44 SEPTEMBER 2019 WWW.SHOOTINGGAZETTE.CO.UK
than greys. It is unusual among birds
in that the female often lays two
clutches, one incubated by herself
and one by her partner, so it’s not
surprising game breeders like them.
So Guns have a soft spot for
them, game breeders appreciate
them, what do they offer the shoot?
My own puts down a few partridge
and I dare say we benefi t from
larger adjoining shoots. At any rate
you will see a handful of them on
most of our drives. Commercial
shoots are pragmatic, they have to
be to remain viable, and partridges
have a lot going for them both
from a fi nancial and logistical point
of view.
Partridge,like
allgame,also
makeforgreat
eating,too.“The redleg with
its striking plumage,
endearing character
and ability to
surprise is top of
the table for sheer
enjoyment.”pressure. This works in the short
term; you can get partridge over
the Guns more than once in a
day, particularly useful if you are
organising a small day. Running a
busy shoot is much easier, too, as
drives don’t have to be rested for as
many days as pheasant drives.
Partridges are also far easier
to manage than pheasants. To
run a 250-bird day, a shoot can
comfortably get by with 10 bodies
in the beating line – pheasants
would need twice that many, so
fewer overheads.
I prefer more smaller drives in a
day than three or four large ones.out of woods but over hedges and
from game cover. They may not be
quite as strong as later in the year
but shooting partridge in shirtsleeves
is one of the great pleasures in life.
We all understand that pheasants
can wander, some strains being
worse than others, and I know that
many man hours have to be spent
on pheasant shoots dogging-in the
birds every day. It is in their nature.
Give redlegs the right habitat
and keep the feeders topped up
and mostly they are quite happy
to stay at home. In a similar way,
partridge are far more tolerant than
their larger colleagues of shootingI canvassed the views of shoot
owners and keepers to fi nd out why
the little Frenchmen are so popular.
These included Andrew Blowers,
Rob Hutchins of Gurston Down,
and a friend who works on a large
Wiltshire partridge shoot. There
were many points upon which
everyone was agreed and I found it
very interesting to see things from
the point of view of professional
shoot management.
One excellent reason for shoots
(and Guns for that matter) to like
partridge is simply that it extends
the season by a month, actually
more like six weeks, as the average
pheasant is not at its best on
1 October and the trees will still
be in full leaf. Although some will
argue to the contrary, partridge are
ready at the beginning of September
and of course are not being pushed