Prey proves elusive in the capital game hunt

Country Life editor Mark Hedges and two staff decided to replicate the plot of the John Buchan novel John MacNab in which three gentlemen set out to catch a salmon and stalk and kill two stags - all in one day.

But this was to be the London equivalent with Mr Hedges, features editor Rupert Uloth and the fishing correspondent trying to shoot a pigeon, kill a partridge or hare with a bird of prey and catch a pike - all within the confines of the Tube map.

The trio set off on the mission before dawn from the Goring Hotel in Victoria in a black cab. Not far from Epping Tube station they hid under a camouflaged net and each had soon shot a pigeon. Their second, more challenging task took them to a field in sight of Canary Wharf. Despite help from the British Falconer's Club, a gamekeeper and two pointer dogs, the targets proved elusive.

A goshawk being used to catch a hare "made several game attempts, swooping after the quarry like a passenger jet" before deciding it had had enough and settling in a tree. A gyrfalcon used to trap a partridge "began a bullet-like decent like Superman to the rescue" before disappearing and failing to return.

The poachers then moved to Pen Ponds in Richmond Park to catch a pike but by sunset they had failed to get a bite and left empty-handed.

Mr Uloth writes: "We handed our pigeon to the head chef [at the Goring] but he'd been wise enough to plan for glorious failure: that night, we feasted on jugged hare, pigeon breasts, roast partridge and even pheasant."

Their exploits are told in full in Country Life, on sale from tomorrow.