I choose a gun for company. That statement can make some people uncomfortable. But the rifle is simply the thing that draws me into the countryside with greater purpose and attentiveness than I might otherwise possess. Without it I would still walk the hills, I do. I would still admire a frosted hedgerow, pause to watch a buzzard circling on a rising current of air, or stand quietly beneath the beeches listening to the first blackbird greet the dawn. But the rifle changes the