WOODCOCK SHOOTING 
There are several beats on the estate, which are only shot once a year, 
as a rule the end of January; the most famous being Ballykine and 
Toberbearogue, which come into the same day. Ross Hill — Cong rocks 
and Pigeon Hole — Doon, which is some twelve miles away, at the far end 
of Lough Corrib. Each has its distinctive features. At Ross Hill nearly the 
whole morning is taken up in beating two islands in Lough Mask, two 
guns generally guarding the outside flank in boats. When the water is 
rough it is an exciting experience, and most difficult to shoot at all, to 
say nothing of shooting successfully. 
Doon, which is generally best in very hard weather, is an old larch wood 
on the side of a steep hill, with very old and deep heather for undercovert. 
Birds flushed near the top dart straight down hill towards the guns below, 
and then turn sharply, and apparently fly straight for the next man’s 
head, twisting and turning in every direction, and affording perhaps the 
most difficult chances one gets at Ashford. 
The best beat of all is Ballykine, as the record will show. Ballykine 
itself is an old wood, consisting principally of hazel, with a few hollies 
and a little bracken, all springing from the limestone rocks. Being an old 
demesne, it is surrounded by a high wall, and no doubt it is this wall 
which has made it such a favourite with the ’cock, as it is so perfectly 
undisturbed. The first beat in Ballykine proper is the best, and we have 
known fifty-eight ’cock killed in this one long strip, one gun being for- 
tunate enough to annex sixteen birds. There is another covert called 
Toberbearogue, which is shot the same day, a very long larch covert, 
perhaps eighteen years old, and of late years this has proved almost as 
productive as Ballykine itself. 
His Majesty, when Prince of Wales, stayed with Lord Ardilaun and 
shot these coverts in 1905, and though it was not a first-class year, 
470 ’cock were killed in the week— -181 being the yield of Ballykine, on 
which day His Majesty shot over forty ’cock to his own gun. 
The beaters, who are always good, outdid themselves this particular 
week, keeping a perfect line through the thickest covert, and no day was 
too long for them. 
Just to show the sporting capabilities of Ashford, at the end of this week 
His Majesty went out after snipe with another gun, and had a model mixed 
bag ; two pheasants, one rabbit, four woodcocks, eighty -four snipe, four 
ducks, five teal and one pigeon. 
As before mentioned, whenever from any cause the coverts have not 
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