let me tell you about the origin of trap shooting, which began in England. Reporting on sporting events in England began in the 1710s and 1720s, this at a time when the population of England began to double between 1700 and 1800, and a new leisure class of titled, gentry and upper-middling groups emerged. Wagering needed winners and losers, so wagering and gambling has long been ingrained in British society. Clearly hunting was a rural sport. But in pigeon shooting it attracted rural and city spectators, the landowning aristocracy and gentry, farmers, townfolks, and countrymen, even though the pigeon enclosure grounds could be a few miles outside a town. But it was innkeepers and tavernkeepers who contributed probably the most at its inception as they gained financial benefit form hosting pigeon shooting and they existed in taverns and inns up and down England for over a millennium, the best were located on turnpikes near large towns and cities, a turnpike being a road kept up in good shape by levying a toll on the user such as coaches and stages. In these establishments, wagering was generally associated with some form of sport such as horse racing, cockfighting, cricket, and pigeon shooting where the latter had an enclosure, along with their other functions of providing refreshments, food, lodging, meetings, and trade activities. Realizing the potential for revenue that could be generated, inns’ and taverns’ keepers began promoting many contests. The two played a highly significant commercial role, often helping arrange, advertise, and host pigeon-shooting matches. London was the key center for pigeon shooting and contests, tied to the inn-and tavern subculture, and aristocratic gambling patronage, and crowds were often large. It was wagering most especially the high stakes “wagers” between wealthy individuals on sporting contests that generated media coverage, wider spectator interest, a larger betting market, and growing numbers of events, increasingly on a commercial basis. Wagering encouraged the development of pigeon shooting rules and regulations in which to create “fair play” in gambling terms and to avoid subsequent disputes. For spectators, wagering provided a strong form of identification with the shooters and the sport. The wagering of the wealthy also gave real impetus to the emerging sport of pigeon shooting. It was a sport that required matching and eventually handicapping, which were attempts to equalize competition and create an uncertain outcome that encouraged wagering. In pigeon shooting, matching shooters was part of the ritual surrounding contests, encouraging status, honor, prestige, dignity, and respect. So, this preamble hopefully gives you the listener of my podcast some idea of the origin of pigeon shooting, of how it all started, along with its earliest development in England. And, in doing so, I believe you will marvel at how well they shot with the old, clumsy, untrustworthy, smoothbore, muzzleloading flintlocks using black powder, for when the shooter fired, there was an appreciable moment of time between the instant of pulling the trigger and the instant when the shot left the muzzle, and if the priming was damp or blown away by the wind, the gun could not be fired at all, and with black powder, which they used, shooting with a double barrel on a windless day, the smoke would hang in front of the muzzle and blind the shooter on many occasion preventing him from firing his second barrel. If that wasn’t enough, they had to hold the butt end of the gun below the elbow until the pigeon was on the wing. It seems a miracle that pigeon shooters could manage all these inferior weapons so effectively. let me attempt to tell you about the origin of trap shooting, which began in England. Furthermore, I must be forthright and tell you that the exact time when pigeon shooting and matches came into vogue that I have found no authentic records verifying such, as newspapers did not begin reporting on sporting events in England until in the 1710s and 1720s, this at a time when the population of England began to double between 1700 and 1800, and a new leisure class of titled, gentry and upper-middling groups emerged. Wagering needed winners and losers, so wagering and gambling has long been ingrained in British society. Clearly hunting was a rural sport. But in pigeon shooting it attracted rural and city spectators, the landowning aristocracy and gentry, farmers, townfolks, and countrymen, even though the pigeon enclosure grounds could be a few miles outside a town. But it was innkeepers and tavernkeepers who contributed probably the most at its inception as they gained financial benefit form hosting pigeon shooting and they existed in taverns and inns up and down England for over a millennium, the best were located on turnpikes near large towns and cities, a turnpike being a road kept up in good shape by levying a toll on the user such as coaches and stages. In these ...
