Bag:
- 28 Pheasants
- 1 Hare
- 1 Woodcock
Drives:
- Roundels
- Frank’s Track (Driven from Weedy field)
- Oliver’s field
- Keillor Road/ Sandy’s Drive
- The Arm
It is probably fair to say that the Saturday guns were a bit disappointed with the bag. While one or two birds may have got through the lines, there was a distinct absence of avian activity, including pigeons.
Frank was not available so Derek led the beating team while Neil M, Steve and myself took full advantage of the radios to get guns in place. We were also dealing with the whispered news that a recent exchange with one of the regular guns that shoot with Doig reported that they had enjoyed a 110 bird day earlier in the season. Before anyone gets despondent it is worth remembering that he shoots land that borders with Glenalmond so I am sure that the majority of that bag comes from there. Gauling non the less.
Because of a lack of birds, there isn’t much to write about. We had some guest beaters for the day and a dog amongst them. Steve and Neil M joined the beating line for the longer walk-ins to help put up birds. It was noted that on beating the arm in that several birds were put up by Steve’s dogs after the beating line had gone through. This just shows how tight they are sitting.
One point of concern that was raised by a few was about feeding. Several of the barrels were empty and others had no grain sitting beneath them, but when kicked would dispense grain. Maybe our pheasants are a bit thick and haven’t worked out how to use them.
Moving towards the end of the season it seems a little counterproductive to consider moving feeders around, but thinking towards the AGM and plans for next year the early, mid and late season feeding strategies need to be considered.
Two more days for all guns to attend and I am sure we will start walking up some of the outlying lands to the shoot.