High pheasants.

[JDog]

There have been some interesting comments on the video posted about the shoot at the Two Valleys shoot in Wales and I thought that I would add some personal comments about high bird shooting in general.

 

Some of the pheasants in the video were more than 70m high and were out of range. Even those using guns with full choke and heavy cartridges would not hit those birds consistently let alone kill them. That team of guns was just not up to shooting birds at those distances and it was pointless putting birds of that quality over them. I agree however that the sight of those squadrons of pheasants gliding at that height was amazing. I have been lucky enough to see that sight a number of times around the country.

 

Last week I had a day's shooting in the Scottish Borders with similar topography to that in the video. At certain times on all of the drives a number of pheasants and partridges came over the guns at between 70m and 90m high. None were shot. They were never likely to be shot as they were just too high. With clever beating the vast majority of the birds (and there were a lot) were put over the guns at between 30m and 60m high. They were fast and curling and were extremely testing but the most important factor in my opinion is that they were in range.

 

The final bag was 191 made up of a mix of pheasants and partridge. It was a day to remember.

[Maddaftspaniel]

Sporting guns should not lift their gun to birds they are not capable of killing cleanly

[welshwarrior]

I agree you can challenge yourself on a shoot without taking birds out of range to you.

 

One of the grounds I coach at has a high tower that puts birds over the shooter 75-90m up. These can by some but not most be consistently smashed not chipped, this guns I believe could tackle a pheasant at these ranges and kill them cleanly and consistently. These people are few and fair between.

[filzee]

Sporting guns should not lift their gun to birds they are not capable of killing cleanly

 

Too true

[Nikk]

Here we go again....PW elitism at it's best I'm sorry to say.

 

I think the excitement was probably responsible for them banging away a bit, if you get one or two high birds it would be much easier to concentrate and judge if you can make the shot or not. Seeming something like that is bound to get the blood pumping and not every shot was poorly judged as we can see high birds being shot and coming down having being killed out right.

 

And all this stuff about sporting guns should never raise their gun etc etc. I know guys who can really shoot and even they ***** birds. A clean kill is not a given unless you are shooting at 30 yard birds, heck I've seen George Digweed ***** birds on videos.

 

In the ideal world and all that.....

[JDog]

Here we go again....PW elitism at it's best I'm sorry to say.

 

I think the excitement was probably responsible for them banging away a bit, if you get one or two high birds it would be much easier to concentrate and judge if you can make the shot or not. Seeming something like that is bound to get the blood pumping and not every shot was poorly judged as we can see high birds being shot and coming down having being killed out right.

 

And all this stuff about sporting guns should never raise their gun etc etc. I know guys who can really shoot and even they ***** birds. A clean kill is not a given unless you are shooting at 30 yard birds, heck I've seen George Digweed ***** birds on videos.

 

In the ideal world and all that.....

 

 

It takes some pretty twisted logic indeed to conclude that being a true sportsman is 'elitist'.

[Maddaftspaniel]

Here we go again....PW elitism at it's best I'm sorry to say.

 

I think the excitement was probably responsible for them banging away a bit, if you get one or two high birds it would be much easier to concentrate and judge if you can make the shot or not. Seeming something like that is bound to get the blood pumping and not every shot was poorly judged as we can see high birds being shot and coming down having being killed out right.

 

And all this stuff about sporting guns should never raise their gun etc etc. I know guys who can really shoot and even they ***** birds. A clean kill is not a given unless you are shooting at 30 yard birds, heck I've seen George Digweed ***** birds on videos.

 

In the ideal world and all that.....

 

I did not say a clean kill was "a given" what I did say was a sporting gun should not lift their gun to a bird they were not capable of killing cleanly. There is a difference!

[Cranfield]

On that specific video, there were so many birds in the air at any time that it was impossible to tell which ones the guns were shooting at.

Its probable they were shooting at the mid range birds, not the stratospheric ones.

 

On Shoots I have attended where very high birds are shown, there are enough available at shootable heights that nobody feels they have to "stretch" their barrels pointlessly.

[Nikk]

 

I did not say a clean kill was "a given" what I did say was a sporting gun should not lift their gun to a bird they were not capable of killing cleanly. There is a difference!

 

Well you wont know if you don't try

[silver pigeon 3]

Everybody should know their personal and equipments limitations, no point an excellent shot trying to shoot 70 yard birds with a skeet gun and no point a poor shot trying to shoot the same bird with a full choked gun. It's all about what each person's personal limit is, some people will kill bird after bird in the 50-60 yard range where as others may not feel overly confident pushing it past 40 yards.

 

Edited for poor spelling, it's been a long day!

Edited December 5, 2013 by silver pigeon 3

[happychappy246]

I've dropped birds at distances I never thought a shot gun would kill n it has if you don't try you'll never know what your capable at bringing down but each to there own