Red Legged Partridge hunting
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Where to hunt Red Legged Partridge
Red-legged partridge is a medium-sized game bird that originated in the South-West of Europe: Spain, Portugal, France and parts of Italy. It is closely related to the Chukar, and may even form hybrids with it. It also resembles in appearance, behavior, and fertility, the Grey (a.k.a. Hungarian) Partridge, and both species are called simply “partridge”. Its ability to raise two broods of twenty-odd chicks each a year made it popular with game farmers and shooting estates all over the world. But the best opportunities for red-legged partridge hunting are in Spain.
Price distribution
Red-legged partridge hunts are usually large-scale affairs that involve a lot of work in preparation, from rearing and releasing birds, to arranging the hunt, and bring high returns in harvest. It is not unusual for a hunter to claim up to 50 birds a day (none of the birds are wasted: they are all picked up and sold to restaurants and such). A hunt may continue for two or more days, and involve up to eight hunters, so the per hunter per day price may actually start from $2,500 a hunter a day.
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Learn more from our blog story
From the beginning of agriculture, partridge and humans have been living in symbiosis: the birds found an abundant food source in human-grown grain and insects that feed on it, and humans hunted the birds for table and recreation alike. Read about the co-journey of people and another avian species – the pheasant.
21 Jun 2018 The Pheasant JourneyWhen to hunt Red Legged Partridge?
Traditionally, partridge shooting began after the wheat was reaped, in September, and lasted until the advent of winter. These days, shooting estates and game farms offer red-legged partridge shooting all year round (check out the Partridge hunting page, too), but the connoisseurs still believe the best time for this pursuit is October, give or take a few weeks.
Hunting methods
Red-legged partridge would rather run under a dog than hold a point. For this reason, the most popular methods of red-legged partridge hunting are walk up in line, with hunters walking through the fields in a horse-shoe formation, and driven hunts, when birds are made to fly over a line of guns by a team of drivers (or “beaters” in British English). A hunter’s skill with a shotgun is paramount, but success depends on a hundred of subtleties. For instance, at a walked-up hunt, walk in small zig-zags rather than in a straight line, pausing for a few seconds here and there: often, the covey will rise just as you do. But perhaps the best-kept secret of red-legged partridge shooting is dealing with misses: learn from each but leave it behind to focus on the next bird.
Why hunt Red Legged Partridge?
Some hunters are willing to endure long periods of inaction or routine work, such as sitting in a blind or covering distance in search of game, typical for big-game hunting, for the sake of one moment of truth of taking the animal. Others are looking for an experience that is action-filled from the first to the last minute, with one chance, success or disappointment immediately transiting to another. If you’re one of those, consider red-legged partridge hunting. Whether walking up, or waiting “on a peg” in the line for driven birds, a well-organized red-legged partridge hunt will not have a dull moment about it, and if you think it’s easy, well, even the best shots can hit not much more than 40% of birds they shoot at!
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