Turn-up for the books

Peter Theobald tells how he and his shooting partner, Paul, have fared on the pigeon during the past, mostly very strange 12 months

- Peter Theobald

To say that this has been an unusual year would be an understatement. With a second lockdown imposed on England, it looks as though ‘normality’ in the shooting world is but a dream. As I write, we do not know the details, but it is likely that pest control will be able to continue and ‘recreational’ shooting will be prohibited. As in the first lockdown, nobody can be certain how these measures will be enforced, and I feel that the public will be less inclined to slavishly follow the rules this time round. Try telling an estate owner, who may have invested hundreds of thousands of pounds releasing game on his land, that the shoots he organises are only ‘recreational’.

Good start

Anyway, back to what sort of year we have had. Things started very well for us on the rape, a crop that usually disappoints more often than it pleases. One of Paul’s farms shot particularly well, with a best bag of 174 and several days around the 100 mark. Crucially, the farmer is not a ‘banger’ man but left Paul to manage the situation as he saw fit. The result? More than 600 birds killed and negligible damage.