Americans give new meaning to high-tower bird
by Bill Beckett.
IT’S unlikely thoughts will turn to high pheasants in June but one can never predict what runs through the mind of a countrysports enthusiast when the shooting season ends, especially one who is retired. Those waking hours through the month of February – and possibly the sleeping ones, too – are sprinkled with thoughts of a month without game shooting, wildfowling and trout fishing.
I take solace in the fact February is usually only 28 days long but – horror of horrors – it’s a leap year this year and I had an extra day until the trout season opens. Despite withdrawal symptoms I take comfort from the lengthening days and the prospect of a good fishing season and, come autumn, a great game shooting one.
High pheasants are the pinnacle for ardent driven game shooters. Screaming over a valley with waiting Guns below, it’s a match of shooting prowess and wild birds which, late in the season, are masters of the sky.
Those of us standing there below have, more than likely, visited a clay pigeon ground or a shooting school with a high tower during September and honed our skills on clay pigeons which glide perhaps more than 100 feet above us. Unwieldy at first and cursing each miss as though it was a personal failure, eventually the lead and follow-through drills kick in and those aspirin-like objects in the sky start breaking and confidence returns.
