Membership Portal
Like me, you are probably left feeling a little deflated at the close of the season, when all the fun and frivolity you’ve enjoyed with your sporting friends suddenly and rather abruptly comes to an end and you are left wishing the time away until next season.
Fear not, I have the perfect remedy; get busy planning an early season trip for later in the year. I’ll let you in to a secret – these early days are my favourites as they signify that the wait is over and the culmination of all those long days wishing you were out in the field has finally arrived and spirits are dangerously high.
We have a week away in Yorkshire where we shoot rabbits over ferrets, pigeons over rape stubbles, fish for anything that’s moving and enjoy some wonderful walked-up grouse shooting over setters. Think Famous Five go Wild, (but with a car full of wine and cartridges).
Everything we harvest is completely wild and I delight in being able to cook what we bring back. Rabbit hot pot move over, I’m talking wild sea trout smoked on a bed of whiskey infused heather or poached rabbits with juniper and damson (picked from the hedgerow) jus. The world of game cookery has exploded and there are any number of delicious recipes out there to try. It is entirely satisfying to be able to eat what you have shot, and nothing could be more delicious or sustainable.
Allowing yourself to be completely immersed in the beauty of nature in its rawest forms soothes the soul and allows you to truly relax and focus entirely on yourself. In this invasive digital age this has become even more important and ‘un-plugging’ for a week can help you switch off to enjoy each moment in the present. This lets us grow as a person and with each other. An early season adventure means that you can be out, with gun in hand a whole 6 weeks earlier than having to wait for October pheasants and that has got to be worth doing.
For our trip away we stay in a World War One prisoner of war hut that sits in the middle of a field next to a bubbling beck that winds its way down the valley. The hut was moved there over 100 years ago and for me this place is heaven. The walls are filled with faded black and white photographs of past family and friends and many, many dogs out enjoying everything this wild and beautiful place has to offer. One of the main reasons we enjoy our sport so much are the bonds of friendship we forge in the field. Shared experiences build lifelong connections to people we might not normally meet in our everyday lives and the camaraderie that builds lasts a lifetime and often crosses into future generations.
The ‘Cottage Dwellers’ as we call ourselves, are made up of a motley crew of friends and family who span a number of generations and even though I have been making this pilgrimage from Cornwall for most of my life I still have not managed to secure myself a regular bed inside the cottage. I find myself more often than not unpacking in a soggy tent, tripping over about a hundred very excited labradors who will not move from the kit bags in case somehow, they are forgotten!
Grouse are a truly wild game bird and as such there is trepidation mingled with excitement over the uncertainty as to whether you might even get a shot off at one, but that makes connecting with a bird that much more rewarding when it happens. Nothing can dampen our spirits, not even an air bed that won’t hold its air, in anticipation of tomorrow’s wonderful adventure.
There is always such a delicious buzz around the beginning of the season, and it is infectious. The first day of the season still gives me that thrill like nothing else and people move heaven and earth just to be a part of the ‘Glorious Twelfth’, developing mysterious illnesses and inventing laptop failures or just about anything to get out of work and be a part of this annual pilgrimage.
These days are a relaxed family affair, there are farmers, cider makers, nurses, brewers and people of all ages from young babies to senior stalwarts in attendance. The beating line is made up entirely of youngsters from the local area. We are delivering small scale sustainable grouse shooting that you work jolly hard for. One of my favourite parts of the day and something I am truly passionate about is encouraging and helping young guns to shoot their first grouse. Last year we had two young lads who both shot their first grouse, and one was retrieved by his own young dog. One of the loveliest things about shooting is how happy and supportive everyone is when this happens. The smiles on their faces at the end of the day were magnificent.
The friends who are working their dogs during these early days are invaluable and later in the week we come back up to the moor to shoot grouse over English setters. In 1624 some working setters, with their distinctive, dappled-white coats, were sent to King James I by Louis XIII of France, to be used in conjunction with falcons, and they are still to this day the most popular rough-shooting dog in that country. One of the main attractions of shooting over setters is the exquisite moment of breathtaking anticipation when the dogs go on point and before the birds erupt from the heather. It’s heart-in-your-mouth stuff and it is terribly addictive.
Grouse moors are considered rarer now than rainforests and making sure they are correctly maintained for future generations is extremely important. The little piece where we go is thriving with all manner of wildlife and this becomes obvious when you see not just grouse and blackgame, but a whole host of other birds like curlews, golden plover, snipe and marsh pipits.
This moor is a shining example of how effective management of uplands can have a significantly positive effect on the biodiversity of the area. But this doesn’t just happen overnight, and every single person helps in their own way. From assisting with the spring grouse counts to repairing butts on the moor, the passion shines through.
This is certainly a shoot where you earn your large G&T. After long climbs, it’s a 45 minute stomp to the first piece, but big hills provide big breathtaking views and a sense of freedom one can rarely experience these days. Then it’s back to the headquarters or ‘The Green Hut’ for a few beers. This used to be an Esso filling station but was moved up onto the moor in the 1950’s and is a rather special place. It is often the warmest place to be on the moor and when the weather closes in the scent of damp tweed and dog can be rather overwhelming when you are packed in like sardines!
It has even been known, after one raucous party, when the ‘debriefs’ went on so long that the candles have been lit, and when the door was finally opened, it was into a snowdrift which had silently accumulated during the revels. This hut has seen it all. It is never locked and provides a refuge for anyone who might need it. This included an amorous couple who once spent the night and left an effusively descriptive note of thanks on the table when they left. Imagine that!
It’s always ‘grouse on the house’ that night and wild game never tasted so good. Young tender grouse, shot by your own fair hand (hopefully) dressed in the heather and cooked to perfection. Yum!
The next few days, depending on the weather, might mean heading out into freshly-cut stubble fields with a picnic in a box and our trusty sack of ancient pigeon decoys, or perhaps to locate the early evening flight line of the pigeons as they make their way on a stiff breeze between raiding fields of wheat. The birds usually come over for a couple of hours in a steady stream and make for exciting sport. Developing your fieldcraft will mean the difference between hot barrels and an empty bag.
I thoroughly enjoy our days out ferreting on the hills. Ferrets have been used for over four thousand years to push rabbits out of their holes, originally for food but now for crucial pest control. If you have not done this before, do try it as it is some of the best shooting out there. Our experiences with ferrets each year tend to vary, but what usually happens is that the ferrets are put into a hole amongst a huge network of warrens on the side of a hill, whilst the guns stand above the holes and wait for the rabbits to pop out. The exciting part is not knowing where on earth the bunny might bolt from and quite often it is somewhere completely random. You have to have your wits firmly about you as they can explode from one hole and disappear down another in the blink of an eye. I often get distracted by the breathtaking views from this hillside, only to get shouted at by my father to wake up!
Our old friend Trevor who sources the ferrets from local farmers up there has had his fair share of ferret related injuries (don’t ask) and last year when we were up there shooting, we came back with an extra ferret that had been living quite happily down a hole for a year! Rabbits exploding from holes and cartwheeling to your shot make for spectacular sport and not only are we controlling their numbers but also providing more meat for the kitchen.
Our evenings in the cottage are spent with long debriefs over long whiskies where the tales grow more exaggerated by the second, until the fire burns low in the grate and heads start to nod. Beware those who fall asleep first as they may awaken to find themselves adorned with all manner of things from the contents of the fruit bowl to an armful of gladioli. It’s just bangs and banter all week long and it gets us all warmed up for the first day on the partridges in September.
If you take anything away from this, I hope you will be encouraged to discover there is a whole world of shooting out there and not just driven game. I am always on hand should you wish to learn more so do look me up.
