Glorious Twelfth

[Longlowdog]

Grouse moor management including muir burn funded by private individuals is unquestionably an ecological success. Then one only has to look at the total ar5e made of moor management by Yorkshire Water when they followed the advice of men with degrees who have never visited a moor, never asked the former custodians how to do it and have all the gear and no idea.
Heather burning on 20x80 yard strips creates a patchwork of habitats from open recovering areas, young tender heather full of invertebrates and older heather for shelter. Wildlife only has to move a few yards to avoid the fire. When ar5eholes take over the reins, ban burning by keeper and shepherd alike and allow the fuel load to accumulate the fires wipe out thousands of acres and all the life therein. And...it burns bloody hot and takes the peat below with it releasing god knows how much carbon.
Money doesn't make money on a grouse moor, very few are profitable, they are a money pit owned by men with a passion for wild birds and wild places. The money is made by the locals offering accommodation, pubs and gifts to appease those left behind.

 

[Brisel]

In the Dales and North Pennines, a bad year of heather beetle and the cold spring culminating in snowfall in May have meant that most moors are quiet. Many will not be shot at all.

 

[Sir loin]

My sons a keeper in Northumberland last year was a very good year for numbers of grouse this year they have been decimated by the weather. Not a single days shooting this year, all his hard work over the last year for nothing. He now says building stock back up and keeping the conditions on the moor to allow natural regeneration of the grouse is his top priority otherwise it will take years to recover. Got to get more sheep back on these moors to control the tics is very important.

 

[Dry Rot]

Back in the 70s I shot a red grouse, a brace of black game, and a capercailzie over my Irish setter on Speyside, but didn't have the chance to add a ptarmigan.

I have also run dogs for falconers, one a lawyer who made the annual pilgrimage from the south east to fly wild caught passage peregrines from Arabia. I've always wanted to fly a goshawk at red grouse or ptarmigan, but probably too late now!

I'm afraid you'd have to pay me to shoot grouse walking up without a pointer or a setter of some sort! Yes, also shot golden plover in the Scottish Outer Isles. Shooting driven grouse awakened instincts I didn't find comfortable, I just wanted more and more! "It is not the frequency of the occurrence but the quality of the performance". Shooting seems an awful waste when you see a falcon stoop from a 1,000 feet at about double the speed of a retreating covey of grouse flying away at 55mph.

 

[egbert]

Are there now no Red Grouse left on Dartmoor? Knew numbers were VERY low but i thought there were still one or two about. No doubt @egbert will be able to give us a definitive answer.

sorry, been away. Yup, I believe a handful of grouse certainly used persist...although I;'ve not seen any for a long while.
Changing conditions and the demise of the heather has probably done for em now though.
I'll ask around if I remember.

The late Enery Brown was- i'm told- once seen stomping off up over to dispatch a cow/pony/rambler with a broken leg, with his side by side over his shoulder.
An unfortunate reflex action at a whirring sound led to the loss of one of em......oops enery.
It ate well though.

 

[An Gof]

sorry, been away. Yup, I believe a handful of grouse certainly used persist...although I;'ve not seen any for a long while.
Changing conditions and the demise of the heather has probably done for em now though.
I'll ask around if I remember.

The late Enery Brown was- i'm told- once seen stomping off up over to dispatch a cow/pony/rambler with a broken leg, with his side by side over his shoulder.
An unfortunate reflex action at a whirring sound led to the loss of one of em......oops enery.
It ate well though.

Must have been a young bird if it ate well. Old birds just taste of heather.
Last Grouse I enjoyed was served at The Farmers Club and jolly good it was to

 

[Bald Rick]

Pfft ... nothing beats hungry starlings (for scaring only)

 

[Filthyfarmer]

Back in the 70s I shot a red grouse, a brace of black game, and a capercailzie over my Irish setter on Speyside, but didn't have the chance to add a ptarmigan.

I have also run dogs for falconers, one a lawyer who made the annual pilgrimage from the south east to fly wild caught passage peregrines from Arabia. I've always wanted to fly a goshawk at red grouse or ptarmigan, but probably too late now!

I'm afraid you'd have to pay me to shoot grouse walking up without a pointer or a setter of some sort! Yes, also shot golden plover in the Scottish Outer Isles. Shooting driven grouse awakened instincts I didn't find comfortable, I just wanted more and more! "It is not the frequency of the occurrence but the quality of the performance". Shooting seems an awful waste when you see a falcon stoop from a 1,000 feet at about double the speed of a retreating covey of grouse flying away at 55mph.
View attachment 979667

Used to go up to Scotland hind stalking in the flow country north of Helmsdale and one of my greatest memories was a with a chap called Stephen Franks (?) and some other falconers who were on the estate that day after some grouse.
Watching man, pointer and falcon work together was quite amazing to say the least!

The peregrine looked the size of a sparrow in the sky before diving on a the covey of grouse flushed on command by the pointer. The rest of us were standing up a slope 100m or so to the side so had a perfect view of the whole hunt.

 

[Cowmansam]

We have a peregrine on the farm absolutely amazing watching him work only downside I’ve not partridge left since he turned up and a lot less stock doves I’d been thinking for a while that it was a funny sparrow hawk then the falconer we have on here told me the difference and showed me the two through his telescope

 

[An Gof]

Used to go up to Scotland hind stalking in the flow country north of Helmsdale and one of my greatest memories was a with a chap called Stephen Franks (?) and some other falconers who were on the estate that day after some grouse.
Watching man, pointer and falcon work together was quite amazing to say the least!

The peregrine looked the size of a sparrow in the sky before diving on a the covey of grouse flushed on command by the pointer. The rest of us were standing up a slope 100m or so to the side so had a perfect view of the whole hunt.

Yes, it really is something to behold. The dog has to be rock solid on point and the dog handler has to work with falconer as to when the bird is in the right place. Then, on command, you need a dog to give a vigorous flush to really spread the group. Of all the field sports I have witnessed this is, without doubt, the most pure.

 

[Dry Rot]

Used to go up to Scotland hind stalking in the flow country north of Helmsdale and one of my greatest memories was a with a chap called Stephen Franks (?) and some other falconers who were on the estate that day after some grouse.
Watching man, pointer and falcon work together was quite amazing to say the least!

The peregrine looked the size of a sparrow in the sky before diving on a the covey of grouse flushed on command by the pointer. The rest of us were standing up a slope 100m or so to the side so had a perfect view of the whole hunt.

I knew Stephen for years and stayed at his house more than once. He was a great character. I had a lot of fun flying a sparrowhawk on his farm in Gloucestershire in the 1960s.

 

[Dry Rot]

We have a peregrine on the farm absolutely amazing watching him work only downside I’ve not partridge left since he turned up and a lot less stock doves I’d been thinking for a while that it was a funny sparrow hawk then the falconer we have on here told me the difference and showed me the two through his telescope

I was flying my goshawk at grey partridges (released birds) on land next to my house here when a wild peregrine joined in the hunt for a few minutes! There always seems to be something unusual or exciting when flying raptors.

 

[Wilksy]

We had visit from a peregrine this afternoon whilst shooting a rape stubble, he did us a favour putting up the pigeons on the neighbouring stubble, pigeons really don’t like peregrines also had the company of a covey of English three adults and five young beautiful to see and hear

 

[DeeGee]

It has been a few years since I last shot grouse and I'll be sad if the weather in the spring has scuppered most of this years sport for others.
My most notable day in the field was a walked up 12th with my now gone cocker in front. I shot a brace for two shots out of only 3 birds shot that day and my bitch flushed and retrieved them at 9mths old. That day was before many more days on the foreshore or in the coverts with bigger bags but none will ever have the glow of that day about them.

I’ll just have to take yer word for it lad.
Last thing I shot was a preening crow on our barn roof whilst aiming for a low flying passing magpie.

 

[Longlowdog]

@DeeGee Oh now you're talking...magpie shooting is my addiction. Grouse and foreshore shooting are a passion but magpies have consumed way too many of my waking hours. I've taken out a couple of hundred in the 15 years of living in my present place with my air rifle.

 

[Cowmansam]

@DeeGee Oh now you're talking...magpie shooting is my addiction. Grouse and foreshore shooting are a passion but magpies have consumed way too many of my waking hours. I've taken out a couple of hundred in the 15 years of living in my present place with my air rifle.

Take some getting with an air gun once they know the game

 

[thorpe]

Take some getting with an air gun once they know the game

well take them out before they know what the game is then!