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Amazon product ASIN 0530080958View: https://www.amazon.com/Snipe-Woodcock-L-Visme-Shaw/dp/0530080958/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1644930966&refinements=p_27%3AL.+H.+de+Visme+Shaw&s=books&sr=1-1
I recently bought a copy of that book to learn about snipe. More modern books on snipe are pretty sparse, almost nonexistent. L.H. de Visme Shaw was an outdoors writer who primarily focused on waterfowling and lived in Norfolk in England. De Visme Shaw originally wrote the book in 1903 as part of the "Fur, Feather, and Fin" twelve-volume series published from 1893 to 1905. Amazon now works with third party publishers to make reproductions of the text and images of the original books. The reproduction has a few flaws like cut-off sentences at the top/bottom of pages, but Amazon does mention that's possible and the cut-off sections thus far haven't been too egregious.
I've read through the snipe-specific part of the book, which focuses on snipe shooting in the UK around 1900. There's a few references also to other parts of the British Empire and the US at the time. Much has changed since 1903, but I find the book pretty understandable and most of the important details translate well over time. The rest of the book discusses woodcock (for a woodcock-specific book, I suggest "Timberdoodle!" by Frank Woolner), then-contemporaneous snipe and woodcock hunting in Ireland, and ways to cook the birds.
Big takeaways:
(1) De Visme Shaw's preferred gun was a 12-gauge side-by-side with 30" barrels choked IC/Full shooting 1⅛oz of UK no. 6 or 8 (US no. 7 or 8) shot. Keep in mind that snipe weigh around four or five ounces total. He had tried everything from a 6-bore to a .410 and settled on 12. He also preferred a gun on the heavier side, which makes sense if you're shooting a lot of 1⅛oz loads all day.
(2) Retrievers, not pointers or flushers, are a must for snipe.
(3) Snipe concentrate on areas with plenty of water and worms.
(4) Snipe shooting was considered one of the most physically demanding forms of hunting at the time. Snipe were also considered to be slightly less palatable than woodcock, and woodcock was considered the best eating game bird of the time. I'll get to the recipes at the end of the book, just found this interesting.
(5) Snipe shooting is all about gun fit, gun mount, and instinctual shooting. Snipe twist and turn on takeoff, then fly straight away.
(6) The best times to shoot snipe were two hours after dawn and two hours before dusk.
I recently bought a copy of that book to learn about snipe. More modern books on snipe are pretty sparse, almost nonexistent. L.H. de Visme Shaw was an outdoors writer who primarily focused on waterfowling and lived in Norfolk in England. De Visme Shaw originally wrote the book in 1903 as part of the "Fur, Feather, and Fin" twelve-volume series published from 1893 to 1905. Amazon now works with third party publishers to make reproductions of the text and images of the original books. The reproduction has a few flaws like cut-off sentences at the top/bottom of pages, but Amazon does mention that's possible and the cut-off sections thus far haven't been too egregious.
I've read through the snipe-specific part of the book, which focuses on snipe shooting in the UK around 1900. There's a few references also to other parts of the British Empire and the US at the time. Much has changed since 1903, but I find the book pretty understandable and most of the important details translate well over time. The rest of the book discusses woodcock (for a woodcock-specific book, I suggest "Timberdoodle!" by Frank Woolner), then-contemporaneous snipe and woodcock hunting in Ireland, and ways to cook the birds.
Big takeaways:
(1) De Visme Shaw's preferred gun was a 12-gauge side-by-side with 30" barrels choked IC/Full shooting 1⅛oz of UK no. 6 or 8 (US no. 7 or 8) shot. Keep in mind that snipe weigh around four or five ounces total. He had tried everything from a 6-bore to a .410 and settled on 12. He also preferred a gun on the heavier side, which makes sense if you're shooting a lot of 1⅛oz loads all day.
(2) Retrievers, not pointers or flushers, are a must for snipe.
(3) Snipe concentrate on areas with plenty of water and worms.
(4) Snipe shooting was considered one of the most physically demanding forms of hunting at the time. Snipe were also considered to be slightly less palatable than woodcock, and woodcock was considered the best eating game bird of the time. I'll get to the recipes at the end of the book, just found this interesting.
(5) Snipe shooting is all about gun fit, gun mount, and instinctual shooting. Snipe twist and turn on takeoff, then fly straight away.
(6) The best times to shoot snipe were two hours after dawn and two hours before dusk.
