Shoot the low birds...leave the high birds?

enfieldspares

Well-Known Member
Following on from the pheasant season thread. guns are asked to leave hens so that, it is hoped, they will raise wild birds that can be shot the following season.

However is there an argument that after, say, mid-December that if one doesn't shoot hens one should not "cocks only" but "low birds only" on the theory that if the low birds survive we are creating a low bird genetic trait that then gets passed on to next season's birds?

Comments? Certainly I am not the first to make this "link", that we are selectively culling the best birds...the high birds....yet I've never heard of any shoot where this is carried out.
 
I suppose it would depend on there being a genetic link to being a 'high bird'? Rather than just something that particular bird does.
 
There is some truth in wot ur getting at. And ur right in theory ur shooting at the strongest fliers so possibly best genetic's

But it does ring in certain safety issues and also who really wants to shoot a low bird when a sporting bird was also shown, althou that does happen with cocks at this time of year. Also if u were paying for it it gets complicated different prices for different bird hieghts etc, just not possible really

Thats why some game farms used to keep a closed flock and would keep the birds for laying all year in a roofed pen. Rather than catch up the birds that are left at end off season. But that obviously cost's money.

It the same with the eternal quest for the elusive high flying strain that also holds well, everyone has there favourite pure breeds or mixes of different strains, but a lot is personal favourites and won't make that much difference
 
If we were talking wild bird only shoots I could perhaps understand this, but I guess those are very much in the minority these days. If you're buying in and putting birds down then no amount of tinkering with the genetics of the residual wild bird population is going to have much effect.

I do recall an article in one of the shooting magazines talking about shooting low birds when safe to do so because "they are never going to fly any better".

Personally I think it might be worth experimenting where possible with changing the way you drive birds in January, on the basis that by then the smart ones will have figured out what's going on. Drive them in reverse, or position the guns differently, and you might find that things improve. Accepting that can turn out to be an expensive experiment if the birds don't co-operate :eek:.

I do wonder some times why the peg positions are sometimes not changed to reflect different weather conditions, but all too often hear that "that's the way the pegs have always been"
 
Are the 'low birds' perhaps the smarter ones, who have figured out that they are less likely to be shot if they fly low?
 
Standing a peg on the keepers day had a few birds run past me and take off for the guys and their dogs picking up!
The ones that are left have got to have learnt something to survive that long.

Made me smile.
 
The downsides to shooting low birds are the very obvious danger hazards to your shooting companions and heavily shot inedible birds :old:
 
There is some truth in wot ur getting at. And ur right in theory ur shooting at the strongest fliers so possibly best genetic's

But it does ring in certain safety issues and also who really wants to shoot a low bird when a sporting bird was also shown, althou that does happen with cocks at this time of year. Also if u were paying for it it gets complicated different prices for different bird hieghts etc, just not possible really

Thats why some game farms used to keep a closed flock and would keep the birds for laying all year in a roofed pen. Rather than catch up the birds that are left at end off season. But that obviously cost's money.

It the same with the eternal quest for the elusive high flying strain that also holds well, everyone has there favourite pure breeds or mixes of different strains, but a lot is personal favourites and won't make that much difference

Thats about as bang on the money As your gonna get
I couldn't agree more
regards pete
 
doesn't sound like a shoot I'd feel very safe on!

Tack me old mate no probs with safety I would just make sure your pegged 40 yds away
and insist on it being a 410 only day just for the low birds this weeks shooting times !!
that way you wouldent feel it so much if a bit of shot came your way hitting all 6ft 6 and 20 stone
or whatever it is you are :D
Also I'd have a head start if you spat your dummy out and came charging my way As you've done
once this season :scared:
Regards pete
 
The low bird on one shoot is the same bird from another shoot that drives them off a high bank or gulley .
It will either take the quickest route away to safety or go through the gap ? Some shoots are fortunate in having the right topography to be able to produce high birds (but they buy there birds from the same places as everyone else !)

I don't have a particularly good piece of ground and we do the best we can.The major factor in turning our days from enjoyable days into "super" enjoyable days is the wind .A couple of drives are transformed with a decent head of wind.

So, shoot the low ones ???? Only on a walk up day if its safe.....otherwise forget the low ones and wait for the screamer you will remember.
 
Tack me old mate no probs with safety I would just make sure your pegged 40 yds away
and insist on it being a 410 only day just for the low birds this weeks shooting times !!
that way you wouldent feel it so much if a bit of shot came your way hitting all 6ft 6 and 20 stone
or whatever it is you are :D
Also I'd have a head start if you spat your dummy out and came charging my way As you've done
once this season :scared:
Regards pete

if you shoot me there will definitely be dummy spitting going on !
 
I have been on a cock day when the keeper blew up because people left low birds.
Low birds can be safe. It's the man behind the gun that decides if he will pull the trigger or not!

The keeper reared his own birds and had the theory that he doesn't want to breed low birds.
 
Regardless whether a keeper breeds his own or buys in day olds . A percentage will be low anyway.
He will never be able to say his breeding birds are only high flyers.

As for low birds , What do people consider as low ?...If its at tree level and has sky behind it ,then it gets saluted.
Below the tree line is not on . If in doubt...Don't shoot .
 
You could look at this in a different way. If this is a syndicate shoot, why would you want to leave the hens. You pay for the number of birds put down at the start and will likely put the same number down the next year. So you might just as well shoot what ever presents itself as a decent safe shot and get the birds in the bag rather than leave them for charlie to pick off over the coming months. Same goes for a paid day. You're paying for the birds that were expected to get shot at the start.
 
The only other thing I can say on this . Is that after 30 years on the same shoot here . We have the same amount of low birds every year. It hasn't gone up or down by any noticeable amount in that time.

I am tempted to say "that's life", some folk can run faster than others and some birds can fly better than others. Look after your birds and keep them as healthy as you can , that's as much as you can do .
 
if you shoot me there will definitely be dummy spitting going on !

fair play to you for taking it as it was intended a bit of fun !!
i couldent resist sos
safety should come first as we all know
my wife only last week tore into a gun that had swung his
barrels past her for the third time in a row
hid did apologise for his actions somewhat embaressed
regards pete
 
Why do so many on here think that a low bird is unsafe. I shoot on driven hare days with 40+ guns present and not surprisingly, every shot taken is a LOW one! Are they all dangerous shots or what? I rarely let a low cock pheasant go past me on a cock day either. No mercy from me, just care!
 
We released a few white pheasants on our shoot. As luck would have it, they all died whilst still in the pens except one. So I knew there was only the one on the shoot. We don't border any other shoots. Whenever I fed up, it was around. It emigrated from the pen it was released in to the wood where the other one is (we have 2 pens) and beyond. It took up fairly regular residence in one wood and was always seen to be scurrying away out of the side on a shoot day, or flying at knee height over a field to safety.

A canny bird, one might think and to be fair to survive as a white pheasant, you've got to be canny I'd say. Then on the last day but one, she was caught in the middle of a drive and flew magnificently over the guns. Although a couple shot at her, she sailed on majestically, intact (perhaps another story, that). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that the low flying bird one day may well be that stratospheric pheasant the next time.
 
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