Hunting in 19th C Landlordism

Connacht

HI folks,

Would anyone by any chance know who (current) would be an expert in game hunting by the 19th C landlords, or any great reference books to what went on at the time, how hunts were organised and operated, etc? I'm specifically interested in hunting for fowl and deer on the vast bogs of the west of Ireland and if landlords put some kind of physical structures in place to manage the shoot.

Thank you.

Rosahane

I think it depends on which part of the 19th Century you are interested in. As far as I know in the early part of the century there were few if any structures or organisation to shoots. They mostly consisted of one or two shooters with a ghillie wandering the bogs.

Later on in the century, with the development of breech loaders things possibly became a little more structured.

I would recommend two books which I have that are appropriate, I’m sure there are others.

Wild Sports of the West by WH Maxwell published in 1832 is his personal account of the shooting and fishing in Connemara.

About fifty years later Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey published “The Fowler in Ireland” which, from what I can remember had some mention of the West, especially Galway.

If you’re specifically looking for information on organised driven shoots on estates I can only suggest having a root in the catalogues in the National Library or indeed in the museum in Strokestown where they may have some information.

Mick Tator

The best book on your topic - by far - is Peter Bacon's 'Land Lust and Gunsmoke' . It has all you need as he concentrates more on driven shooting. It also has details on driven woodcock at Asford Castle & Lord Ardilaun. There is a lot of genealogy in the book, marital connections and reciprocal invitations to shoot.

Payne-Gallwey's book is more about rough shooting/fowling rather than the driven kind. Shooting 'on the wing' came here in the early 1800's, and as Rosehana said driven shooting came later - certainly after pinfire cartridges.

A man named Ryan has a very good Phd on deer stalking &estate management in Kerry , the Herberts/Muckross Estate, but he mentions practices on other estates also - it is/was available free online. Munga Lodge and several hundred acres in Connemara were bought by the Frewens of Innishannon Co Cork as a shooting /fishing lodge and some books on them mention it but not in much detail. They introduced rainbow trout to Ireland. Have you checked the book on Ranji, of Ballinahinch? I cannot recall if it has shooting records in addition to fishing…

Start with Bacon's book. It's a few years since I read it, but one thing that struck me about it was that he is short on naming the gunmakers used by the shooters.

Edit - fix Ryan link

https://cora.ucc.ie/server/api/core/bitstreams/250d16de-61a1-4047-b8c0-fd449d89f16b/content

Connacht

Thank you both.

What I'm interested in is to know did they have "hides" dug into the bog, since the vast treeless landscapes would not have had any natural cover for shooters.

Mick Tator

If you dig a hole in a bog it will fill with water, so no, what you describe did not exist, nor would it be appropriate for shooting on a bog.

You’ve pivoted your question and indicated that you need to research more about shooting to understand the questions you are asking.

Claw Hammer

Landlords hunted for sport. Any hunting for subsistence was left to gamekeepers. Lying in wait for prey would not be a sport.

pinkypinky

Second the suggestion to look at Peter Bacon's book.

Terminology point: it's all called shooting in Ireland (and Britain) when it's birds. For deer, it's stalking. Hunting is for foxes. Americans do use hunting for shooting birds, etc, though.