1983), p. 30.

113. Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting.

114. Public and Corporate Economic Consultants, Economic and Environmental Impact of Sporting Shooting, Summary Report (2006), p. 1.