Hunting -- Spain; Natural history -- Spain; Spain -- Description and travel
In strong gales of wind the geese, on being driven, are apt, instead of
taking a direct course, to circle around in revolving flight, gaining
altitude at each revolution; and in such case not only come in very high
but at incredible speed--_mas lejeros que zarcetas_--swifter than teal,
as Vasquez puts it.
The first essential of success in driving wild-geese (and the same
applies to great bustard and all large winged game) is to instal the
firing-line as near as may be without disturbing the fowl. The more
remote the guns the greater the difficulty in forcing the game through
the crucial pass.
To manoeuvre single bands of geese as above, three or four guns at
most, with the same number of drivers, are best. A great crowd of
horsemen (such being never seen in these wilds) unduly arouses
suspicions already acute enough. With any greater number of guns, it is
advisable to extend the field of operations to, say, two or three miles,
thereby enclosing several troops of geese--this requiring a large force
of drivers. It does not, however, follow that each of these enclosed
troops will "enter" to the guns; for should one pack come in advance,
the firing will turn back the others. This mischance--or rather
bungle--may be averted (or may not) by the leading driver firing a blank
shot behind so soon as the first geese are seen to have taken wing.
Needless to remark, once a shot has been fired ahead, it becomes
tenfold harder to force the remaining geese to the guns.
Each gun should hold his fire till the main bodies of geese are well on
wing and seen to be heading in towards the shooting-line. The "best
possible" chances are thus secured, and not for one gun only, but quite
possibly for all, as several hundred geese pass down the line. A
premature shot, on the contrary, will ruin the best-planned drive, and
bring down merited abuse from the rest of the party with scathing
contempt from the drivers.
Taking single troops at a time, as many as six or eight separate drives
may be worked into a long day. Our first drive to-day produced three
geese, the second was blank, while five greylags rewarded the third
attempt. In the last instance three of the guns received welcome aid
from a string of _ojos_, or land-springs, around which grew a fringe of
green rushes, affording excellent cover.
By four o'clock we had secured, in five drives, eleven geese and a
wigeon. We then, on information received, changing our plan, rode off to
a point which the keeper of that district had noted was being used by
the geese as a _dormidero_, or sleeping-place; and here, as dusk fell,
an hour's "flighting" added six more greylags to that day's total.
The above may be put down as a fair average day's results in a dry
season. From a dozen to a score of driven geese (and occasionally many
more) represent, with such game as greylags, a degree and a quality of
sport that is ill-represented by cold numerals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account