GROUSE REPORTGrouse Report 2008 - last day of the season Five thirty a.m. and the mechanical screech of an alarm clock shatters the silence, it is dark, very dark and freezing. Regular 5 a.m. starts are affecting my enthusiasm especially when last night’s weather forecast predicted thick fog across most of the country. Still, I was up and it was time to take the dogs for a quick run before donning the tweeds to host a day on Rotherhope Moor. This was to be the final day of the 2008 grouse shooting season (28th November) for the Davis and Bowring team hence this grouse report. Emerging from the garden gate with dogs at heel I was conscious that it was extremely cold with a sharp frost but rather than wading through a gloom of fog the sky appeared clear and full of brightly twinkling stars. Were we going to get lucky after all? 2008 was certainly a season where the weather had not been on our side, I was due a respite. A number of the team shooting today had got a drenching with me at Bowes Moor earlier in the season hopefully the opposite would be true today. Thus with kit packed and dog selected (the young bitch “fudge”), the ice was scraped from the car windscreen and we were on our way to the meet at the Nent Hall Hotel. As I pulled into the hotel car park at precisely 8 a.m. the car thermometer was still reading - 5° and it was clear that we were in for a gorgeous bright winter’s day. Having breakfasted early the guns were busy in the car park packing vehicles. They were certainly a keen bunch and raring for the off. Led by Paul Gillett, who runs a successful partridge shoot in Oxfordshire they were experienced guns but included a few grouse virgins! A short drive later and we were in the yard of Rotherhope Towers shaking hands with the Head Keeper, Peter Ker. Rotherhope Moor is a relatively small grouse moor (approx. 2750 acres) located between Alston and Hartside on the edge of the North Pennines, the “mecca” of English grouse shooting. One of the joys of Rotherhope is the fact that you walk between all the stands with no 4x4’s involved. It is quite a drag up to the first line of butts however and not a moor for the unfit or infirm. This party were used to working in the countryside and would take any northern hill in their stride or certainly wouldn’t admit to it if it was taking its toll! The day was glorious, the hills cloaked in an icing sugar white frost with hardly a breath of wind. As the guns took up their positions in the butts for the first drive, cock grouse cackled to each other across the landscape, raising anticipation and expectation as guns were checked and re-checked that they were loaded and horizons were scanned for signs of movement. At this time of the season grouse do not wait long to move and the first black shape skims diagonally across the heather towards the lower flank. An alert gun in the lower butts is quick to react and the bird is despatched en route with a satisfying thump. After a short lull, a steady stream of birds appeared, arriving fast and low, hugging the contours before appearing unannounced at the butts. The white frost of the background makes visibility good, but those new to grouse shooting are finding that the birds are literally on top of you before the trigger is pulled. Following some swift action in the butts the horn sounds to indicate beaters are within range, a couple of late birds rattle through to present shots behind before Peter declares the drive officially over. The team were now fully initiated in the joys of driven grouse shooting. As the pickers up swept the ground for an elusive bird we packed the artillery onto the Argocat and set off across the fell to the second drive. This drive produced a much greater weight of birds than the first although they tended to favour the lower butts where the shooting became hectic as grouse arrived whilst fingers fumbled for replacement cartridges. Birds that appeared dead certs for the bag appeared to suddenly jink as the trigger is pulled, as if they could feel the shot string arriving, and slip past with a whoosh of unsympathetic wings. The recent cold spell and full moon had brought in a number of woodcock, one of which making a sudden ghost-like appearance between the butts was added to the bag. As any sporting agent may admit if pressed, it is rare that a shoot day takes place without some form of minor crisis! At the end of the drive proceeding down the butts taking shot birds from my enthusiastic Labrador I came across a rather concerned looking chap holding various parts of what had been, until recently, a relatively new gun from a well-known Italian manufacturer. Ever sympathetic, his fellow guns were quick to accuse said gun of self induced dismantling to cover up his shooting performance so far! After an appropriate period of ridicule, a multi-tool was produced and the Italian masterpiece was restored to its former glory (and appeared to function perfectly for the rest of the day!). With that problem solved, as the sun was now almost beginning to melt the icicles our team leader, Paul Gillett, decided he would find a particularly deep gully to cool off in (this despite a clear warning from the agent that he was about to step into it!). Luckily for Paul he was accompanied by his efficient wife, who had packed herself a spare pair of socks for just such an eventuality. Clearly at this juncture his fellow guns were pictures of discretion as they watched the 16 stone, 6 foot 5 inch Paul struggle into some lovely pink ladies stockings.
Due to the early start and good bright day, following a rapidly taken but substantial lunch, it was possible to fit a further three drives into the afternoon. Luckily the fourth drive is a short stagger from the lunch hut. This drive contained a number of majestic black cock flying high on slow wing beats over the valley. Guns had been briefed on the no shooting policy for these wonderful birds and merely stood and watched the wonderful fly pass. The fifth and sixth drives were over gullies which should be more suited to this team, highly practised on partridges bursting over hedgerows. The gullies are not wide however and late November grouse do not “hang about” leading to some enthralling sport. One second an empty sky the next a sky full of grouse. The odd woodcock and black grouse just added to the excitement and confusion. By the end of the sixth drive the last rays of a weak wintry sun were disappearing over the horizon and a tired team of beaters and a jubilant team of guns headed down the fell to a warm fire and refreshing cup of tea (or something stronger) at Rotherhope Towers. As I navigated icy roads home that evening it was time to reflect on what had been a very successful season in 2008 and this gorgeous day in the winter sunshine had proven a fitting climax. Not the biggest bag (43 brace) but an enthusiastic team tackling challenging late season grouse amidst glorious rugged countryside. After this grouse report 2008 what will the 2009 season bring? |
