Day 3 - 7 Species in 3 days - Shooting the Scottish Highland's

After spending 2 weeks touring Scotland earlier in the year, I was over the moon when Alex invited me up to hunt the Scottish Highlands at the end of December. Days one and two had been amazing, and I was lucky enough to have shot several new species.

Day 3 dawned and it seemed like the Scottish winter had finally turned up! We returned to Red Castle, where this amazing trip had began. Today we were doing a straight walked up day, with the odd fixed gun when needed. On went the jacket and leggings, then it was off to do the first block. The first beat saw several pheasants flushed, and one shot. It was a pretty good start to the morning and it told us the pheasants were happy to fly in the torrential rain. On the way to the second beat, I saw a great mob of Roe Deer, and it was nice to watch them bounce their way up the hill side. On arrival at the second beat, we all picked a beating line, and off we went. We hadn't been going more than 45 seconds when a bird flushed just meters in front of me. By this time, after three days of solid shooting, and being well in tune with the side by side, I patterned it very quickly. I took the gun off my shoulder, when another bird flushed off the right. It was chased by shots, and it passed in front of me at about 45 meters. Having just the one cartridge in the gun, I took my time, swung through the bird, and cleanly dropped that as well. It wasn't until  the retrievers picked them up and the birds were placed in my hands, did it sink in that I had shot the one bird that I'd hoped to get, and that I had missed on day one. I had my self a woodcock, and not only that, but I'd shot a left and a right!

I was aware of the existence of the 'Woodcock Club', and Alex had a lot of fun pointing out that I had in fact not met the criteria of the club. While I had bagged two woodcock with a left and a right, there was one tiny condition that I failed to meet - 'that a gun must not be lowered between shots'. Well, its hard to be disappointed, when you have just shot one of the most sort after trophy birds in the UK, and I certainly wasn't! But I did vow to start a new 'off the shoulder woodcock club'! Not long after that, another woodcock flushed in front of me, and I chose to leave it for another shooter, as it was crossing, but no shots followed it, so when another woodcock crossed in front, chased by shots by Alex, I raised the side by side, and when it was in front of me, squeezed the trigger. I had my third woodcock in 3 shots!

After that drive, I told Alex and the rest of the guys that I had shot my share, and told them I was happy to beat, or to be put in the less likely places. On the next two drives, I enjoyed watching the lads drop 3 pheasants, but due to the rain, I didn't get my Camera out. The last two drives of the day fast approached, and we headed out to a little patch of wood. Alex told me to head out into a cut barley field, about 20 meters away from the cover, so that if anything escaped the guys in the wood, I could cut it down. As luck would have it, to everyone's surprise, there were no pheasants in the wood...but I did flush one out in that field.
All the dogs were working the wood, but as I was about to literally step on this cock bird, it flushed. One barrel was all that was needed, and I added that to the days bag. I walked sheepishly over to the guys who all had smiles on their faces. While they appreciated that I had offered to walk the less likely lines, they were still thrilled that it was their guest who bagged another bird. What a great bunch of guys.

The last wood was on everyone's mind. Alex had been saying all day that he reckoned that's where the birds would be. He decided that the way to hunt this wood was to set guns on the far side, and then drive the birds out towards them. they had to climb quite high to escape, so it looked like the shooting would be very good. I was left to cover the rear, on the off chance that the beaters - led by Alex had birds flush after they had passed, and the guys that hadn't had much shooting went to the other side as standing guns. I had a great time watching pheasants getting shot at about 60 meters in the air. I was almost surprised when a Hen flew back out my side, having evaded the beaters and dogs. I waited for it to clear the wood, so that I had a clear backdrop for my shot, then dropped it. Seconds later, a Cock bird flushed, but this one evaded all of us.

The last drive brought us 5 pheasants, and it was a great way to finish up another successful day at Red Castle. I was sad to be leaving this great group of guys, having hunted with many of them for the last 3 days, but after once again giving my thanks, we left the guys and grounds behind.
At home, Alex prepared fresh woodcock for dinner - which is one of the nicest birds I've ever eaten! So ended my 3 days hunting in Scotland. I had managed many firsts - Greylag Goose (2), Red Legged Partrdige (1), Wigeon (1) and Woodcock (3), along with a pair of Mallard's, and 8 Pheasant's.

Alex and Elsa's hospitality was amazing, and I felt like I had another family away from New Zealand. They want Bailie to come up next time, so they can meet her, and show her the same treatment. Everyone I met on this trip was friendly, helpful and generous. To finish the trip off, I managed to arrive back in London after 14 hours on the bus from Inverness, and made it to a New Years eve party at 11:59 PM, after sprinting from the tube. I arrived just in time to see in the New Year with Bailie and my friends. What a way to see out 2015!

Alex, Don and I at Red Castle

Day 2 - 7 Species in 3 days - Shooting the Scottish Highland's

After a cracking day at Red Castle, we started Day 2 with something very traditional. Alex took me Wild Fowling, in an attempt to get me my first Wigeon, and what ever else the Firth might produce. With so many species living and roosting on it, you just never know what may fly your way. The tides on the Moray Firth weren't perfect, with the rocks that were to offer us great cover, and get us close to the flight line still well under water, but with the birds flying at first light, you cant afford to wait for the tide either. We therefore perched ourselves as close to the water, and the deeper channel as we could, and waited for the birds to fly on dawn. Fly they did, and we saw good numbers of both Wigeon and Mallard, but they were just out of range, but I still got to see my first Wigeon! All in all, it was a morning well spent on the Firth.

We headed home for breakfast, then Alex told to me to change out of the welly's and into hiking boots, as we were off to do some miles in the hills looking for Pheasant's and, possibly even get a shot at my first Partridge.

Arriving at Cawdor, We met up with the rest of the crew, both of the 2 and 4 legged variety. We were hunting over pointers, and they looked as excited as I was. We worked our way to the first section of real cover, each taking a line. I was beside Phil on the far right, and enjoyed watching his dog work the scent. I enjoyed it even more when I saw him go into Point. Suddenly, a Cock Pheasant exploded from in front of the pointer, and Phil took in cleanly. On the Shot, a Cock flushed at long range in front of me. I still felt I had a shot, and took it. Down the bird came, but I could tell it wasn't taken cleanly. The pointer, turned, and on command, raced up after my bird.  During the retrieve, yet another pheasant flushed on our side, from the same cover. This time a Hen. Phil took it cleanly on the first shot, and we waited for the pointer to return to retrieve it. I watched the dog running all over the place, and eventually, in a totally different location to where I thought my bird was, or would be, he got really excited. The dog found it, about 500 meters from where I saw it go down, and promptly returned it to Phil's hand. It was the best unsighted retrieve I have ever seen.

We continued on through the fields, and could tell the dogs were picking up scent. We arrived at a good deal of low cover, and Phil told us he reckoned the pointers were on to Partridge. They told me there wasn't a huge amount of Partridge where we were, as they were wild birds that had fled from various hunting estates in the area. We worked cover to cover, when, with an flurry of wing beats, the covey flushed - but well ahead of us, and the dogs. We kept working the cover, and another covey flushed in front. I was far to slow, and missed with both barrels behind, but the others pulled down one on a fine crossing shot, and we had our first Partridge. Seconds later, another covey flushed. This time they were flushing left to right. I was still in the wood, and had trees in every direction, but I had a clear wedge of about 40 degrees to swing through. I watched the covey come from my left, being chased by shots, and as they passed through my shooting window, up came the side by side, and down went a Red Legged Partridge! While we do have Red Legged Partridge in New Zealand, they are not found in the wild, and are only hunted on private hunting estates, so to not only see one, but bag one in the Scottish Highlands was amazing.

We headed back to the vehicle's, and took a short drive up a winding, climbing road, through forest and heather, where I was introduced to some of the most beautiful country I have ever hunted pheasants in - the Drynachan Valley. With rolling hill country, over looking the famed Findhorn river, it was a great spot to have lunch as well, and I enjoyed a traditional Scotch Egg Pie and a brew for lunch, swapping stories. Just sitting their in the sun, having lunch with new friends in the highlands makes you realise just what hunting is about.

The rest of the afternoon was spent on a very memorable walked up day on the Pheasants. The dogs were great, pointing and flushing a good number of birds, and with the rolling hills, and variety of cover, it seemed every bird offered something different. Considering it was late December, the fact the I got sunburned tells you just how off kilter the weather was at this time of year, as we should have been walking through snow! I had a lucky line once again, and managed a left and a right on a Cock and a Hen, and picked up another Cock towards the end, with everyone else either also bagging a bird, or having an opportunity to do so.  I'd fired 8 shots for 4 Pheasants and a Partridge - not a bad afternoon! Now it was off home, to swap the boots for welly's, pick up Don, and head to a flooded paddock, and see what would come in on dark.

Meeting up with the other two lads who had invited us down, we made our way through the sodden paddocks, where we found a large body of flood water. There were no birds on it, but there was a mob of Pink Foot Geese on the next paddock over. Leading up to dark, we saw several mobs of
geese wiffle down and join their friends, then one mob came a little close to us, and Alex dropped one out of the mob. I was on the board next, with a left and a right on mallards. It was getting quite dark at this point, when I heard a sound ill never forget - Wigeon! I didn't even have time to lift my gun, but Alex certainly did, and he bagged a fine Wigeon drake. It was one hell of a shot! We could hear Wigeon, but as is their custom, they were coming through right on the very end of twilight. There were ducks all over the place, either coming to the flood water, or flying over us, when I caught a glimpse of a duck in the last clear and light piece of sky I had to backdrop a bird with. I took the shot, and heard it hit the ground. It wasn't till good ol' Don retrieved it, that I found out I'd just bagged my very first Wigeon, and it was a drake! On that note, we packed up and headed out with our bag - one very happy Kiwi hunter, and what a day! Alex really pulled out the stops and did all he could to help me bag a variety of species, and a big thank you to Andrew for allowing us down to shoot his land, where I got my Wigeon. We had done everything on day 2, I couldn't really imagine how we could top it. Boy was I wrong. Day 3 added another species to my list, and it was the one bird I'd really hoped to get....

Day 1 - 7 Species in 3 Days - Shooting the Scottish Highland's

Alex had seen one of my posts on a UK shooting forum, and having enjoyed hunting, shooting and fishing around the world himself, and knowing how difficult it can be, he was quick to email me and invite me up to the Scottish Highland's between Christmas and New Year's. The trip got off to a horrid start, with the bus from London to Inverness running 2 hours behind schedule, not great when I was meant to get in to Inverness at 11pm. To make matters worse, the bus left us at a layby at midnight, and told us taxis would be taking us the last 2 hours! Eventually a 5 seat taxi turned up to transport 11 of us. After another delay, a van finally arrived and we were off.
No sooner had we left Perth, than our taxi driver and an oncoming car drove right into a herd of cattle that had escaped and were on the open road. Both cars were written off, and several cows killed. It was horrific, but the fact that there were no human fatalities was a miracle.
After waiting two more hours, I finally got to Inverness where I was met by Alex and his lovely wife Elsa just before 4am. We got two hours sleep, before we were off to hunt Red Castle, where we all hoped, my luck would improve!

Red Castle, was until recently, one of the oldest inhabited houses in Scotland, with its last residents being recovering RAF pilots during and after the Second World War. The original castle here was first constructed in 1179 and was known as Edirdovar. The present building is dated at 1641 - making it 200 years older than my home country of New Zealand!

Day 1 at Red Castle was very warm, as had been the preceding weeks, and Alex and the rest of the crew explained to me that that was bad for us. The warmer than usual weather meant the pheasants were likely to roam, rather than continue to feed at the feeders which meant  numbers would be down as they left our hunting area in search of naturally available food. That being said, many of the crew turned up, with us split into two teams. One team would beat and drive the birds to the other team who would be standing guns, then after each drive, we would swap around. This was to be my first driven Pheasant shoot, anywhere in the world.

My team and I started off beating, and I flushed 3 cock birds as we walked the hill country. Those, along with other birds flushed gave the standing guns plenty to shoot at, and we had our first pheasant in the bag!

The second drive gave me my first chance as a standing gun. A cock bird came through, but it was flying behind trees and shrubs, which deflected the pattern - another way of saying I missed him! I was lucky enough to have a Roe Doe walk right up to me before taking my shot, she stood there for 10 seconds, 15 meters away, then wondered off into the forest - Awesome!
Throughout the day, we saw a number of birds, and one of the lads even managed a couple of Woodcock! I was happy for him, but very jealous at the same time, having missed a tough shot on one myself. It was one of the birds I was hoping to bag while away from New Zealand. The Woodcock are migratory birds that come over from Finland and Russia to winter in the UK. They are tough to hit, and taste delicious...or so I've been told!
On the last drive of the day, I had two cock birds flush towards me, about 20 seconds apart. I dropped them both, giving me my first ever driven pheasants. It was nice to be shooting them in the head and chest, rather than as they are quartering away, which is how they normally present themselves over dogs, They were moving a bit faster than I'm used to, flying up high, having the wind behind them. They were great sporting birds and I was chuffed to have been given the opportunity to bag them.

After we had finished the drives for the day, where I had seen a good number of Pheasant, Woodcock and Roe Deer, a few of us decided to have a crack at some Greylag Geese that were feeding in a nearby field. 5 of us were to pick a spot on a fence line, while another one of the lads flushed the geese up. It was only a small mob of about 20, so this seemed to be a logical way of targeting them, rather than trying to decoy them the next day. I hadn't hunted geese with anything other than a semi-auto in years, and never with a side by side, so this was to be a first - especially as I'd never shot Greylag Goose before either, as they are only farm-yard geese back home, not game birds. These Greylag Geese were a totally different story, having migrated to Scotland from Iceland for the winter. I took a look around, noticed a few tress along the fence line, and read the wind. I hoped that these geese would perform like ours, so I figured the wind would blow them into my line, and they would stay away from the trees on my left and right. Soon enough, with their traditional honks, I heard them take flight. chancing a glance up, I saw happily they were coming within range of me, and with a pull on each trigger of the side by side, I added Greylag Goose to my days bag! What a first day shooting the Scottish Highlands. My first Goose outside of New Zealand, my first truly pure-bred, wild Greylag Goose ever, and shooting driven pheasants in the shadow of a castle older than my country - it just doesn't get any better than that! I couldn't wait to see what Alex had planned for the next day!