Dan,
Back in the UK, mostly Everything is shot with a shotgun.
Yes there are exceptions, ...deer stalking and licenses for rifled arms for vermin destruction, but everything else gets clobbered with a shotgun and it has Always been that way.
It too sets my teeth on edge when someone says what we have been doing since powder and shot was invented isn't right or sense...
We come from totally different backgrounds, and a small bore squirrel rifle makes No sense at all in some parts of the world.
I'd suggest looking up "Market Gunners" sometime. These chaps were as close to subsistence hunters as they come, and all used the smooth-bore.
In England, these old marsh-men were called "Fishermen -Fowlers" as that's how they made their living, Fishing, Eeling, and shooting wildfowl in the winter.
This was their only income, apart from mowing marsh-grass and reeds for the London market.
All the best,
Richard.
Here, here!
But I don't live in the UK. Nor was I discussing the UK.
I understand what you say about shotguns and there are Americans who live in heavily populated areas that are forced to hunt small game like squirrel with a shotgun. But it sets MY teeth on edge when people tell me how versatile a shotgun is. Just because you are FORCED to use it for what ever reason or it works for the specific game hunted does not make anything I said invalid. Especially in the context of 18th or 19thc. America. Telling me how much shooting is done in the UK with a shotgun is completely meaningless to the observation that the small bore ML rifle, anything under 45 caliber, is and was more efficient than a shotgun for small game as far as pound of lead for pound of meat produced. This is not important for someone shooting for sport with disposable income or someone shooting water fowl on the water for the market. For someone who trades grain or whiskey or labor for powder and lead to shoot something to eat or protect crops or their LIFE, because they have no currency then the COST of ammo is more important. In the context of American longrifle many people who used them in the "ML era" were SUBSISTENCE hunters. There are STILL places in the US where subsistence hunting is legally recognized and people who live in remote areas get a special season.
Have YOU ever tried hunting Antelope with a NW Trade Gun? I have. Its frustrating as $#*! trying to get in range of an animal with 8 power vision and won't even stop running for at least a mile with a top speed designed to outpace the Cheetah that lived here at the time they appeared. They will stop maybe 1 1/2-2 miles away on a ridge and look back at you. You of course will need binoculars, they don't. Its hard enough with a FL rifle.
A great many Americans used to hunt waterfowl with large bore shotguns and punt guns for the market. Where is was practical to do so but not everyone in the US lived in a place where this was all that viable. My g-grandfather used to market hunt deer with a trapdoor Springfield.
I paid all the hospital bills for my first child trapping beaver. I have guided hunters in occupied G bear habitat carrying a 50 caliber FL rifle. I have actually done things much like what people in the 18th and 19th c did.
Because for MY firearm uses the shotgun was not and is not worth carrying I have not even shot at anything with a shotgun in 30 years. I had a pretty nice 18 bore German Silver mounted Belgian double when I was a kid. But it never really got much use. And I think I sold it after I got out of the Army.
I can take you to places I hunt where you can walk for miles and never see a game bird. Or a duck or a goose. Where I grew up, Iowa, birds, Pheasants, were pretty common. But like I stated I seldom carried a shotgun sop if I shot one it was with a pistol usually. If I was trapping it was always a pistol. Rabbits and squirrels were better shot with a small bore rifle 32-40 caliber. In the mid 60s I used to hunt rabbits with a 32 cal percussion rifle loaded with as little as 15 grains of powder when hunting rabbits setting under bushes or brush piles. Hard to beat that for efficiency.
Dan
Supper after a day in the saddle when I was a lot younger. 50 cal RB at 800 +- fps just pokes a hole no meat loss. Have shot them with a 50 cal rifle with a reduced load too. Head shots with a 54 FL pistol.
