Ok.

The best so far that I have seen Stateside is at Highland Hill ranch.

http://www.highlandhillsranch....n_pheasant_hunt.html

These hunts were designed under the careful supervision of Chris Batha an English Gentleman who happens to be a Master Shotgun-fitter and a decent shot.

Several years ago I was invited to attend a shoot in Virgina as an observer with a friend who worked his retreiver there picking up birds.This was a very high end shoot, headquarters was a Civil war era restored mansion. You could not see where the birds were released from and the shooting was quite challanging as most times they would have to clear big trees or some other hurdles before they arrived at the hunter. There was 5 or 6 different drives at different locations around the farm. A wonderful lunch was served under some trees . The hunters all wore knicker type trousers . I enjoyed just watching, never seen anything like it. Go and enjoy even if you don't shoot very well, some that I watched didn't either. Maybe it is something like I described. They had a few pigeons mixed in as well and a special cart to haul the dead birds, each hung up by the neck. A horn was blown at end of each drive by the master to stop all shooting.

@Sevenxbjt

The ones at Hunting Hills are two "drives" per day. One in the AM, lunch then one in the PM.

In Europe you are allocated a Peg which is your allocated place to shoot. You are given a loader who loads the gun for you. Most of the birds are driven by beaters towards you. So you are basically shooting at birds flying towards you or crossing on your side.

Then there are certain etiquettes that need to be followed. If someone shoots a bird that is obviously coming straight towards you is frowned upon. The birds that sneak between you and another gun can be tricky. Depends how much space is between you and the next gun. If it is couple of hundred yards and there is barrier (say trees) then it is ok to shoot on the sides, otherwise refrain from shooting on the sides.

Same goes for birds that have crossed your vertical and have gone behind you. The reserve may ask you not to shoot the birds that have gone behind you (for safety or other reasons) sometimes they may do a drive in the back area and shoot those birds at a later time. Your loader may give you tips on safety as well.

So it is usually a lot of fun it everybody watches where they are supposed to shoot. So it is a bit restrictive but can be challenging and fun, especially if the birds come off a cliff and you are at the bottom, this would give you a high "TOWER SHOT" which was/is still considered to be a tough shot to master. So imagine a pheasant going full blast 40 yards high coming towards you...you will need to put some lead on that thing to get him down from that height. Also in many cases you need to learn to see the bird "around the barrel" because the barrel will cover the incoming bird.

So if you are a one-eyed shooter then you will have trouble. Shotgun is supposed to be shot with both eyes open and a high tower shot is a true test for that and many other little nuances that cosist of the sport

If you can find a Sporting Clays range near where you live and find out if they have a high tower then you can practice a few boxes for incoming targets. I could have given you a lesson if you were in the North East...we have plenty of ranges here with high towers. Lots of people practice there shooting with high towers before heading out to UK for driven hunts. Most of it is about making clean kills at high flying birds....it is spectacular when you engage with a high flier using a tight choke.

Now if the terrain, where you are going is flat and they do not plan on using towers to throw pheasants then they will probably beat the birds towards you. Birds will be low and you are better off using open chokes. Just watch out for the beaters in the back ground and try to keep the side shots to a minimum.

There is a place outside san antonio tx called joshua creek ranch, shot there a couple of times and it is a ton of fun, even if it all released birds, they also have a mallard shoot where they release them out of a tower and they all fly towards a pond where you are set up.........

Lots of fun for what it is, and if the people there know what they are doing , they can set up some very very challenging shots...

I've been to several in California. Quality and process depends on which one. Collector has it right. The class act in the US is Highland Hills. PM me if you want more info on California

around here driven hunts are common, guys drive around and poke the barrel out the window

I spent a day last year at a local startup outfit that was offering driven hunts -- the whole thing, 30 beaters, 10 dog men, 10 loaders, a British "game keeper", pegs, carts to drive between locations, etc.

I spent one drive (as dog handler) behind an older gent with a nice matched pair of 20's, who went 0 for 28 shots. The loader would call off shots that were unsafe ("too low, sir"). Even so, several of the beaters had been hit by bird shot on the first couple of weeks of the season. Part of that had to do with the fact that the birds were such weak fliers (too young) that they couldn't quite make it over the gullies where the pegs were located.

This outfit released 4,500 birds, pheasants and red-legs, at the beginning of the season. Quite the operation, but they didn't manage to stay in business, from what I hear. FWIW, Dutch.

The "Canyon Ranch" in Big Horn Wyoming has a very nice driven shoot. They are
an Orvis endorsed lodge with great fishing as well. I've hunted there myself on a couple
of occasions as a guest & was very impressed.
Here's a link to their website.

http://www.canyonranchbighorn.com/

High tower practise is very good if you can find a place. The high birds are 35-40 yards (or more) high and going 35mph.

Not all shoots have a loader - if there is a loader you should beforehand learn the gunroutine - it's not that obvious. I suggest reading Ken Davies' "The Better Shot" - he has a final chapter on how to hand guns off between loader and gun.

Usually guns move to different pegs for each drive. There will be instructions- listen carefully. They will tell you what you can and cannot shoot.

Have fun!

Oh yeah, everyone will be more comfortable if you have a break-open gun for safety reasons.

The traditional english driven hunt has shooters at a stake usually in a valley or the bottom of a hill, then beaters go through the woods flushing birds that fly over the shooters.

It is not considered sporting or safe to shoot low birds,...the shot is going at the Beaters,...the higher the flyer the more sporting it is considered. There is usually "retrievers" behind you picking up birds.

Americanized versions you never know what you are getting, because they are trying to mimick the European hunt but may not have the resources to accomplish it. Some are great, some are not as good.

Go and enjoy and let us know what you think.

Parts of it sound a little like U.S. wild pheasant hunts, at least if you happen to be a blocker, instead of a walker.

But the blockers in my experience don't get anything like the shots the walkers do. Therefore it's kind of a volunteer thing. Some go to that when they tire of walking.

The not shooting at low birds also sounds familiar...especially as the moving line approaches the blockers at the end of a field.

I hunted driven pheasants here in Argentina ,very nice shots ,and ggod work for my labs.Juan