HIGH — But ARE they MIGHTY?

Have you heard of this bizarre new fad for shooting at ridiculously high pheasants? I attended one such shoot last season. These birds were at extreme range. Most were well above the oak trees, even clearing power cables as well.

How on earth Shots not up to my standard are supposed to cope with these I do not know. I noticed some of the other Guns in the team weren’t even raising their gun to them. Luckily I was able to account for more than my and my neighbours’ fair share, otherwise we would never have made the bag. At the end of the day, when the keeper sometimes several hundred will gather together. Traditionally, these roosts used to be in reedbeds and this is still a good place to look for them in autumn. These days, winter roosts are more likely to be encountered in warm, security-lit places such as trees within supermarket car parks or sheltered courtyards between buildings. It’s not so easy for owls or other predators to sneak up to them. came on the scrounge for gratuities, I made it quite clear he could expect nothing from me after such an appalling display.

I did, of course, make sure I’d got my oven-ready birds off him first, though, as my gardener enjoys them. Foolishly generous soul that I am, I allow him to have them at a very reasonable rate.

P. Blackman, West Sussex

The Editor responds:

In the pub last week an acquaintance told me how much your first letter (16 May) amused him and he felt that, as all good satirists should, you make some serious points. I believe that this letter does the same. species from the common pheasant and the cock birds are notoriously aggressive during the breeding season.

I have occasionally heard of shoots that have planned to release a few to add variety in their shooting, but this would be illegal on two counts. First, release into the wild is against the provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 because of the risk that the Reeves’s would be an invasive alien. Secondly, since it is not covered by the provisions of the game laws, it would be illegal to shoot one. M. Swan, Shooting Times contributor

How high is too high? See next week’s issue to find out