PARTRIDGE SHOOTING 
Strict silence should be the rule. Nothing frightens partridges, or indeed 
any other wild animals, so much as the human voice, therefore everything 
should be done, as much as possible, by 
means of signals, preceded by a low 
whistle from the leader of the party. 
When walking a field one flank, and 
generally both, should be in front of the 
centre. This will prevent birds breaking 
out at the sides. 
If it be desired to drive birds in any particular direction, say to the right, 
the left flank should be more advanced than usual, and the leading man 
on that flank should have a gun. 
Great care should be taken to walk out all 
the corners of each field, and to make good 
the ground close to the fences — ^if this is 
neglected many coveys will be missed, for 
they love to dust themselves under the lee 
of a fence. When beating a root field, the 
guns should walk, if possible, across the 
drills, otherwise the birds will run down them to the end of the field, 
and get up in a pack and disappear over the hedge, very often out of 
shot. 
When shooting in potatoes or roots, especially if the covert be thick, 
we all know how tedious, and sometimes exasperating, is the long wait 
caused by looking for six or seven birds that may have been knocked 
down at the same time. It very often happens that most of the retrievers 
are either young and wild, or old and deaf, and what with the ground 
being thoroughly fouled by well meaning but too eager beaters, and the 
scent being bad, endless noise and confusion ensue, birds rise wild all 
over the place, and the rest of the field is disturbed. To prevent this as 
much as possible, a beater or keeper should be told off to each gun, and 
it should be his business to mark accurately the first bird that his gun 
shoots, while the gun himself should be able to mark the second bird. 
Sir Ralph Payne -Gallwey, in his “Letters to Young Shooters,” makes an 
excellent suggestion as regards assisting this operation of picking up. 
He advises that each beater should carry two or three small wands, 
and when he has reached the spot where he has marked a bird fall, if he 
cannot see it at once, he should place the wand in the ground, and stand 
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