SHOWING HIGH PHEASANTS AND PARTRIDGES: THE STORY OF GURSTON DOWN. By David Hitchings.

1992 1st edition. 4to (200 x 265mm). Pp128. Colour and b/w photographs, illustrations, foreword by the Duke of Wellington. Gilt man taking high shot motif and titles to red boards and spine.

"High birds, the game shooter's most testing quarry, are the central theme of this book. David Hitchings has devoted much of his adult life to developing and refining practical techniques for presenting really high-flying pheasants and partridges. Here he reveals the story of the Gurston Down shoot in south Wiltshire, from modest beginnings in 1966 to its present status as an internationally renowned shoot." The author began as a poultry farmer raising half a million pullets a year, half of which were truly free-range, living on the land which later became the Gurston Down shoot itself. Originally set up to be a side-line to the poultry business "to let off steam", the shoot eventually took on a life of its own, as described in this fascinating book. Includes much practical advice for keepers and shoot managers intent on emulating the author's techniques for presenting truly high pheasants and partridges, much on conservation and some useful commentary on appropriate shooting technique. Much also on shoot management, conservation, and a list of all guns shooting Gurston Down from 1966 up until 1992. Produced by Colin Laurie McKelvie of The Signet Press, Lockerbie, for the author.