Shooting

The best pheasant, partridge and grouse shoots are always planned well ahead, but unfortunately the same routine cannot be adopted successfully with wild duck - or snipe. A change in the weather will greatly affect the flight and ideally one would delay making a firm decision about shooting in the evening until lunchtime on the day concerned. The only factors that can be studied in advance are the moon and - in coastal areas - the tides. A high tide in the early afternoon, coupled with rough weather, can force the duck to flight in earlier than usual. The time of flighting can most accurately be predicted during the dark-moon period, when there is no long drawn-out twilight due to a bright moonlit sky. Dense cloud cover will alter the situation and can keep ducks moving on schedule.

Shooting under a bright moon can be very successful but it is only possible with fleecy white cloud to diffuse the light and provide a background against which the silhouette of a duck is easily seen. Under these conditions the flight can last for a long time - several hours - and it is easy to stop shooting well before the last ducks are in. The need for the right cloud means that the decision to shoot must usually be taken at dusk before the flight is due to start.

Rain provides poor shooting conditions, but by contrast a really calm evening is equally unsatisfactory. The noise of shooting can be heard a long way away, sometimes frightening off the incoming birds. If the wind is too light the duck will not come in on a predictable line, though with a small pond this is not too important. Where heavy rain causes flooded fields and flashes of water everywhere, the ducks may prefer to go slugging and worming - or even just investigating new landing places-rather than homing onto the grain-fed pond.

A fairly strong wind or the approach of a stormy spell usually makes for good flighting conditions. A touch of snow in the air is also a good omen.

At evening flight the Guns are nearly always much closer together than when they are game shooting. As a result an inexperienced or thoughtless Gun can poach on his neighbours' birds all too easily, or even spoil the shooting of everyone taking part. The Guns must therefore shoot as a team and not as individuals.

Some hosts prefer to stand well back from the pond and observe the flights coming in - the Guns shooting only when they hear his whistle. In this way no one fires at a small trip of fowl or a single duck, when there are 20 others following behind.

Alternatively, the Guns can be placed in a circle or a semi-circle well away from the pond, shooting only at ducks that have first been allowed to settle -before being flushed by a man beside the water with a torch or a white flag. Picking-up then takes place away from the pond, and does not disturb the latecomers. Shooting should always stop before the last flights have come in. The perfect guest- as well as shooting unselfishly and ensuring that his eager retriever does not collect any of the live decoys - will also dress unobtrusively. Clothes that are too dark are just as bad as those that are too light. We well remember a flight being spoilt by a Gun being dressed in a shiny black oilskin jacket that turned every duck away as surely as if it had already been shot at! A cap with a good peak or a hat with a wide brim is an essential item, even if the Gun has learned the art of not turning his pale face upwards until the last moment. Strange objects left near the pond can also frighten ducks away. On one occasion a newly parked combine harvester ruined an evening's shooting. Finally on a note of safety:

It may be worth remembering that at the first flight of the season, some or all of the Guns may be having their first shot since the previous January, and could be a little rusty on safety! It is therefore in everyone's interest for the host to brief the Guns carefully before they take up their positions.

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