I’ll lay my cards on the table. I’m a wildfowler and the concept of shooting driven duck sits uncomfortably with me. We must be able to defend all of what we do on the grounds of sporting ethics, welfare and sustainability, and if any branch of shooting doesn’t meet with the exacting standards we set ourselves, then perhaps we should consider some pruning.
I’m also a rough shooter, so you may assume that I harbour the same reservations about driven pheasants or partridges as I do about driven duck. But you’d be wrong. Although I haven’t shot a driven day for years, I do attend a number of such days each season when pheasants, partridges as well as ducks make up the bag. I’m entirely supportive of driven shooting when birds are well presented to a team of competent Guns by a shoot
