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Beaters day.
A true bonus for beaters, pickers up , loaders and their families is that shoots hold a Beaters Day at the end of the season. On this day the beaters themselves may be the guns. If they don't want to shoot, they can usually pass the gun to partners, husbands, grown children or maybe a friend. If so, they normally beat themselves. The difference on this day is that guns, beaters, pickers-up and everyone else connected with the shoot mingle and enjoy themselves. If a beater wants to see if his dog could pick up, now is the time to ask. It is a day when it doesn't matter if things go wrong. Obviously it is excellent if everything goes right, but as nobody has paid £ 1800 to shoot for the day, it is just fun anyway.
All in all, a good Beaters Day has a super atmosphere and the beating line is very cheerful. On this day young dogs are introduced to the sport, children may beat, older beaters sometimes wear stupid hats, snowmen and reindeer may be seen in the beating lines, bottles of port and sloe gin disappear at an alarming rate.
The guns usually have approximatly 16 shots per kill but , as they rarely shoot, they are quite thrilled to shoot just one low-flying bird.The Beaters, who know the guns, cheer if they see a good shot. There are walking guns sharing the beater wagon with the beaters and their dogs and everyone wants to know they get on. On some shoots the birds are thin on the ground but on others there are drives that have been rested especially for this occassion.
All in all, most keepers like to provide the regulars with a bit of proper fun. Usually a sweepstake is held as to the number of birds shot and the number of shots fired during the day .( Put in an astronomical guess!)
It has to be said that if you get a dull Beaters Day it can be a disappointment because then it just feels like an oridnary days work. Possibly without pay... This varies.
It really should be a fun day that stands out. It is a chance to experience the other side of things at no extra cost.
I have only shot once on a beaters day but I'm glad that I have held a gun and waited in the valley, on my peg, like a proper gun. It felt very odd. The view from the valley-bottom of the familiar beats was totally different and I quite forgot about my friends toiling in the brambles above me. A great concentration overcame me and the long wait for birds passed strangely quickly. It was totally different from my little practise at clay pidgeons. I felt an unexpected desire to shoot a pheasant and I didn’t care in the least if it was only a low-flying hen-bird! I understood a bit better why guns love their sport, something that had hitherto been something of a mystery to me.. Well, why PAY to stand still in the freezing rain, looking skywards, when you can BE PAID for struggling in the brambles? I had never understood at all what motivated the guns. Now I still don’t really understand why they want 500 bird massacres, but I understand a little better that it can be exciting.
The beater/guns are usually as smart and gun-like as they can make themselves, with the proper socks and hats and everything else. A few will look more or less as they do when they are beating.
At first they may feel a bit intimidated by all the spectators and the general feeling of expectation in the air but this is frequently overcome by a sip of port or five.
At this point you may well wonder about this frequent mentioning of port. Well, you're right.
Many shoots go through a few bottles of port in a season. But, if you prefer coffee, there are shoots where the beater-waggons are full of beatressess who claim to get overexcited if they should have a coca-cola. It is all variable, some drink, some don't, some shoots are very male dominated and on others the beatresses have interesting female conversations about childbirth and the like. If you go beating with several shoots you'll probably find one where you feel at home.
Now the season is all over we shall all miss our friends and even our foes. Some of us will also miss the generous food and drink provided...
What are we to do with ourselves until next season?
Don't give up!
See our next installment about Beater Trials! It is the new sport, set to revolutionize televison.
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