|
Up to Speed!
|
UP
TO SPEED
|
SPRING starts at the beginning of March and for
the Romans it was the first month of the year. The 21st
is the equinox or “equal night” when night
and day are the same length, after this date the days
grow longer than the nights and winter is really over.
The season is behind
us and I hope that you got to shoot straight and shoot
often. This past season was a memorable experience for
me and for those of you who joined me in the fields
of Georgia, Argentina, Spain and Scotland. I would like
to thank you for your company, camaraderie and good
sportsmanship.I look forward to many more trips in the
future.
This spring also signals
a new beginning for myself, as you will read in this
edition of The Gazette and, soon, in the sporting press.
I have begun building Best Guns, The Charles Boswell.
The ability to do this was only made possible with the
help and assistance of Famars di Abbiatico & Salvinelli,
Gunmakers of Brescia, Italy. In return for this assistance,
I will help them with their advertising, design, shows
and marketing in the USA.
I will, of course, continue
to offer Custom Gun Fittings for all of the major gun
manufacturers. Further, I will be more than happy to
assist you in choosing, specifying and ordering any
quality make of gun. Please do not hesitate to contact
me on this or any other gunrelated matter. My annual
Shooting School program and Sporting Agency will continue
as ever and I look forward to seeing you at a Custom
Gunfitting, Shooting School or Show this Summer and
Fall. |
|
|
Birds,
Boats, Trains and Planes
|
Well, the first season of the Chris
Batha Wing Shooting Schools has come and gone…three
continents visited with Pheasant in Scotland, Partridge in
Spain, Dove and Pigeon in Argentina and, of course, Quail
in the Southern States of the USA. I would like to thank the
friends who joined me on these most excellent adventures!
For me it is not just the sport,
but a combination of fun, superb accommodations and service,
not forgetting to mention the extremely well-stocked bars
for the imbibing of hard liquor and telling of tall tales
in the evenings! These are the times that cement long-lasting
relationships, making memories that will last forever. To
me, this is truly what hunting is all about…it’s
not the size of the bag but the size of the good old-fashioned
good time!
Late December Pheasant, both walked up over flushing spaniels
and driven archangels soaring majestically over the line in
the Scottish Borders, could only |
just
be bettered by the driven Red Legs in Salamanca. There the
sheer speed and height of these pocket rockets will test any
sportsman’s skills! But the real pleasure is felt when
a straight shot plucks one from the air to the shouts of “Mucho
Alto” from the loaders and bird boys! Now that is an
experience which will be savored for a very long time.
Dorchester Shooting Preserve in Savannah, GA showed us some
great dog work and even better quail, exploding the myth that
only wild birds fly well. Their combination of annual liberation
and the use of flushing Labradors ensures some of the fastest,
hardestflying quail anywhere!
Guides Toby and Ronnie
put everything into making sure that my clients got all of
the shooting that they could handle. |
|
TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
Birds,
Boats, Trains & Planes 1
Schedule of Schools & Shows
Gamebird African Safaris
2
Viva Argentina!
3
In The Gun Room
How To Sell Your Gun, New
Beretta SO10
4
Dreams In My Coffee, Changing
Places
5
Guest Columns: John Taylor,
Susan Quigley
6 |
Savile
Row Sporting
What Shot Should I Use?
7
Elephant’s Revenge
8
Good Gear, Good Reading
Land Rover Defenders
9
Clayshooting in the
Off Season
10
Sharpening Your “Axe”
11
Speed is Lead and
Lead is Speed
12 |
If you would like a subscription
to The Gazette,
E-mail: sdgump@hargray.com
Page 1
|
