Driven hunt for small game

Battue is a form of drive hunt that is primarily aimed at small game such as hare, pheasant, and fox. During the hunt a chain of beaters drive the animals in front of them by making noise. Tools such as ratchets were of common usage. This type of hunting can be very intense and accident prone, thus requiring the waiting shooter to be very cautious.

The ratchet is originally a musical instrument that found a new area of usage within battue. By setting the ratchet in a rotating motion the grooves of the instrument hit a wooden spring and a smattering sound occurs.