Dougarie Shoots

Dougarie is a country sporting estate and as such runs a number of pheasant shoots each year.  Prior to me taking up a role within the Estate I had never been on a shoot and knew very little about the subject (I still don’t!) but I’m learning fast and have now been on several on the Island.

The beaters gather at a very civilised time just before nine, some with dogs who were busy introducing themselves and clearly eager to get going.  After some discussion with the gamekeeper, dogs and people are crammed into a variety of 4WD’s, and were dispatched to the start of drive.  

The ground is rough and challenging to move across, hence the need for the dogs to be able to flush the birds forward. Depending on the drive (and there are usually about 6 in a day), it can be across moor, scrub or through the forests.  Most of the beaters carried sticks, not only for support but also to lay across the top of fences that had to be negotiated (hence preventing barb wire injuries!).

After spreading out, a short wait and then the horn blows to indicate the start. What surprised me most on my first shoot was the noise – not of the guns, but the banging of sticks, clackers, chirping, whistles and the flags snapping.  And all the time the gamekeeper controlling the line moving forward, stopping it while birds flushed out and generally ensuring we were all doing what we should. Before I knew it the horn blew again to stop the drive (and more importantly the guns).  As I discovered, it is usually at this point a perfect bird flies across the guns, and lives to fly another day.

At the end of the drive we all gathered near the guns, some dogs panting and taking a rest, while others went off to ‘pick up’ the downed birds.  This is not always as easy as it sounds as some birds continue to glide and can be a significant distance away.

In some cases it seems that the bird is nearly as big as the dog!

Of course when the beaters set off to the start of a drive, the guns set off to their ‘pegs’.  Each gun having been allocated a peg at the start. 

Some guns also have their own dogs, which wait patiently by, ready to ‘pick up’ nearby downed birds on command. On one shoot I stayed with the guns and realised the importance of controlling the beaters to ensure a steady flow of birds and not a great flush all at once.

All birds picked up, everyone loaded back into vehicles and it was off to the next drive.  

And at the end, some very tired dogs.