beater (hunting)

File:Beaters and shooters fox hunt Germany 01.jpg

File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Drijfjacht de drijvers verspreiden zich Bima TMnr 10013414.jpg

In hunting, beaters are assistants of hunters who drive game from hiding into the open or towards the shooters by making noise and other disturbance: shouting, beating the trees and bushes with sticks, using rattles/ratchtets/clappers, shooting in the air, etc. In various countries hunting with beaters may be of special types and have special names: driven hunt/driven hunting[https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.22583 Red deer responses to drive hunts are related to habitat and landscape characteristics] April 9, 2024, {{doi|10.1002/jwmg.22583}} =:no:Drivjakt =:es:batida = battue = :de:Drückjagd, :de:Streifjagd ("strip hunting"), :de:Kesseltreiben ("kettle driving")[https://www.jagdschulatlas.de/jagdlexikon/kesseltreiben-11-582.html Kesseltreiben] :de:Lappjagd :sv:Klappjakt (""clap hunting"), :pl:Naganka etc.

Beaters usually are unarmed, but may be accompanied with dogs. In Germany, high-visibility clothing is compulsory for beaters, for safety reasons.

==Traditions==

In Holy Roman Empire there was a beater duty during lordly hunts, and there was a special tax for the Jews, called :de:Federlappengeld, paid to exempt them from the duty.Israel Hildesheimer, David Hoffmann, Jubelschrift zum siebzigsten Geburtstag, 1890, [https://archive.org/details/jubelschriftzum00hoffgoog/page/n92/mode/2up p. 79]

The expression "wikt:beat about the bush" or "beat around the bush" comes from the method of fowling when beaters beat about the bush where the flock is roosting.{{cite book|title=2107 curious word origins, sayings and expressions from white elephants to a song and dance|author=Funk, Charles Earle|year=1993|author-link=Charles Earle Funk|isbn=0-88365-845-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/2107curiouswordo00funk/page/76 76]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/2107curiouswordo00funk/page/76}}

Beaters can wave flags on the ends of the drive line, to make the fowl stay within the shooting range.[https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/601441 The beaters' line preparing to advance], ''geograph.org.uk