Originally Posted By: MarketHunter
Kerryman,

I was lucky on the driven woodcock shoot, there were guys there that day who didn't have a shot at all. The shoot is in a large wooded tract owned by the Forestry Commission in that area. There are lanes running through it (fire lanes?) that the shooters stand on. The beaters work through the various timber blocks with spaniels and the birds would cross the lanes giving only a split second for a shot.

I missed my first bird after having a scare when I raised my gun to a little brown owl that had flushed out of a hedge only realizing in the last second that it wasn't a woodcock. Literally a minute or two later a real woodcock did cross the corner I was on and I missed it both barrels.

After that I didn't have a chance again until after lunch when I got lucky. A bird came out over one of the other guns and he missed it twice but the shot scared it enough that it turned and flew down the lane towards me for long enough to get a quick shot and I killed it.

After that I was so happy I didn't care if I got another try so was fairly lax in my stands trying to give other guns a chance. It was as much fun to watch as it was to shoot really, being in an atmosphere like that.

Right at dusk we all separated for the evening flight when the birds moved from the feeding grounds into roosting cover. I saw a few flit past in the dusk but was never quick enough to get my gun up. Finally, as I could see the torch (flahslight) of my friend coming to collect me, I had a split second view of one crossing right over my head. I just jerked my gun through the bird and actually fired into the dark as it was only light enough in the clear sky over the lane to see it. I heard it hit the brush as it fell but had no sight of it. My friends labrador worked for several minutes until my friend finally announced out of the darkness "he's got it". I don't recall ever being happier at the outcome of a shot.

I've got the empty shell from that shot with a feather from each of my birds crimped inside up on my shelf. I still wear the little silver club pin they gave me on the collar of my shooting coat. Really one of my favorite days in all my life, I wish I was back there right now.


Destry

P.S. They kill a few snipe on that shoot as well, though all we saw that day were jacksnipe which you can't shoot in the UK. There was just a really good article about shooting driven snipe from boats in Ireland. I think it was in Shooting Sportsman sometimes last year.


Great story, Destry, well told. Very typical of a day's cock shooting. The fire lanes are called "rides" and we shoot the same way when possible. Our terrain here in Kerry is much rougher and inevitably one your leggings is caught in a briar and the other foot is sinking in a drain when a cock gets up in front of you!
Rs,
K