Jasper County Democrat, Volume 3, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1901 — ETIQUETTE OF SHOOTING. [ARTICLE]

ETIQUETTE OF SHOOTING.

Absurd Formalities That Are Imposed Upon the Sport in Germany. The etiquette of shooting in England is sometimes a little difficult to fathom, and in some respects is a little absurd, especially in the most artificial form, the shooting of reared pheasants. But English etiquette, says the London Globe, even in its • stringency, is as nothing to the form which prevails in Germany. A book on the etiquette of the sport, published last year by a German sportsman, is now, it is said, being adopted by all the owners of the larger shoots, in spite of the absurd formalities, as they seem to us, of its regulations, j For instance, the invitations to shoot j are sent out in printed forms which ; contain the place of rendezvous, the j hour, the kind of game that may be | shot, and, last, but not least, the laws laid down regarding the conduct of the sportsman. There are a dozen things that each shooter is forbidden to do, such as to load before all the guns are in their places, or to move without orders, and for each infringement of any of these regulations a fixed fine—generally five marks—is laid down. As if this were not sufficient, further penalties are appointed for each shot missed. The effect must be strange. One can imagine a really careful German never letting his gun go off unless the shot were of the easiest, and waiting patientlv for a hare to stop. Then ' that typ€ o( man irea( jj too common—who has seen his bird tower in the next field . out two! But perhaps the German j host has a keeper to take down each man's aggregate of hits, misses and infringements.