If I am asked about the few surviving wildernesses of Punjab, my immediate response would be the rugged and forested terrain of Lava in tehsil Talagang of district Chakwal. Situated near the west end of district Chakwal, Lava touches the outskirts of Mianwali and Khushab as a vast expanse of broken ridges and hills.

For those interested in reliving the sheer joy of old style hunting, the area even today offers shikar opportunities of game birds including partridge and, surprisingly, sisi.

As already mentioned, Lava is a vast area of broken jungle land. For ardent enthusiasts of wilderness, I would strongly propose the area close to Ghabir Dam site, which we were aiming for. This site is a confluence of several streams, coming from various directions of the Lava wilderness. The terrain is comprised of ridges which culminate in the districts of Khushab as well as Mianwali and which, till some decades ago, provided ideal cover to bandit Muhammad Khan who established a reign of terror in the area.

The far flung nature of the Ghabir Dam site and the dangerously slopy ridges have made the scrub forest in the area as the ideal habitat for healthy populations of Grey Partridges and Sisi (the latter having been eliminated from all other areas of Chakwal district).

It was therefore with great hopes that our team of two guns and one spectator entered the rocky labyrinth of Lava towards Ghabir lake watershed one freezing January morning. It was the first Sunday of open hunting season in the district. In the good old tradition of hunters of yesteryear, we had a hearty breakfast, fully aware of the unending miles that are typically to be treaded during partridge shooting in the  hilly terrain.

Our vehicle carried two experienced hunting dogs and a glorious falcon to help us in partridge shooting.

Partridge hunting with dogs and falcons can be fascinating as well as a nerve-testing experience. With game birds fully camouflaged in the dense undergrowth, the hunters are almost solely dependent upon dogs or falcons to locate the game birds which are subsequently to be shot within a split second.

While hunting dogs primarily bank upon their keen sense of smell, the falcons are aided by their x-ray ocular abilities to trace these shy game birds. The success or failure of a hunting expedition is therefore largely dependent upon the performance of the accompanying dogs or falcons.

We entered a scrub covered ravine which was bordered on two sides by cultivation of agricultural fields. Partridges leave their tree cover after day break and make for adjoining agricultural fields for feeding. For this part of hunting, dogs are ideal as they can pick up the scent of game birds and lead the hunter to the exact point where partridges might be sitting.

Both our dogs were an experienced duo and exactly understood the task lying ahead.

Once let loose, it is rather difficult to control the excitement of these hunting dogs which instinctively look for the warm scent of their target birds. However, our dogs on that morning appeared a little perplexed as they made many false starts, raising our expectations sky high only to plummet as nothing happened for almost three hours.

But this is precisely the charm and true excitement of partridge hunting with the aid of hunting dogs that the hunter’s nerves are always on the edge. Just when one loses hope and tends to become lethargic, a sudden flutter of wings of a covey of partridges transforms the whole environment.

That was exactly what happened to our team on that day as we were on the point of exhaustion after forcing our way through the bushy scrub jungle for several hours.

After zigzagging through the scrub, we had hardly entered the level agricultural field when suddenly four partridges took flight, having been located by Sozee, the dog.

The sudden moment when partridges take flight is perhaps the penultimate point in hunting as many decisions are to be made simultaneously. Members of the hunting party have to take a quick decision as to who is best placed to take a shot. In our case, both sportsmen friends were ideally suited to take a shot but one of them instinctively lowered his gun while the other hunter emptied both chambers of his gun.

With a heavy thud, two partridges came down in circles while the other two instantaneously made for a low tree cover a few dozen meters away. The excitement of hunting dogs was worth a watch as they made short circles around the fallen prey and had to be removed forcefully to retrieve the bag.

After having succeeded with hunting dogs our next task was the falcon. As already mentioned, falcons depend upon their legendary sighting abilities to locate their prey even in the thickest of covers. That is what we saw as we took some rest over a precipitous ridge to refresh ourselves and let the falcon survey the surrounding scrub for any game birds.

We must have been sitting there for some 20 minutes when suddenly the falcon started looking towards a ravine close to the Ghabir stream.

Straining as we tried, we were unable to see anything but the falcon was surely aware of the presence of a game.

It was then that the falcon-keeper released the falcon who took a few graceful strides and landed atop a stunted phulai tree. One of our experienced hunters informed that this was the time to move as the falcon had located a partridge and his terror on these game birds was such that these partridges must be glued to ground.

It took us some 20 minutes to reach the perilous slope. No sooner had we reached the spot being pointed by the falcon than we saw four partridges take a vain flight to escape. Guns rang in quick succession and all four grey partridges were brought down in no time.

As is the tradition, one of the partridges was allowed to the falcon who took quick bites at the head of the dead bird before his handler held it back.

After spending nearly six hours in the Ghabir stream surroundings, we emerged with a bag of 12 partridges, one Sisi and a wild rabbit. We found ourselves lucky to have entered a wilderness which nobody would have imagined a few decades ago, owing to the presence of legendary bandit Muhammad Khan.