Grouse shooting in the British Isles normally opens on the 12 of August,this year it will likely be delayed until the 13th because as I recall game shooting is not allowed on Sundays in most parts of the British Isles!
As a boy I vividly remember being on Euston Station on or about this date,in the late 1940,s and seeing trolley loads of cased guns being loaded onto overnight L.M.S. trains destined for Scotland.
In those days by some miracle,Grouse was being served for lunch in London restaurants by mid day on the 12th!
So bearing in mind the wet spring and summer during 2012. What is the current outlook for Grouse shooting in 2012 and what are the prospects for finding grouse on London lunch menues on the 13th?

from everything I have read in the UK sporting press, it looks like a good year is expected.

the last few have been a dramatic improvement on the lows of just 5 or 6 years ago

Not to begrudge our British brothers in arms, but why oh why, Lord, can't that be our story here in New England?

What percentage of the grouse shot in the British Isles these days are wild? I got the impression from reading "A Shooting Man's Creed" by Sir Joseph Nickerson, that they are almost all pen raised now. Maybe I'm thinking about the pheasants?

SRH

Stan,

I think your'e thinking about pheasant. Red Grouse, just like our Ruffed Grouse or Ptarmigan, are COMPLETELY wild birds.

On the pheasant and partridge drives, however, you'll find mostly reared game.

Adam

hello stan,
i have not read "shooting mans creed" but if it says grouse in the uk are pen reared it is 100 % wrong! grouse are wild birds and none are reared in captivity for shooting.to rear grouse in that manner(if indeed possible) is a ridiculous suggestion,in my opinion.
the forecast in south scotland is for a fair year and i shall be on the moor tomorrow,for a walked up day.
shooting game on a sunday is not illegal in scotland,but tradition has always been to honour the sabbath and thankfully is still upheld.
cheers


mrwmartin

Good hunting to those going out tomorrow. Share some stories and pictures if you can.

habitat - although it is a different environment the grouse moors have returned to burning the heather ( think of the old burnings for quail down south) while clear cutting few acres of mature timber here will have the "environmentalist" on you in a New Yawk minute.

Also, there has been serious efforts to severely reduce the parsite carried by sheep and red deer that has plauged the red grouse.

there would never be the numbers of Ruffed Grouse that there are of Red Grouse in Scotland

but in either case, habitat and predation take their tool, more habitat + less predation = more grouse.

only in the Highlands could this be no birds to be found, we saw only about a hundred that day.

Thanks for the clarification. Maybe he was talking about the grey partridge, or maybe my "rememberer" just ain't working well!

SRH

Sir Joseph Nickerson's book covers the importance of a well managed heather moorland with proper habitat management practices to establish and/or maintain a strong wild grouse population. As I recall he highlights the challenges facing the management of the bird.

The confusion might be the book also covers shooting the reared pheasant. As I recall he also enjoyed wild grey partridge shooting.

Current expectations are mixed at best for this season; despite a relatively benign winter, the vast amounts of rain in April-June has impacted breeding success on some moors quite heavily. The last few seasons have indeed been very positive - I have had the honour of doing some walked up grouse days over pointers in 2009 and 2011 and both times were incredible experiences and enhanced my respect for the red grouse yet further.

Re the comment by the OP about Euston, the Caledonian Express train does still allow you to get up to the moors for the 12th/13th but there are very few doing it. I have done it twice and it was a superb method of travel - but given that I was told that I was only the second person to highlight my travelling up for this reason (when gaining formal permission/authorisation to take firearms on the train), there won't be any return to the pre-war days!

Re rearing of birds, and as other posters have mentioned, the red grouse is an entirely wild bird. The few attempts made to rear them (some in Southern England) have generally failed badly and quickly. Wild grey partridge can occasionally be reared, but again with mixed success and the very few estates which do have a harvestable surplus of wild grey partridges make very significant efforts at habitat and predator control vs rearing. Those in Southern/Eastern England which I know have a real passion for this and their efforts over many years have been rewarded.

I think grouse prospects are better in Scotland than England. We have had a cold wet period when the grouse chicks hatched whereas Scotland had it fairly dry and mild. Speaking to my Keeper friend who looks after a north Derbyshire moor he says prospects are poor but then all grouse keepers are natural pessimists. Our first shoot on that moor is on for the 18th. September and I will be there working my two dogs as I have for the last 40 years so time will tell. The so called Glorious Twelth is there mainly just to get the anti shooters and press excited as most moors do not shoot until the birds are more strongly on the wing.

A grouse moor with shooting but in lower right side:



A grouse butt over which the birds are driven:



My old Chesapeake making sure no-one touches the bag!

Beautiful photo's Michael,thank's for passing them along...out of curiosity what's the eating quality of the black and red grouse ?

Good luck on the moors !

Diane and I were lucky enough, a few years ago, to spectate a shoot in Scotland. Having been told stories by both Grandpas, and reading about it since childhood, I have to say it was evreything I expected. A grand experience...And the eating was good....

Newf, there is currently a self imposed; that is by hunters, ban on shooting black grouse until numbers get up a bit. Can't say I'ver eaten one. As for red grouse I have had plenty. Young birds are better than old ones but both are fine. Their main diet is heather shoots (the purple flowering plants in the photo) and bilberrys. A rough sort of diet to survive on.

These two paintings; Going North from King's Cross Station and Ging South from Perth Station hang in the National Railway museum in York. They are about 7 foot by 4 foot and packed with detail showing the preparations for the grouse shooting season and the return. You may find larger illustrations with a bit of searching. http://sciencemuseumdiscovery.com/blogs/collections/coming-south/ Lagopus.....

"A Shooting Man's Creed" by Sir Joseph Nickerson is an excellent book which I very much enjoyed reading.

It has been a couple of years since I last reread it. I think there is some confusion on pen raised grouse as I believe all attempts to do so (and there were many) failed. I am not sure if pen raised gray partridge is all that successful but I maybe wrong.

I believe for pen raising in the UK the pheasant has proven most successful. I defer to our posters from across the water.

Cool!
Good hunting all that keep the jungle moor law!

Grey partridge are about 50/50 wild and reared. Red Leg Partridge are mostly pen reared but do breed in the wild and about the same for pheasant. Attempts have been made with grouse but without any real success as they like to hold territories and resent intrusion from other birds and even humans sometimes. Lagopus.....

Lagopus, are you sure that's a Chessie and not a Grizzly Bear with a dog collar? Those birds are safe with him for sure. Gil

Pleased to hear that you can still travel to Scotland by train from Euston.Back in The years following the end of W.W.2 ;prior to the start of grouse season,the goods van on trains leaving Euston for Scotland were filled with cased guns,thrown into the van and then stacked by the porters/guard. In retrospect Oak and leather cases were likely a must to stand up to this rough treatment.
For those interested in a well illustrated and enjoyable book that traces the history of grouse shooting in the U.K.,"Going to the Moors,by Ronald Eden," is a must read.
On the rough shoot that I enjoyed prior to leaving the U.K. for Canada,both the Red leg [or French partridge as we called them] and the Hungarian partridge were present and were true wild birds.

If there is better sport than hunting flushing birds with dogs and guns I don't know what it is. Thanks to Roy for the stories and starting the thread and to Lagopus for the pictures.

There are some good quality prints available of Going North and Coming South, about 22" by 13" published by Malcolm Innes Gallery in 1998. Although I go to Scotland annually (and have been for over 25 years), I have never done the journey by train. Looking forward to this years visit.

Some further pictures of the Glorious 12th shown here on this post;

http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbt...9194#Post239194

Re the trains up to Scotland, I used to own an 1870 Reilly hammergun whose case was covered with old train stickers from the turn of the century. All of the rail companies no longer exist, but it was wonderfully evocative to see those old labels, including one for a local St Pancreas hotel which a former owner had perhaps stayed in prior to travelling North.

GLS yes, that's the infamous Sammie my old [censored] who sadly passed away last year. No-one other than me would even be allowed to approach those birds. I have two other Chessies but they are a bit softer. Sammie was an excellent deer tracker too and would stand and snarl her head off all the time I was gralloching a deer even though we would be miles from anywhere with no body in sight.

John, I will look up about those prints. Thanks for the info. I do have them both as post cards that I picked up from the Railway Museum last year. The paintings there really are something with huge amounts of detail; too much for a small card. I stood for some while studying them. Lagopus.....

This picture from 1895 by George Earl says it all.


Can't remember where I found it but it is a great picture of days past.

JDW - that is a great print, lots of action and detail

and the other end of the journey (this one will be off for restoration )

Black Game by Richard Ansdell (1852)

did a quick search - the title is "Going South, Perth Station"

there is a companion piece - "going north, Kings Cross"

http://www.art.com/products/p10357408-sa...39f310b9e33fdbe


thanks for posting it -