Mike, I don't think we should confuse the high bird discussion with one about large bags. That's two different topics, though that's not to say they don't happen at the same place on the same day.
Just to divert to the large bag issue, though. We probably first need to define what we mean by large bag. That is tricky though. For the shooting I am used to a 200 bird day would be as large as I like to go. Some shoots have the ground to lay on 300-500 bird days (those are large bags to my mind and compared to my experience) and to do so successfully, presenting challenging birds to capable guns. On the other hand, I know of one or two commercial shoots, laying on up to 6 days a week shooting, bags of 150-250 birds, where the birds don't fly especially well, where the guns, on the whole, don't know better and where the numbers killed are what counts toward a good day (and let me hasten to add I would not have anything to do with those shoots).
Related to this and harking back to the two videos I originally posted at the start of this thread, there were two guns on the partridge shoot who had little or no experience of shooting. Now I like to encourage folk to try shooting and take it up if they enjoy it, but I do have a problem with them learning at a high bird driven shoot. I felt 'uncomfortable' watching that. Surely better to get time in on the clays, then progress to some walking up over dogs around the margins informally, then a few smaller driven days, before testing oneself on a high bird day.
Sorry, I'm banging on; I'll go back into my corner now!
Tim
