doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The 'Glorious 12th.'

Thank you for posting those great pix!

One of these days.....

is this what you blokes refer to as rough shooting?

Great pictures. I'll bet the heather smells great. From your attire, is it chilly this time of the year there?
Huntng over the dogs, I would imagine as you said the birds aren't too skitish and what size shot and chokes do you prefer. Are the birds coveyed or singles?

Yes, please keep the pictures coming. It is always nice to see how gentleman respect their quarry by their attire.

CBL1-

Thanks for sharing. Which breed of pointers did you hunt over? Any pics of them?

Did you bring the 8g?

OWD

Thanks for the more positive and constructive responses gents.

Re the weather, we really did have all 4 seasons. At the tops of the ridges, it went down to 5c, with 50m visibility and strong winds - so shirt, jumper and thick jacket were all needed. The next morning, we were down at 1,200 ft, with glorious sunshine, 15c (at least) and I was roasting hot with just the shirt and jacket. However, with Scottish weather, we had strong rain squalls coming through all the time so you could not realistically go without. Also - with the physical exertion, you need to avoid being chilled to the bone when you stop for a retrieve/flush/sandwich.

I mixed up guns on respective days, using a 12 bore over/under Day 1 and a s/s 16 bore sidelock the next. Neither are heavily choked - 1/4 and 3/8ths the first, improved cylinder and half the other. Shot size was classic UK 6 shot, using paper cased, fibre wad 1oz cartridges. Any more choke/cartridge and you run the risk of smashing birds and there is no point with that given we want to eat them. We saw a large variety of ages, and were at all times encouraged to shoot the older birds (especially cocks), which were clearly distinguisable by their larger size, darker colour and call. You cannot always be successful in this respect (esp in the fog), but we did not let the keeper down.

Grouse can rise in either singles or coveys of many sizes. We tended to see a mix, but the average covey size was 12-15, with a few cocks and a good number of young birds, including small "cheepers" which are easily left. The pointers (German Shorthaired - which are Hunt, Point, Retrieve dogs) can go "on point" anywhere up to 400m away - it really is incredible to see - and you are then ushered quietly and safely toward the dogs by the keeper. However, the coveys can flush if you are not careful and in general terms, there were flushing about 10-15m away from the dogs but then motoring extremely quickly away. We also shot with them going downwind and downhill at times which made for a quick mount and focus!

Realistically, if all people take away is the shooting alone, they are missing out. There are so many facets to a day over pointers (this was my second time), that to not appreciate the company, scenery, dogs, habitat etc would be to reduce the overall experience. Some more pictures attached for reference and interest.

And Gregg - an 8g would not be appropriate for this type of shooting as hefting 12-17lbs of metal around these hills would see you dead and buried on one in a matter of hours!

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I shall be off to the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland soon for the deer stalking. The land also holds red grouse on the high tops and black grouse closer to the wooded plantations. I take a little double 20 for a walk around usually during the afternoons. No extra cost to the deer stalking which is on invitation anyway. Just have to pay a my share towards accomodation.

These two photos are of the moor in Derbyshire where I work the dogs. First one gives an impression of the flat nature of moors in this region. The tops were scraped off in the last ice age. This is later in the season so the heather, upon which the grouse feed, has lost its vibrant purple colour. It flowers in July and August and then the moors are alive with bees and butterflies to add to the pleasure.





This is a little earlier in the season and shows one of the Grouse Butts; the circular stone structures topped with turf over which the birds are driven. Note that some of the heather is in flower on this one.



It's also worth it for the stunning views. Note one of the stone guard walls that are placed between each butt for safety. You can see it to the right side of the photo. It is an unpardonable sin to swing the gun horizontally through the line. The gun should be lifted to the verticle when turning to take a shot behind. Driven grouse can fly at incredible speeds and hug the contours like fighter jets and can turn on just the tip of a wing. Lagopus.....

Looks fabulous. The countryside is beautiful. Wish I was there. I would love to hunt the Red Grouse sometime before I croak. Right now I am dreaming of hunting Ruffed Grouse. Our season begins mid Sept and a totally different type of hunting than yours....thick brush with tight shooting quarters. I just LOVE it. Our birds, 'Bonasa Umbellus' are a beautiful bird with just delicious white meat. The best eating bird of all IMO...or at least of what I personally have eaten. The Red Grouse, is it a white meat or dark? How is it as table fare? Dreaming of bird hunting, Buzz

Very dark meat indeed - purple in some respects. In my view, the best eating game bird there is. However, given it can be shot in August, you need to be quick in preparing it for the table as it can spoil - I put my birds on ice to transport them home and prepared them quickly. No hanging needed at this time of year.

Beautiful country. Something I'd love to do. How is the heather to walk through? Here in Maine, a lot of our pheasant hunting (and some of the grouse) is in low (knee to waist high) juniper and tangles under power lines - they seem to like the open sky, for some reason. Definitely not easy walking, by any stretch of the imagination.

And my Gordon is looking over my shoulder at your pictures and whimpering, something about "home".

Hello Dave,

On a properly managed Grouse Moor you will seldom find Heather that comes up much higher than mid calf heightso perhaps about 12" tall. When it gets to this height it is usually marked down as ready for the next burning. Burning removes all the vegetation above ground level and permits fresh regeneration from the rootstocks well underground. Every Moor is partially burned each season thus ensuring that there is always a fresh supply of young leaves for the Grouse to feed on. Generally but but not always a broad swathe of vegetation surrounding the area to be burned is cut and cleared of vegetation the idea being to make a fire break, then the heather inside the box is burned.

This has to be carefully controlled as if it got out of hand it can devastate a moor which will take a decade or more to recover. Most Grouse Moors are a very long way from water supplies and the fire services have very great difficulty in accessing these moorlands with vehicles carrying water. Having been involved in putting a couple of these blazes out in the past I can tell you it is hard and dangerous work.

Left alone Heather can grow up to four or five feet in height, but by then it is very 'leggy' and damned difficult to get through. You usually only see this in clearings when the surrounding land has been afforested, a sad fate in the past for many a grouse moor. Each year part of my consultancy work is carried out on Grouse Moors in the Counties of Durham and Northumberland. Tomorrow if the weather is fine I'll get some pictures of the patch burning from one of them that I am due to visit. Burning is usually carried out from late October through to March, depending on the weather and access to the moors, often difficult in winter weather.

Harry