The Keeper's View

Headkeeper David Whitby on the tactics employed to make sure everyone gets into the shooting during a drive.

- David Whitby

You are standing on peg No.7, waiting in anticipation…waiting… and waiting. Suddenly there is one almighty flush and birds stream over peg Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5. Guns shoot as fast as they are able to load and for a couple of minutes the sky is black. You turn to face where you think your quarry will be, wishing a bird to come toward you, and one does, but then No. 6 kills it. Then the whistle goes and it is all over. We have all been there. Bad as it is on the peg, I can assure you it is far worse wearing the estate tweed and running the line.

Sometimes a poor drive, or even a poor day, is just unavoidable, no matter how much planning and preparation is done. That “it went well last week” or “sorry, a fox caused a flush” means little to the gun who just watched his companions fill their boots. The weather, foxes, deer and hares are all very capable of spoiling a drive, or indeed an entire day where the weather is concerned. There is little or nothing we can do about the ‘unavoidable’, but what about the careful planning and preparation to prevent the ‘avoidable’?