Walking in our grandfathers' footsteps

There’s no better way to enjoy unspoilt countryside, companionship and testing birds than on a walked-up day – just how it used to be

- ED WILLS

The joy of a walked-up day in January provides a palate-cleaning contrast to busy driven days earlier in the season. Now the weather has turned, the birds are wilder and wilier, presenting a greater challenge and the chance to experience the sort of day our grandfathers relished, when you would remember every bird that broke cover and could tell how every bird that made it to the pot was added to the bag.

Walked-up shooting is what it says on the tin: one either walks up in a line or as a solitary Gun and shoots any game that gets up. It is usually in this way that the boundaries of the shoot are paid attention, with bags that can vary from about 20 to 60 birds. A far cry from big bags but just as well when you may be carrying anything you shoot for the rest of the day.

Michael Brooks shoots on an estate on the outskirts of Leicester, where grassland supports a herd of Belted Galloways. He enjoys the sense of adventure that walked-up shooting provides. “There is a more traditional feel of hunting and an increased sense of reward and satisfaction from shooting birds you have put up yourself,” Brooks says, “plus the added exercise is always beneficial rather than being carted round the countryside from peg to peg in a vehicle.”

Exercise and adventure play a big part in the enjoyment of a walked-up day, the same excitement one remembers from those first days’ shooting as children; memorable days spent running round a wood after a squirrel or a pigeon. Long-time Field contributor Sir Johnny Scott remembers similar experiences from his childhood. “I started shooting by creeping up hedgerows at the age of eight. You learn much more about bird behaviour from walked-up shooting than you do standing at a peg.”