Shooting Times & Country Magazine
How early is too early?
October driven days can sometimes feel too soon for young pheasants, but ex-layers could be the way to go
Way back in the springtime of the world, when I was a keen young Shot still in his teens, I seem to remember that October driven pheasant days were regarded with disapproval, and were few and far between. The first or second week of November was thought to be the earliest appropriate time.
Things are very different now. I know of at least two big local shoots where pheasants start falling from the sky just as soon as the law allows. And, once this has started, it goes on for at least three days a week right through the season. In this context, I find myself commending the old restraint. However forward birds may be in the first half of October, they are undoubtedly much stronger on the wing a month later. I have always thought that effectively limiting the season to just three months sharpens the pleasure we find in our pheasant days, and that it is good for them to end before we feel that we have had enough.
It is only right for me to admit that over the years I have shot my share of October pheasants. When I worked for a living and spent half my life in front of a blackboard droning on about Latin verbs and suchlike, I always had the first High Park shoot during the autumn half-term break at the end of October. Usually the birds were ready; they flew well enough and we had some successful first days, but I put the day into November a year or two after I retired.
Selective
I still shoot driven pheasants in October, because at Wyegill, my delightful Saturday shoot near Shap, the third Saturday of the month brings the first of our 10 driven days. The Guns are admirably selective and only raise their barrels to worthy birds. These October days, moreover, never produce big bags. I certainly enjoy them, but I cannot help thinking that the birds would be better left in peace for a week or two longer, just as I have always believed that flightponds, together with the duck that visit them, should remain unshot until September has run its course.
In writing the above I was, of course, thinking of shoots that put down poults. If you release ex-layers then you can ignore everything I have just said. There is no reason why, given suitable conditions, ex-layers should not fly as well in October as they will in January and they are,
in fact, more likely to be there in October than two or three months later. I think it is certainly true that ex-layers are more likely to wander and I also think that, to hold them, you need lots of thick cover and to provide them with plenty of hoppers. Given suitable ground and adequate feeding, they are ideal for unkeepered shoots where the Guns do not have the time to put in the work necessary for success with poults.
At Forest Hall near Kendal we have put down ex-layers for years, and they have provided much better sport than poults ever did. We get them from a first-rate supplier who takes real pride in his birds. If you buy in the sort of ex-layers that I have occasionally seen — exhausted, almost featherless birds reminiscent of bald battery hens at the end of their days — then you will probably find that a high proportion of these pitiful creatures have soon given up the ghost.
As it happens, we have ex-layers at Wyegill this season because we could only find a limited number of poults, most of which are still not ready. I worry that our fairly busy schedule may eventually persuade too many of these ex-layers to seek peace elsewhere, but so far they have flown superbly, they have provided magnificent sport and I rather think that they have tasted even better on a plate than grown-on poults: almost as tender and with a slightly richer, gamier flavour.
Right to roam
The ex-layers of Wyegill, anyway, have made me ask myself whether I should experiment with them at High Park next season. The obvious argument against this is that exlayers are more likely to assert their right to roam and my acreage at High Park is fairly small, although the two pieces of ground that I acquired earlier this year do form a significant enlargement. Anyway, I shall not know if I can hold ex-layers unless I give them a go. If they are willing to stay put at High Park, the advantages are undoubtedly many.
They are usually cheaper to buy and they are definitely cheaper to feed because they do not need a month or so on pellets. They are less vulnerable to predation and disease, particularly in a wet summer when poults sometimes struggle to thrive. They are much less time-consuming, which would be particularly welcome in a big grouse year when I am flanking on the hill for three days a week throughout August and September.
Ex-layers would give me more time to go fishing; they would be altogether less stressful and worrisome and, perhaps best of all, they would be ready for sport as soon as the season opens. This would also allow me to rest my ground longer between shoots, which in turn should encourage the birds to stay contentedly at home.
High Park, moreover, has just the sort of cover that ex-layers relish. I have bought my poults from the same supplier for 30 years. He has high standards and I know that his ex-layers, like his poults, are top-notch because we have some of them at Wyegill. All in all it seems to be what I believe is called a ‘no-brainer’, and I seem to have persuaded myself that at High Park the future belongs to ex-layers. I may be making a terrible mistake. Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, the appearance of this article will more or less coincide with my first rough day at High Park, when five or six of us will wander my ground with our dogs and see if we can shoot a few pheasants. If we reach double figures the day will be declared a triumph, especially if two or three rabbits join the bag and perhaps a couple of woodcock.
What more can you possibly need for a day’s sport — except, of course, for the sun in the sky, a breeze in the trees and a modest tipple (or two) of sloe gin?
“If the ex-layers are willing to stay put, the advantages are undoubtedly many”