Greywing partridge in Africa

I started my shooting life on birds as do many other hunters. Mainly wood pigeons (Columba palumbus) in the UK over corn fields or catching them coming into roost at dusk.
In my opinion some of the best sport you can have in the hunting field is when you get your decoy pattern correct and the birds just keep coming.
You will be tested with birds coming in from all angles and at various speeds which fine tunes your reactions and develops your shooting abilities for future challenges with a shotgun.Those first days sitting in a hide made of a military camouflage net and 4 poles cut from the surrounding hedges with my father were great days. Not always successful but always worth the trip out, and I still enjoy it when I return to the UK to go and share a day together with him. He introduced me to shooting and taught me so much about the sport.
This then progressed to walked up shooting with a dog for pheasants(Phasianus colchicus), partridge (Alectoris rufa) and any other species in season at the time. This is commonly known as rough shooting which many a shotgun hunter takes part in.
Then one winter’s day I was given my first driven pheasant day. Dressing up in my tweeds (traditional British hunting attire) and armed with my first shotgun which was an AYA no.4 deluxe box lock we headed out for that memorable day.
After this I was invited to shoot red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) on the Welsh hills over dogs. This was a great experience and made even better by watching well trained dogs flush the birds for the line of guns.
These bird shooting days were made even better by the chance of seeing trained dogs do their work. The bag of birds at the end of the day was irrelevant now as the enjoyment game from the whole experience.
I then got an invite by a good friend of mine and owner of Karoo Wing shooting Tim Van Heerden to go after grey wing partridge (Francolins africanus). I hastily accepted his offer and a date was agreed. We would go early season for a couple of reasons. The first was to get his dogs out on the hills again after the off season and the other was to see how the coveys were in certain areas.
The morning came and we loaded up his 4×4 Toyota with our equipment and hitched the trailer for the 6 English pointers we headed to the mountains surrounding the town of Graaff Reinet.
Tim has six English pointers which he uses for the job. All from good working stock they know what their job is and they do it very well. They cover the terrain with ease in search of their quarry coming on point as soon as a familiar scent is picked up by their incredibly sensitive noses. All the dogs were taken to give them all a run and also because there is so much area to cover that they need a rest every now and then.
On arrival at the highest point which seemed like the top of the world, we collared two of the dogs and headed off, leaving the others in the trailer. Watching them move across the hills searching for a scent was an awesome experience and one which if you have not seen is well worth grabbing at if you get the chance. This to me was already a successful outing seeing the dogs do their job.
Then the one froze. Her tail held high and her nose pointing to a small clump of bush, standing completely motionless she pointed. The other dog came to a second point also targeting the same position and working as a really well-oiled team. Loading the shotgun Tim and I slowly moved forward. As we got closer Tim gave the command to flush and from the bush erupted a covey of grey wing. Birds flying in all directions. I raised the gun, selecting one I fired. One of the big mistakes when shooting like this is that the gun gets confused about which bird to go for giving the birds a chance to get away. Pick one and stick with it. If it falls to the shot select another, if not remain on the original target for your second barrel. Missing with the first barrel I quickly continued with the follow through and dropped a bird with the second shot. My first grey wing. The dogs moved forward and retrieved the bird and returned it to Tim. We admired the bird and scenery while chatting about the size of the covey and comparing the similarities to grouse shooting in the UK.
Tim then put the mature cock bird in his bag and sealed it as the dog’s sense of smell is so good that they will pick up on its scent if not careful. We moved on and flushed a number of other coveys during the day which ranged in sizes of 6-15 birds. Tim seemed happy with the numbers on the ground which stood to make for a good season. I shot 3 birds that day which I will always remember but what made the experience stand out was the quality of the dog work and the location which we were so lucky to be exposed to as countrymen. I have been out a couple of times since them and I am sure I will be up on the hills before the end of this season. A couple of the dogs may have changed now due to retirement, so it will be nice to see how the new blood compares.