CAPERCAILLIE SHOOTING 
that Capercaillie may always be shot just at the season when it is most 
delightful to seek them. Those crisp frosty days of pellucid clearness and 
absolute stillness in late October and early November, when the gentle 
tap of the beater’s stick can be heard a mile away, and the crashing flap- 
flap of the old cock caper as he first leaves his tree, can be detected at half 
that distance, are the days to attack the cock o’ the woods. This is too late 
in the season for busy men who rush north on August 12 and count 
themselves fortunate if they can snatch a little fresh air and strenuous 
exercise to recruit their energies. They must needs drive their woods 
when grouse get wild and the old Blackcocks have ceased to come to the 
stubbles; hence the best of Capercaillie shooting is not experienced. 
After the first snowfall in October is a good time to commence Caper- 
caillie shooting, as it enables the sportsmen to kill whatever comes along, 
a pleasurable feature in Highland sport. This driving of woods for 
Capercaillie has charms for the contemplative sportsman, for it is un- 
accompanied by all the fuss, noise and artificiality of pheasant shooting 
and grouse driving. If the host — and he should always manage the beats 
if possible — knows his ground, it is both a pleasure to himself and his 
few guests that they are all engaging in a sport which requires just a 
little woodcraft and cunning to ensure success. The young man who per- 
sistently smokes cigarettes and tells amusing stories in a loud voice 
as he walks to his post will not make a successful capercaillie shooter, 
and will most effectually spoil all chances of birds coming forward to his 
fellow guests. In the morning, at which time Capercaillie are not on feed, 
they sit high on the branches of fir and larch, generally on the slope of a 
hill occupying the west side of a valley, and enjoying the morning sun. 
In such a position they are swift to take alarm, and although they do not 
fly readily until danger is imminent, they can both hear and sometimes 
see all that is going on in the woods around. Consequently it is most 
desirable for success in this sport that strict silence should be maintained 
once the wood is reached, and that each of the guns should proceed to 
his post as quietly as possible. The gunner is often asked to stand in a 
certain part of a wood or on its outskirts, and it is here that he must exer- 
cise his observation. Capercaillie, after the first movement into the air, 
when they make a loud fiapping with the wings, travel at a rapid pace, 
often sailing hundreds of yards without a sound. Moreover, when passing 
between high tree tops, they often swing and sway with such rapidity 
as to appear much smaller birds than they really are. In consequence, 
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