Partridge Shooting 63 



3. Lastly, Partridges may be driven over the gun. In my 

 vopinion this is not only the best way of shooting Partridges where 

 the conditions are favourable, but it affords the finest sport which 

 can be obtained with a gun in this country. 



Unless your shooting is of some size — not less than 400 acres — 

 driving is out of the question. It would mean driving the bulk of 

 the birds off your own ground and on to your neighbour's, with a 

 problematical chance of their returning. The same is true of out- 

 lying tongue-shaped bits of land on the border of a big estate. These 

 can seldom be driven with profit, and are more useful as a source of 

 supply for the larder of the house at the commencement of the season, 

 and for giving to younger generations a little experience. 



Driving, to be carried out in anything like perfection, needs 

 much organisation, and, beyond all, numbers of well-trained men, 

 who know the ground thoroughly, are keen on their work, and have 

 had several seasons' experience. Trying to drive with an undis- 

 ciplined mob of 15 or 20 men is hopeless. 



There can be no question that the practice of driving birds over 

 the gun instead of walking them up is very beneficial to the stock of 

 birds that that ground will hold. It has been found over and over 

 again that the introduction of driving has increased the average stock 

 of birds two- and even three-fold. I may quote my own experience. 

 In the days of walking up, our average bag lay between 400-500 

 brace. After a few years driving, the average rose to r,ooo, and is 

 now nearer 1,500. The reasons for this increase are many, but I 

 would especially emphasize one of them. Single old birds, barren 

 pairs, etc., are shot off ; even in the case of coveys, the parents are 

 frequently the leaders, and are the first birds to come to grief as they 

 top the fence. 



The alpha and the omega of Partridge-raising is to have as large 

 a stock of young, and as few old, birds left on the ground at the close 

 of the shooting season as possible. This is exactly what driving 

 tends to bring about, and is almost the converse of the walking up 

 method. In the latter, the old birds, barren pairs and so on, are just 

 the birds that least often offer the chance of a shot ; while even in 

 the case of coveys, it is the young birds rather than the parents 

 that suffer most, and it is no uncommon thing to exterminate all 

 the young birds in a covey in thick cover, such as seed clover, potting 

 them one after another as they get up. Now, this can never happen 

 in driving ; one covey may offer a chance to two guns, and they may 

 both secure a brace, one or both the parents being most likely among 

 the slain, and then passes out of the day's reckoning. It is very 

 unlikely that that covey will be dealt with again on that dav, but if 

 this were so, it would only mean another two birds out of the pack, 

 and the great chance that the survivors were all young birds. 



I think, too, that driving is generally a much more merciful 

 form of shooting than walking. In the former, the bulk of the birds 

 are killed outright, or missed outright, and the temptation to take 



