How Purdey can help you hit those pheasants

The driven pheasant, with its woodland cackle, soaring flight and sumptuous flavour, is the classic UK game bird. With some expert instruction and a well-fitted new gun you will be more than a match for the high birds streaming over your peg.

The iconic pheasant has adorned our countryside for at least a millennium and probably longer. Like the rabbit and hare, it is believed this oriental species arrived with the Roman legions.

Also known as the longtail, it’s the bird which readily springs to mind when we think of driven shooting, and for very good reason. After all, what can match the adrenaline rush when that high pheasant soars into view on a flight line which is unmistakeably aligned with your peg? It’s the very essence of driven shooting. That fleeting moment when your skills are put to the test. Will that magnificent bird crumple and fall, or fly on unscathed? It’s entirely up to you…

The most difficult bird

In 1905, 15 of the Edwardian great shots were asked to name their most difficult bird. Ripon and Walsingham and a dozen others awarded the prize to the pheasant, especially the high curler dropping on motionless wings.

Today, the pheasant provides an even greater challenge. The shooting authority Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, in his High Pheasants in Theory and Practice (1913), describes an “ordinary high pheasant as being 28 to 30 yards above the shooter”. Some West Country, Yorkshire and Welsh shoots now specialise in showing far higher birds and many guns can routinely fell 50-yard cloud scrapers with a combination of heavy loads, tight chokes and long barrels. And of course, skill and judgment.

A great man for the ladies

Restraint is also required in January. The aggressive treading of hens by the cocks, and the latter’s superfluity to successful breeding, has led to the tradition of “cocks only” days in January, especially on wild bird shoots. On such days, it’s a crime to shoot hens, though some cannot resist the temptation.

At the turn of the 20th century, it’s reputed that Sir Somerville Gurney succumbed, the hen plummeting to the ground in full sight of the guns, who included King Edward VII. The King was said to have remarked wryly “Ah, Gurney, you always were a great man for the ladies.”

Food for the table

Tradition dictates that pheasants, unlike grouse, are counted singly, though the keeper presents the guns with a ‘”grace brace” at the end of the day. The connection between shooting and food on the table is, after all, at the very heart of our sport. These days many shoots will present this game as oven ready, and the recent emergence of the British Game Alliance and the Country Food Trust has helped to promote the consumption of game.

How to prepare for the high pheasants

If you are reading this and wondering how you will fare when the high birds are heading your way next time you are on the peg then fear not, help is at hand.

The Royal Berkshire Shooting School is famous for its superb shooting facilities, experienced full time instructors and stunning location. An hour or two spent at the high tower here with an experienced game shooting instructor on your shoulder will be time well spent in preparation for the real thing.

The perfect gun

And if you are looking for the perfect gun with which to address these scintillating pheasants then look no further than the new Purdey Trigger Plate over-under? Reflecting the trend for higher pheasants and heavier loads, this new over-under shotgun has been designed to meet the demands of today’s sporting world. As part of the process, it was tested with more than 150,000 cartridges to prove that it can meet such challenges.

Starting at £55,000 it’s a fully bespoke gun with the customary range of options, including barrel length, chamber length, choke configuration, stock dimensions, engraving, and case finish. So you can build a perfectly-fitted gun to help you bring down those soaring birds and enjoy the best shooting days of your life.

Photo credit - Mollie Lord Photography for pheasant images

Article written by Will Hetherington, GunsOnPegs Contributing Editor

Will was the editor of the Shooting Gazette, a leading international driven shooting magazine, for 13 years. Having been involved with country sports publishing for a total of 19 years, he is now our Contributing Editor at GunsOnPegs.