shooting
shooting, as a sport, may be divided into shooting at animals or birds, or shooting at targets in competition. Pheasant- and grouse-shooting reached its peak in the vast country-house gatherings of Edwardian England: game was rigorously preserved and poaching caused much ill-feeling in rural society. Big-game shooting, largely in Africa and India, was fashionable in the 19th and early 20th cents. A regular feature of overseas royal visits was a big-game shoot: George V on a visit to Nepal in 1912 claimed 21 tigers, 8 rhino, and 1 bear in a fortnight's shooting. Organized target-shooting in Britain dates from the mid-19th cent. The National Rifle Association was founded at Wimbledon in 1860 and transferred in 1880 to Bisley in Surrey. The Queen's Prize, first awarded in 1860, remains one of the most coveted honours. Bisley is the venue for regular summer competitions, for different classes of weapons, including small-bore rifles. Shooting was included in the first of the modern Olympics in 1896.
J. A. Cannon
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