Every season, we try and find new and challenging places for our walked-up days. It does surprise me, though, that there are a lot of young keepers who are reluctant to (or lack the experience to) put on a traditional walked-up day. Often, they will simply revert to standing the Guns on a selection of smaller drives. The intention is a good one, as their main concern is putting a good number of birds over the Guns, enabling the team to reach the bag they are aiming for. However, for a lot of those who enjoy a walked-up day, the pleasure is often more about the anticipation, a range of varied shots and quarry and perhaps working their dog. The number of birds shot on a day is a peripheral concern, and this seems to baffle a few shoot owners and keepers.
One of the shoots we visit regularly in Devon throughout the season has been blessed by having a team of young and enthusiastic keepers, who by their own admission have negligible experience of walked-up shooting, it having never been covered at college or on previous estates they had worked. Having shot a few days with them, they began to understand the type of day we were looking for and each day got better and better, culminating in one of our best days of the season in the middle of January.
After a thorough team talk from one of the underkeepers, we set off towards a collection of farm buildings on the top of a hill flanked by two decent-sized spinneys on the estate’s southern boundary. We walked-up a muddy stubble field towards the farm in a huge arc and almost immediately a covey of partridge lifted and flew over the majority of the Guns with several being brought down.
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