Snowden Slights

Snowden Slights (born June 14, 1829 , † April 5, 1912 in East Cottingwith in the East Riding of Yorkshire ) was an English professional hunter and basket maker .

Life

Snowden slights finished his schooling at age nine and then helping his father in the hunting on wild birds with the Punt Gun . From the age of fifteen until the end of his life, in order to save travel expenses, he ran ten miles a week to Pocklington twice to sell the birds he had captured. His main occupation was basketry for a long time, until floods destroyed the willow branches he had planted for this purpose . After that he made a living from hunting wild birds with punt guns. Bittern , kingfishers , fieldfare and dippers were its preferred prey. Because of their beautiful plumage, they were often bought back then to be stuffed and prepared for display in households. According to his own records, Slights shot 5,355 birds between 1890 and 1907. On one occasion he succeeded in killing 24 mallards and 20 wigeons with just one shot from his punt gun .

Over the years he had bought a total of 28 rifles for various purposes. His largest was a 60 kg and more than three meters long muzzle loader , which fired half a kilogram of lead per shot . For use, this rifle was permanently mounted on a boat with a draft of only ten centimeters. This meant that it could even be used on flooded meadows in spring, and the fixed installation meant that the recoil when the water was shot was absorbed.

In 1912, at the age of 82, he was portrayed by the photographer Sidney H. Smith, who brought out an illustrated book with the photos. The pictures are in the holdings of the Yorkshire Museum .

In an obituary written by Sidney H. Smith in the local newspaper Thirsk and District News, Slights was described as the last professional wild bird hunter in Yorkshire (English: the Last of the Yorkshire Wildfowlers ) to make a living from wild bird hunting.

Picture gallery

Snowden Slights (in the middle) as basket maker
In the boat with a punt gun
With his biggest gun
His house with willow branches in front of it
With a grandson after hunting with prey
With some of his weapons

literature

Sidney H. Smith: Snowden Slights, Wildfowler. Wharton Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4465-4277-4 (English; reprint of first edition: TAJ Waddington, York 1912).

Web links

Commons : Snowden Slights - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Brian Jackman: Wild About Britain: A lifetime of award-winning nature writing . 1st edition. Bradt Travel Guides, England 2017, ISBN 978-1-78477-067-9 , pp. 197 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
^ ^A ^b ^c ^d punt gun shooter Snowden Slights: The last of its kind. In: DER SPIEGEL. November 6, 2017, archived from the original on January 31, 2020 ; accessed on January 31, 2020 .
^ Roger Ratcliffe: Blast from the past. In: yorkshirepost.co.uk. October 6, 2006, archived from the original on January 31, 2020 ; accessed on January 31, 2020 (English).

personal data
SURNAME	Slights, Snowden
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	English professional hunter and basket maker
DATE OF BIRTH	June 14, 1829
DATE OF DEATH	April 5, 1912
Place of death	East Cottingwith, East Riding of Yorkshire

[:1-1] A ^b Brian Jackman: Wild About Britain: A lifetime of award-winning nature writing . 1st edition. Bradt Travel Guides, England 2017, ISBN 978-1-78477-067-9 , pp. 197 ( limited preview in Google Book search).

[:0-2] A ^b ^c ^d punt gun shooter Snowden Slights: The last of its kind. In: DER SPIEGEL. November 6, 2017, archived from the original on January 31, 2020 ; accessed on January 31, 2020 .

[3] Roger Ratcliffe: Blast from the past. In: yorkshirepost.co.uk. October 6, 2006, archived from the original on January 31, 2020 ; accessed on January 31, 2020 (English).