Days Of Deep Pleasure
Shooting Times & Country|December 13,2017

A day at High Park brings together good friends and good sport — and who cares if the bag is smaller than hoped for, says Laurence Catlow

Laurence Catlow
Days Of Deep Pleasure

The night before High Park’s second shoot I got out my game diaries on a sudden impulse. While drinking the essential two glasses of sherry before dinner — pheasant casserole, of course — I looked up the record of my earliest High Park shoots more than 25 years ago.

Both Tony Smith and I were thinking it possible that our second day might just bring a bag of 50 birds; if this happened it would be a tribute to Tony’s expertise and tactical cunning. Anyway, such a bag would have been quite unthinkable in those first years, when half-a-dozen birds brought satisfaction and double figures were declared a triumph.

The bags were small but they were still days of deep pleasure, days when three or four friends tramped the fields and dogged out the gorse and were happy with two or three shots or with none. They were most richly contented if they walked down the fields at the end of the day with a dinner or two in their bags.

And now here was I, all those years later, hoping for 50 pheasants on a single day and admitting to myself, as I filled my glass for the second time, that tomorrow it would take 30 rather than five or six birds to bring contentment. High Park, it seemed, was entering the big league and its new status — as one of the kingdom’s premier driven shoots — meant that the eve of a shooting day brought a degree of anxiety. High hopes inevitably brought with them the possibility of disappointment, a possibility that made those two glasses of sherry doubly necessary.

On this particular evening, as it happened, I was even more anxious about the weather than the size of the bag. There was heavy rain forecast and I remembered High Park days that had been turned to misery and sometimes even abandoned because of raging wind and teeming rainfall.

Bu hikaye Shooting Times & Country dergisinin December 13,2017 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Shooting Times & Country dergisinin December 13,2017 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
United we stand
Shooting Times & Country

United we stand

Following United Utilities' decision to end grouse shooting on its land, Lindsay Waddell asks what will happen if we ignore our vital moors

time-read
5 dak  |
August 02, 2023
Serious matters
Shooting Times & Country

Serious matters

An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning

time-read
3 dak  |
August 02, 2023
They're not always as easy as they seem
Shooting Times & Country

They're not always as easy as they seem

While coneys of the furry variety don't pose a problem for Blue Zulu, he's left frustrated once again by bolting bunnies of the clay sort

time-read
5 dak  |
August 02, 2023
Debutant gundogs
Shooting Times & Country

Debutant gundogs

There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting

time-read
4 dak  |
August 02, 2023
When the going gets rough
Shooting Times & Country

When the going gets rough

Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique

time-read
5 dak  |
August 02, 2023
The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition
Shooting Times & Country

The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition

In this excerpt from the 60th anniversary edition of the BDS's Field Guide To British Deer, Charles Smith-Jones considers the noise they make

time-read
4 dak  |
August 02, 2023
A step too far?
Shooting Times & Country

A step too far?

Simon Garnham wonders whether a new dog, a new gun and two different fields in need of protection might have been asking too much for one afternoon's work

time-read
6 dak  |
August 02, 2023
Two bucks before breakfast
Shooting Times & Country

Two bucks before breakfast

A journey from old South London to rural Hertfordshire to stalk muntjac suggests that the two aren't as far detached as they might seem

time-read
6 dak  |
August 02, 2023
Stalking Diary
Shooting Times & Country

Stalking Diary

Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill

time-read
2 dak  |
August 02, 2023
Gamekeeper
Shooting Times & Country

Gamekeeper

Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside

time-read
3 dak  |
August 02, 2023