Order of drives advice needed

[Footu]

Hi all

I am About to start a second season and our shOot is undergoing big changes. It is a hilly welsh sheeP land with valleys and rivers. My question is should the drives start in the valley and push the birds up then try to get rOund the back of them and push them back in or start on the tops and push them down into the valley then drive through the bottom of the valley, or does it all depend on the weather ie where the wind is and where they will be sunning themselves?all inPut received with thanks.

[al4x]

it depends on weather, wind and a large amount of trial and error. If something doesn't work try another way and over time you will work out what works best.

[rimfire4969]

very tricky to say with out knowing the place. Weather will have a large amount to play. On a nice warm day birds could be sunning themselves or as your in Wales wet days they may well be tucked up in your woods. As Al4x has said try it one way if it does not work try another the following week.

[Footu]

Ok thanks. Basically there is no set pattern and what works on one shoot may not on another, and may change depending on weather.

I'm getting the hang of it.

 

No wonder the shoot captains get so much stick. :-)

[CharlieT]

Also remember to try and "drive" your birds to where you want them, not off the farm.

 

Ideally, if possible, you need to feed your birds somewhere near to where you wish to drive/flush them from so that they rise from the tops and fly across the valleys. This means your game crops must be in the right place.They will soon learn to return across the valley to their feed rides. One of the great arts is to get the feeding right so that on a shoot day your birds are in the drives.

Try and site your drives to accommodate the prevailing wind but have some drives that work with a different wind direction. Remember too that they don't like flying into the sun so take this into account when establishing drives.

 

As has been said, it's a lot of trial and error.

[Pheasant Feeder]

Also remember to try and "drive" your birds to where you want them, not off the farm.

 

Ideally, if possible, you need to feed your birds somewhere near to where you wish to drive/flush them from so that they rise from the tops and fly across the valleys. This means your game crops must be in the right place.They will soon learn to return across the valley to their feed rides. One of the great arts is to get the feeding right so that on a shoot day your birds are in the drives.

Try and site your drives to accommodate the prevailing wind but have some drives that work with a different wind direction. Remember too that they don't like flying into the sun so take this into account when establishing drives.

 

As has been said, it's a lot of trial and error.

Sound advice

 

Depending on the lay of the land, position and brightness of the sun and the direction and strength of the wind will determine how the birds are likely to fly.

 

On some drives the birds will almost always fly in a certain direction, on others certainly later in the season, if they have options may fly back over the line, especially if the guns are noisy on their approach to the peg.

 

As for feeding, feed where you want the birds to be, and alter your drives and gun positions to suit the conditions on the day.

 

The 'ideal' layout would be to have your release wood in the middle of the shoot, and working up to the season feed away from the wood to your coverts, then on a shoot day drive your birds back to the release wood.