It has been said the people of Yorkshire, England, consider themselves apart from the rest of the country. A remarkable topography and a distinct dialect certainly contribute to this impression, but there is more. Indeed, a cultural divide distances these wonderful people from others. And there is no truer example than in the field-sports arena, where Yorkshire folk consider their sport, quite simply, the best.

So when Frank Boddy, owner of The Ripley Castle shoot, invited me to join him in the heart of Yorkshire for some “proper” partridge shooting, as bird hunting is known in the United Kingdom, I knew a jewel of a day lay ahead.

Now, while Yorkshire is well known for its wonderful driven moorland grouse and classic high pheasants, the county also produces some of the finest partridge shooting found anywhere in England-not the traditional tall-hedges and stubble-field partridge driving I grew up with in my native East Anglia; rater, a distinctive form of the sport where dramatic hillsides along moorland edges purposely deliver some of the most testing wingshooting you could wish to experience.

…From the beginning, much of Tall Timbers’ research has focused on fire’s pivotal role in the region’s ecology.

“Tall Timbers has played a big role in getting the message out that no fire is the wrong answer,” says Tall Timbers President and CEO Dr. William Palmer. “Prior to WWII there was a lot more agriculture and a lot more fire in the southeastern U.S. Now, there’s much less of both.”

That change turned huge swatches of what once was quail habitat into sterile oceans, at least from a quail’s point of view. Proper reintroduction of fire helps not only quail but other species that, at first glance, you wouldn’t think are of any benefit to quail.