grouse picking up

[haydon]

Hello All

I pick up a lot down south 20/30 days a season but this year I have been asked to help on a grouse moor a customer of mine owns.

Now I have shot on a moor twice in my life but never picked up on one and my customer knows nothing of picking up just looks for the sloe gin after a drive not what the dogs are doing.

Does anyone have any advice/useful tips.

 

cheers

[Andra]

Not been a P U on the grouse but have done a little beating whilst friends have been picking up.

 

Some things I know.

• P U's will be expected to sit down in the heather around 500 metres behind the butts.
• Keep as still as you can to avoid turning the coveys.
• Wear some safety glasses (grouse are fast and low).
• It is bad form to send dogs out to retrieve until the drive is over.
• Best discuss with the other P U's what butts each individual is covering.
• Be courteous to guns who have come with their own dogs and want them to pick up birds (usually as I approach the butts from the beating line hunting the dog I would ask them if they need a hand if so how many birds short do they reckon they are, you'll be coming in the other direction). You might just be covering the butt your customer is located in? Best clarifying I would say....

 

Hope you get nice weather and enjoy

 

PS if it is hot I would pop a water bottle and something that allows the dogs to get a drink out of in the game bag.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Andra

[scotslad]

It may vary from estate to estate and drive to drive but generally most of the above are about right.

 

Ideally there will be an experienced team alongside u that know the moor as it makes a big difference knowing the best places to sit and watch the drives where u are safe and not turning birds. Don't wear white checkered shirt, hard to find but u can get green/brown checked shirts which blend in far more and means u can take ur jacket off if warm. Take decent waterproofs with u, as NO shelter up there, i have had my coldest most miserable shooting experiences on grouse in Aug/Sept, think had worse weather later on in year but the lack of trees for shelter certainly made it feel worse, had some real soakings even with decent gear

 

Most moors will have 2 safety horns first 1 is for beaters no shooting forwards and 2nd is drive over and safe for pickers up to come out. Generally if u get shot as a picker up it is ur own fault as guns will be shooting low and all around u and u should know that and take it into account (after 100m not a lot of sting left in a pellet anyway althou wouldnae want 1 in eye, been hit a few times beating). Sometimes it can be surprisingly hard to hear the horns if u are well back and wind against u so keep ur head down until u see folk walking about the butt line. Not really safe to let ur dogs work at all during drive no matter where a bird comes down, i usually sit them up in a deep haag and i lie nearby just keeping low and trying to spy as much as i can but on some moors not easy depending on the contours

 

Depending on the moor but usually u dinae get a lot of marked retrieves and u will be trying to mark down the injured far out ones but they can be a real ****** to pick sometimes dinae give off a lot of scent yet other times can be a doddle, really a job for packs of dogs getting noses over the ground, then u'll work back towards the butts but quite often the majority of birds wil already have been picked by guns and beaters.

 

Finally get urself and dogs as fit as possible depending on the moor but it can be very hard work even picking up

 

it is an amazing experience up on the moors on a nice day and having the grouse whiz literally feet above ur head. Enjoy it

[JDog]

Very good advice above.

 

Do not underestimate how hot it could be. If you and your dogs are used to picking up in the south it will have been later in the year. August and September days can be very hot on the moors.

[WGD]

Scotslads about covered it, you need dogs that you can cast off to rake and won't come back until they've been recalled or found something.

 

If hares are something your dogs are likely to pursue over the hills and far away... well, it could make for an interesting day!

[scotslad]

U'll be fine its not rocket science BUT some moors really struggle to get pickers up so i'll add a bit more just in case no experienced hands there, i have been to new moors and no one there picking up has been on that moor before and i may be the only 1 with grouse experience, but it is common sense really.

 

Wot i like to do (and everyone will have there own ways) is go to the top and slightly above the butts i'm looking after (ie 50m uphill of butt 1, or 1 butt up from if i was looking after 3 and 4 etc) and find a prominant wee knowe and just lie on it with only my head sticking up or looking throu the heather, that means i can main concentrating on looking in 1 direction downhill, i found if u stood in the middle off ur patch ur trying to watch birds all over the place and moving ur head a lot so making u more visible and birds flying in every direction possible i found it hard to keep track of everything, i just found it easier to look in 1 direction with a large field of view, ideally can still see the butts for safety (when drive is over, amazing how often u imagine u hear a horn) and to attempt to see birds hit, althou not easy.at the distance

I know of some folk who use bino's i've never althou do take a small pair up hill for bird watching.

 

I tend to watch every covey/pack as they fly past and just watch for any bird dropping while the covey flies on, generally but not always the pack will rise and pitch in as a covey, and walk over to any suspicious birds that pitched early and work dogs in that area, so often u will find it stone dead, often if a leg down will continue with the pack which can be a long way.

Also ask how far back u can go? If u go too far back u could be disturbing the next drive/return and beaters will also be working there dogs throu that area anyway if u can let the beating team know where it went

 

Possibly might be worth trying to get the keepers/head pickers up number but there really is not a lot to it and as long as experienced boys there will keep u right. As wgd says above suits wild rakin dugs more so than more controlled dogs, some of the grouse beating dogs (esp keepers) i've seen are lucky to stay on the same beat never mind the same drive but thats wot there there for to cover ground.

 

But really not a lot to go wrong as long as u have a decent darkish shirt and a hat u will be fine, as turning birds is probably the biggest error u can make as they often will return a drive. Also dinae worry if ur not picking a lot, vast majority will be picked by guns/beaters