Hi all,

At late notice on a cancellation I and a couple of freinds took an early day on the Partridges yesterday.

We often shoot at this shoot through the season but I have not taken early partridge days for the last few years because I often find (elsewhere) that the birds are just not ready to go well.

We had a bit of a bonus in that we drove the gravel pit (rather the two fleets running into it) for some wild ducks and geese. I had an early mallard come down the line and curlover to my right which folded nicely. I was quickly brought back down to earth by a pack of tufted that must have had oxygen masks on!! The guys to my right killing 3 birds cleanly out of the pack. Some really spectacular shooting indeed.

Then that noise started. the entire line crouched down hoping that as it got louder the birds responsible would make their way over them. We were 12 guns and I had two big trees directly in front of me. the Keeper shouted, "Geese Lads!!", as if we didn't all ready know!! I think half the line was holding their breath!! Pete called to me and as he spoke a Skein of 10-15 Canada's came over the wall of green in front of me. I tried to pick a bird from the back and as it's head arched back, I spun round to take a second. Another bird planed down onto the lake. As I marked it, Peter dived out of the way as a full grown goose nearly fell on his head. It must have missed me by 18" at the most!! Anothert skein came over shortly after and I knocked out a couple more, the second bird again planing down to the far side. I packed up and wandered over with fern to pick up. She found me two mallard that were pricked on the far bank, and flushed one of the geese out onto the lake where another barrel put an end to it's problems. However she refused to pick a bird that weighed more than she did. Prefering to swim out to it and growl from a safe distance!! They got picked in fairly short order.



When we got back the first goose I had shot had two rings on it's legs. One orange one marked FUD, and a second metal one with a number and a request to notify the BTO at the Natural History Museum London.





After we picked up we went out and shot a few Partridges. I was pleased with the new gun that I had just had fitted. My shooting last year was in the region of 6 shots per bird, about 3 times the rate I usually shoot on the type of birds we usually shoot. After fitting I shot 8 nice driven partridges for a dozen shots so I was thrilled.



All in all a nice start to the season, Fern worked well and picked me a couple of very nice birds, including a long runner on a blind retrieve. It always surprises me at the start of the season how less fit the dogs are than they were in February.



Rgds,
FB

I look forward to your pics and give us the scoop when you hear back from the banding. GH, David

Hi David,

The banding has gone south, in that I left the rings on the side and my wife has tidied them away. The only problem being that she can't rememeber where....

I hope they turn up!!

I didn't get a schance to do photo's, so I'll try again tonight

FB

Fallow Buck,

are the partridges wild or are they penned raise and released?

These are reared Partridges although the estates will always have some wild birds on the ground too.

However when we raise Partridges in this country they are released months in advance of shooting, to ensure they revert to wild state. In some countries I've heard of birds bein released for a shoot day on the day or a couple of days before. We don't do that in the UK.

The birds are released when still young in pens to pretect them from predators. They need to imprint the local area so it becomes home for the birds and the form coveys. They then trickle the birds out through the spring & early summer when they are ready to fly and protect themselves a bit.

The birds are a bit green this early in the season as they haven't been over the guns yet but once they are driven a couple of times they start to get clued up. Average returns on birds released are about 30%-40% estates that doo good fox/predator control can go as high as 60% with all the wild birds that breed on the ground to suplement the population. I have a freind that returns 67% on partridges which is an unbeleivable return considering the high numbers they shoot each year.

Rgds,
FB

Rgds,
FB