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.
