::: TASTES OF TASMANIA
Flushed by success
Part II | The New Zealand shooters
have another six drives during the day, all very
different in the challenges they present. In some,
the birds are exposed in flight, free of the bush,
for only three or four seconds, demanding the
ultimate in a shooter’s
speed and accuracy. In other, steeper drives,
they come across at a height of 40 to 50 metres,
about the limit of a shotgun’s effectiveness
and accuracy. Automatic and pump action guns are
not allowed, so a shooter only gets two shots
before needing to reload, sight, follow, lead
the bird by up to a car’s length and shoot
again.
“We’ve put a lot of work into training
the beaters” says White. “Ian has
had a life-time’s experience as a gamekeeper
in the UK and it’s his expertise in choosing
the drives and coordinating the beaters to send
the birds in a series of flights towards the shooters
that makes this whole thing work so successfully.
“We get all sorts, from High Court judges
and Ministers of State to ordinary Joe Blows who
love the bush, like to hunt and take a few birds
home to the family"
And the way the bagmen train and handle their
dogs can make or break this sort of hunting. We’re
lucky to have a group of dedicated locals who,
with their dogs, consistently retrieve almost
every kill. Very few are missed – and this
is what the shooters want to see, a full bag”.
Redbanks’ pheasant season runs from April
to late August.
“We get all sorts, from High Court judges
and Ministers of State to ordinary Joe Blows who
love the bush, like to hunt and take a few birds
home to the family. So long as they can handle
a gun safely, understand the protocols and obey
the house rules — like picking up all their spent
cartridges — anyone is welcome”.
“This is our first international group,
but we’re looking over the next twelve months
to push into the European and American markets,
providing off-season shooting for their enthusiasts.
In summer, we also have trophy salmon and trout
fishing in a our bushland lakes which are proving
increasingly popular. Together with our clay shooting
range, nature tours, 4WD tours and deer stalking,
these activities are providing Tasmania with a
unique new range of experiential tourism. There’s
nothing else like it in Australia”.
Rosie Cook appears with steaming pots of pheasant
soup and ladles it up for lunch in the bush, in
drizzling rain, among the dogs and bags of birds
On the fourth drive of the day, after a few misses
and at the price of a sore shoulder, Trudi Perry
from Taupo bags her first ever pheasant. A hip
flask appears and shots of malt whisky are poured
all round in celebration.
Rosie Cook appears with steaming pots of pheasant
soup and ladles it up for lunch in the bush, in
drizzling rain, among the dogs and bags of birds,
as her husband leads the beaters off to prepare
another drive.
The group gets set for the next shoot by the
ritual downing of a measure of sloe gin, their
position in the next line revealed in the bottom
of each silver cup.
“Fantastic” says one of the New Zealanders. “Worth
every penny” says another. Even the rain
doesn’t fuss them. And Trudi Perry can’t
seem to keep the smile off her face. ¶
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