GROUSE SHOOTING MASTERCLASS
I suspect that I am like many of you. As a game shooter living in lowland England any time spent on a moor is a treasured experience.
Driven grouse
The chance to shoot grouse in that landscape is a rare privilege, although one available to us all. But how do we make the most of our chances when the opportunity arises? For insights into driven walked and grouse over pointers I spoke to Matt Smith of the Calvert Sporting Team who are world-renowned for their specialist grouse tuition.
DRIVEN
"Shooting grouse-like targets before you go will give you the mechanics of it. For driven you need to practice a flat fast incoming target and you also need to be able to practice shooting in front and behind at the same target.” It’s not easy to do on normal clay grounds. This is where a specialist grouse layout comes into its own and the team at Calvert Sporting runs the best I’ve shot. “You need to be able to deal with multiple birds, not just coming at you, but also crossing behind each other taking your eyes away from you. Like all practice it needs to be meaningful practice. We will prepare you for the intensity you could face in a grouse drive when it really does switch on.”
AT YOUR CLAY GROUND
“At your clay ground if rules allow, make the target simulate a grouse. Take the going away bird on a sporting stand by turning round to shoot it”. This you must do safely with your gun up as you would turn safely in a butt. As many as 40% of driven grouse shot are taken as back birds so its important to practice this.
"If the grouse is within 60 yards you kill it. If it is within your range, it's your bird. There is no ‘his bird or her bird’ as you would find with pheasants and partridges. So it can be considered a more aggressive style of game shooting.”
NOT ALWAYS IN A PACK
“Also be prepared for the fact that grouse will not always come as a pack. Early season before they know what the butts are, they might come in twos and threes. Later they pack up but if you are on a ridgeline or a natural flight path for the grouse they may well come in a constant stream.” Some of the best practice for the type of intensity you will face in a grouse butt can be found in a pigeon hide on a busy day Matt believes. Fast, wild birds in a wind will test you and it requires instinctive shooting as well as a business-like attitude.
IGNORE THE BIG BIRD
“We teach our clients to ignore the 'big bird’ that is the one that is too close to shoot. The speed and angle make it far more difficult and if you connect you ruin it for the table. 40 yards is the sweet spot. You should identify where the grouse will appear from and have a 'hold point' — as in clay shooting — you address the grouse and then go back to the 'hold point'. It takes discipline to ignore another bird that may be closer and go back to the 'hold point' to collect another bird that you are more likely to kill cleanly and not ruin.”
“Wear a dark coloured shirt because if it gets hot in August and you have to take off your jacket, light shirts will drive all the grouse over your neighbours. The same with jackets — avoid the heavy jackets found on a wet day in Exmoor. Lightweight technical jackets to cope with quick showers are what you need — you can put a shooting waistcoat over the top for bigger pockets.”
CONFIDENCE COMES FROM SAFETY
“Safety is paramount. The more confident you are in your safety the better you will shoot. You won’t hesitate and shy off birds. This can lead to frustration and frustration can lead to a dangerous shot.”
Safety sticks are stuck into the top of a grouse butt to remind guns where the safe angles are in the middle of a drive. “Set your own sticks. Make sure they are right for you: dry mount with an empty gun or a walking stick and test your angles from the middle of the butt. Once they are set remember to shoot from within that position. Try not to be too upright in the butt and remember not to step forwards or backwards as you turn to take a bird out the back. If you imagine a hula hoop as your turn you should turn within that circle or you will change the safe angles of your sticks."
DIFFERENT BUTTS, DIFFERENT ISSUES
"Butts 1, 2, and 3, and 7, 8, and 9 need to take account of flankers. Butts 2 and 3, and 7 and 8 need to think both about their neighbouring guns and the flankers. Your sticks in these butts need to be placed with a flanker in mind as he may be in range. Take another set of sticks in these butts — they should be provided but walking sticks and grip magnet sticks can also be used. Flankers also move during the drive so you may need to adjust your stick position. Your first flanker is your major concern as he may be well in range. Some estates now have flankers in an orange baseball cap. Butts 1 and 9 can be a delight because as the flankers come in during a drive all that free space to left and right opens up for you to shoot safely into.”
"Make sure you get yourself familiar with how the horn system works during the drives and the signal for the end of the drive — this should be outlined in the safety briefing."
"Safety glasses are essential and are compulsory on most moors and a hat should be worn for camouflage as well as protection."
WALKED UP
"If you've done some rough shooting for wild game then you will have a reasonable idea of what to expect. Many moors offer walked up shooting because the ground doesn’t lend itself to driven grouse shooting. On rocky, harder terrain grouse exist in little pockets — expect the walking to be reasonably challenging. Ask your host what type of ground it is but remember they will probably have been walking over it since they were a lad so add half as much again. If you have back or knee problems you should make enquires."
"Travel as light as you can but remember that you will need warm and wet weather clothing accessible. Some moors you will leave the vehicle and not return all day. Some moors have ATVs that will follow you at a distance all day. Find out what the arrangements are beforehand.
KIT REQUIRED
"Take a game bag with some water in it and use a cartridge belt."
"The vast majority of shots will be going away from you but not all. Some grouse will turn if walked into a wind and come back over you; sometimes you will walk over a covey and they will get up behind you so be prepared for that."
"You can’t concentrate all day so try and increase your concentration when the ground looks ‘grousy’. It's a good idea to learn what a dog looks like when it gets ‘birdy’. Remember that a dog retrieving can flush a covey on the way back so stay alert but avoid shooting over a dog that is on retrieve."
"By the time you get the gun up the bird will be a sporting distance away. A 40 yard going away grouse is a long shot so it's probably the limit of your range. Remember as well that the grouse has got to be picked so think hard before taking on a long one."
"Use a game gun of some description and don’t get hung up on chokes and cartridges. Remember that if you choose to use one, you will have to carry a 32” over and under all day."
"There may be other species on the menu but on rocky ground rabbits and hares are better off left. If you shoot a hare keep in mind you may have to carry it."
POINTERS
"Much of walked up advice can be applied to pointers. The difference is the dogs will be cast off a distance away and until it comes on point you can be fairly relaxed. Once it does come on point you need to get up into position relatively quickly. Normally two of you will be called forward to shoot. Try to have a plan with your neighbour — left-hand gun taking the birds to the left and right-hand gun the right."
GET READY
"Unless it's a false point you will be getting a shot so you need to have the gun up just out of the shoulder. Pick a bird out of a covey — many pick the bird their eyes first fall to. Some like to pick the bird off the top of the covey using the gun to obscure the rest from vision. Always keep in mind the position of the rest of your party and don’t shoot directly over the dog."
The chance to shoot grouse is a rare privilege for me. the opportunity to glean some secrets from someone whose mastery of the art comes from growing up surrounded by his quarry felt like privileged access too.
