During my time in the United Kingdom, I had the opportunity to shoot with a lot of amazing people, the first of whom was Pete Livesey, way back in October.
I had kept in regular contact with Pete following our trips on pheasants, ducks, roe deer and grouse. In January he mentioned he might have a few days of shooting I might be interested in, and would Bailie, my girlfriend, and I, like to come up to Cumbria?
Space was quickly made in the schedule and Bailie and I made our way up by bus to enjoy a few days with Pete and his lovely wife Jan and hopefully get onto a few birds, while also doing our part for a great cause.
The plan was to spend day one on a syndicate shoot that Pete was part of that covered several woods on a few estates in the area, shooting duck and pheasant, both driven and walked up. Day two was something special. I had been extended an invitation by Pete to join him and another syndicate to take part on a fundraising shoot, raising money for the hospice that had looked after the keepers wife at the tough end of her battle with Cancer. She had loved the shoots, had often come down to prepare the meals and socialise with the shooters and her loss was felt by many people. While I had never had the pleasure of meeting her, I could tell she had been well respected and loved by all of those involved.
Starting out on day 1 was a duck drive, where a large pond was flushed of mallards. Being quite late in the season, I was surprised to see so many ducks in attendance and I managed to pick up 3 birds in 3 shots with Pete's trusty Winchester O/U - a gun I have grown to love. We spent the next few hours driving pheasants. I was standing out on my peg, with Pete and Bailie along with the dogs working the beating line. Bailie got a shot on the SLR of a rooster flushing, that was collected by a shot of my own a few hundred meters away - great team work! With a good bag of duck and pheasant for the day, we then shot off to the taxidermist to pick up our red grouse that we had mounted and to drop off my woodcock, wigeon and partridge from Scotland. All in all, it was a day well spent.
The next day saw us join head keeper Dave and the crew for the fundraising shoot. Dave was in great spirits for the day, and to see everyone wearing an item of clothing in yellow as a further tribute was great. He was happy to have us there and told us about Anne, what she meant to the shoot and to everyone else in the community. It was a very positive atmosphere and we felt privileged to be part of it. We each made our donation, before starting off on a duck drive. The ducks had been living in a large wood with a small pond in the centre of it. It was a flurry of ducks that exploded out of the wood when the dogs went in and most shooters managed a shot or two. After the first drive, I had two ducks so I couldn't have been happier.
As this was the only duck drive of the day, we then swapped 12 bores for small bores - and I couldn't wait. My first gun of choice was a lovely 28ga o/u - a gauge I had never shot before. With my first shot of the little 28ga I bagged a French partridge and missed another. Over all I was pretty happy with how the cartridge shot, but it was time to swap around. Up next was possibly the biggest surprise. Perhaps it was because I am a kiwi, but I was given what I can only say is the least likely firearm I ever thought I would shoot driven pheasants with - a pump action, suppressed Mossberg 500 in .410. With so many shooters taking part, everyone brought what ever small gauge gun they could - I was just happy that someone had leant me one to use!
The second to last drive ended up being a belter. There were pheasants everywhere and once again the small gauges were doing the damage. I managed 7 pheasants in 10 shots from the .410, some of which were quite high on driven birds swooping over with the wind behind them. For the final drive, I was lucky enough to have a rooster flush early right at me. One shot from the .410 and my days bag was complete.
Of all the shooting experiences I have had since being in the UK, that charity day will remain with me for a long time. The shooting on offer
was fantastic, and to be invited onto a fully driven shoot for such a great cause was an honour. Everywhere I go, I meet people that would bend over backwards to help you. They welcome Bailie and I into their homes, their lives and their shoots. We have met some amazing people on our trip and this shoot was no different. We both would have loved to have met Anne, but after spending the day with her husband Dave and the rest of the shoot, hearing the stories and seeing the respect she garnered, we definitely met the spirit of the lady, and the legacy she left behind.
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