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

Today is the first day of the Grouse shooting season here in Britain, and as such will be attracting wealthy 'guns' from all over the world to participate in it.

In northern England the breeding season has been one of the best for decades. With no traditional heavy winds in March and no April showers either. The result was a beautifully warm spring with freshly hatched chicks not suffering from inclement weather during the first few weeks of their life. Some of the Shooting Estates in my area are looking to shooting 5,000 brace this season. That's a lot of birds for any 'shoot' these days.

Unfortunately in Scotland the situation is different with such a poor breeding season, some estates have been cancelling shooting days altogether as they have little more than a minimum breeding stock on the moors.

Just what today will bring in the was of 'bags' is debateable. It has been raining almost continuously here for a couple of weeks and the moorlands are soaking wet. Even so, some shoots will still take place as there is an exceptionally high demand from top London Hotels and Restraunts who want to put birds of their Menues tonight (at a highway robbery price of course). The last flight of many birds today will not be in front of the guns, but in an aircraft taking them to London.

On shooting estates you pay for the shooting, but you don't get to keep what you shoot, all the game belongs to the Estate and is sold for the benefit of the estate. Shoots are very expensive to maintain and 'Keepers' don't work for a pittance any more. Some shoots are owned by syndicates to spread the costs, a lot more are now owned by oil rich Arabs who still have the money.

Will I be taking part? No, I couldn't afford it on my pension. In the past I have been a 'beater' or a 'picker up' or even occasionally a 'loader' for one of the guns. That's all the participation I've had, but even that was good fun. Some estates pay ten or twenty pounds a day (roughly 15 or 30 US Dollars). There is always a lunch and often a slap up evening meal, and fortifying liquor for the workers but not with 'The Guns'. There's still a little demarcation left between the Upper Classes and the Peasantry. lol. Being a 'loader' is perhaps the best job if your good at it, and if the 'gun' you loading for has a good day, you may just receieve a good tip.

Agreed Harry but I think the 'Glorious Twelth' is there more for the press and London restaurants. My local moor in North Derbyshire will start on the 5th. or 7th. of September, date yet to be fixed, and the 14th. and then see how things are for other days. I work my dogs there and have done since my teens. The pay is now �40 but no food provided. Nobody really does it for the money, if they did they wouldn't get far on it, but for being in fantastic countryside and, for my part, seeing dogs work. I work Chesapeakes which are well suited to this work but are something of a rare breed here in England. Lagopus.....

Here's old Sammie counting the lunchtime bag:



Beaters taking a short break:



And another one for Master:

What a magnificent dog Lagopus, I've never owned that breed but I have. on very rare occasions seen one working, and that's a 'sight to see'. How do such dogs manage that look which says "I'm sure even you could do this, if you tried'

It is interesting to see your better paid 'Down South' than we in the North East, but to be frank, I couldn't buy the huge lunches, the evening meals and the drink for the difference between the wages.

A twinge of nostalgia made me dig out my shooting kit from the back of my wardrobe today. The knee length socks and the brogues still fit perfectly, however, in the last year or two, my 44" chest has swapped places with my 32" waist, so my 'Tweed Breeks' no longer fit, and that just goes to prove old Issak Newton was right, gravity effects everything sooner or later. Lol.

Accoring to the local 'Press' Grouse Shooting brings in some 17 million pounds to the local economy in the NE of England. Thats some US$ 25,500,000,00. Not a sum to be sneezed at in anyones terms.

Harry

Lagopus - that is a fine looking Chessie you have there. I grew up hunting on the Chesapeake Bay and know that breed well - excellent dogs. I would imagine he doesn't see many of his kind working in the moors.

It took awhile for me to take my eyes off that picture of the beaters taking a rest - what gorgeous countryside. Makes you want to walk out into it and just keep going . . . .

Nostalgia and just being there: isn't that how it has always been, birds just a bonus? You are living well by any measure.

Harry, I often come to the North East and stay in Northumberland around the Alnwick area. Are there any good gun shops up that way?

As Doverham will agree, Chessies are a breed unto themselves. I lost old Sammie, the dog in the photo, last January. I still have a 3 year old and am bringing on a 12 week old pup that is a real character. They are an intelligent and resourseful breed. They can be obstinate and it is more of entering into a working relationship with them rather than train them as you would a lab. A Chesapeake will only do what a Chesapeake wants to do. They will think things out for themselves and are best left to get on with it. That pile of grouse she was sitting with she was actually guarding and would not let anyone approach them. Another quality is that they make good deer tracking dogs and I've never lost a deer with her. We could be miles from anywhere and she would stand snarling at nothing all the time I was gralloching the carcase. Really strange dogs but not for everyone as they can take a bit of handling sometimes and you have to try to understand what makes them tick.

At the far end of the moor on that photo there is an old iron age fort; or at least the earthworks for it. Lagopus.....

I think the term "one-man dog" was coined to describe Chessies.

Great pictures; many thanks!

Here in Chesapeake Bay country those Chessie's are expected to guard your home, "workboat"(Chesapeake Bay Deadrise), duckblind and pickup truck. Good dogs but not friendly to others.

Quote "Harry, I often come to the North East and stay in Northumberland around the Alnwick area. Are there any good gun shops up that way? Unquote. Lagopus.

Hello Lagopus,

Sadly there are very few gunshops in Northumberland these days most being turned over to fishing tackle although a few may still stock shotgun and rifle cartridges. Possibly the best (and that's a poor best) in Bagnall and Kirkwood of Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, formerly Papes, they carry a few shotguns and rifles but not a lot. Too many people buying on line these days to justify stocking firearms that may not move for years. If your into fishing, then Hardy's of Alnwick can give you a factory tour but are purely fishing tackle manufacturers. Still it fills a few hours on a wet day. (we get plenty of those. There is a shotgun Gunsmith near Weldon Bridge off the Newcastle to Wooler Road. I've never been there but I know he operates out of an old farmhouse. Sorry there's not more.

Harry

Harry, no I never came across many. I guesssed there would be somewhere still in Newcastle so may give it a try. Hardy's museum is well worth the visit. Thanks.

Here's the new addition at 12 weeks old. Already growls at anyone she meets who is strange to her: