There was an article — interesting, as always — by Tower-Bird a few months ago about a discussion with someone who claimed that pigeon provided the best sport of all, whereas he, T-B, preferred wigeon. Myself, I think that, as a target pure and simple, the driven grouse on a hilly moor — such as Finzean in Aberdeenshire, where I have been lucky enough to shoot since 1957 — makes any other bird a poor ‘also flew’. There are several reasons for this.
First, there is the fact that grouse prefer flying downwind and come down it at a tremendous pace. This year, at a downwind drive, after missing two birds well out in front with the first barrel, I caught them with the second. Though killed before they were