Nick & Ted
Age 70 months If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise … Nick Ridley explains
There are moments in life when you look back at a situation and think: “How did I get away with that?” Last week I had such a moment and even now it’s giving me a shiver down my spine.
We headed out for a day’s shooting at one of our regular haunts. It is a lovely bit of ground with plenty of laid bracken and bramble, ideal hunting ground for the spaniels. The downside is that the woodlands are stuffed full of muntjac and Chinese water deer.
In the morning I had shot over Ted and all had gone relatively well; there were a few birds about and all the syndicate members had warmed their barrels and spirits were high. After a quick break, we headed off to one of the blocks of woodland.
I had decided I was going to give Percy a longer spell and I knew the ground would suit him as the cover was quite thick, so I anticipated it would help to hold up the little dog. As we lined out I was excited, the sun had come out and the conditions looked perfect.
Dave the keeper gave us the thumbs up and I clicked Percy off. It usually takes him a few minutes to get settled but I admit that he had been pulling me on scent lines a bit. Anyway, we hadn’t gone more than a few metres when the dog next to us flushed a Chinese and it nearly wiped out both the dogs and my fellow Gun as it bolted.
Fortunately Percy stayed fast as I blasted the stop whistle, but it was a near thing. Once we had all got our heart rates back to some degree of normality, we started off again.
Hectic
I won’t go into every last detail of the following minutes but things were pretty hectic. Anyone who has come across Chinese water deer will know they are not a herd deer but the wood was full of them. After Percy had flushed and stopped to another three on the bounce, the fourth one proved too much for him. He took off in hot pursuit and no amount of blowing my whistle or shouting was going to stop him. That deer was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
The next 10 minutes were hell; I lost sight of Percy and had no idea where he had gone. Eventually, Dave called me to a fence line and he was on the other side of a road. My heart sank because I couldn’t see Percy
“I could see Percy laying on the verge panting hard”