Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich

Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Vorich

Sunday 9 February 2014

20 January 2014 - nearly more than a pheasant shot





A few years ago we got caught up in a fox shoot here and felt as though we were in a war zone. Not that any shots were fired but periodically we'd be surprised by a shooter, camouflaged head to toe, leaning against a tree, shotgun or high powered rifle with telescopic sights in hand. As we passed each of them radioed ahead to warn of our presence which, while reassuring, added a military feel to the whole thing.

Today (20 January) it was a pheasant shoot and those involved seemed blissfully unaware that we were walking the drove road and about to pass very close. Too close. Eventually a shout went up -  'walkers'. Some heard, some didn't, and as two pheasants flew straight towards me (and not that high above me) an idiot took a shot; one of the birds dropped behind a wall a few yards away. Why oh why did they not have warning notices? Why not suspend firing for the few minutes it took for us to clear the area? If we hear guns in this area again we'll be staying high.

View east from the drove road

6 comments:

Sir Hugh said...

Wow! I thought I was in danger from the wind today.

afootinthehills said...

Hi Conrad. Mountains I can cope with, guns not so well!

Alan Sloman said...

I think you've been amazingly tolerant, Gibson.
I would have been straight on the phone to the police.
:-(

afootinthehills said...

Hi Alan - we've met the Estate Manager several times and he's a pretty nice guy so I never really thought of taking things further.

Phreerunner said...

Scary! You are very tolerant Gibson.

afootinthehills said...

Hello Martin. You and Mr Sloman seem to think so but 'tolerant' is probably not a word people who know me would use!