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GROUSE-SHOOTING, when the season begins, and our moors
are thronged by ardent sportsmen from all parts of the kingdom, although
requiring some tact and skill, is mere child's play compared to what it
becomes when the birds are wild and wary.
In the month of August or September, a few general
rules may enable a good shot, upon a tolerable moor, to load his
game-carrier. He should commence upon the farthest end of his range,
giving his dogs the wind, and select some part of the moor, near the
centre, to which he must endeavour to drive all his packs. His follower
should be a good marker, [In marking grouse, when you can no longer
distinguish them from the brown heather, still let your eye follow their
course, as the flapping of their wings when they light is much longer
discernible than the rapid motion of their flight.] active and intelligent
in comprehending his least signal, and always ready, when the dogs point,
to place himself so as to prevent the birds taking a wrong direction.
After having skirmished in this way until about two or three o'clock, he
may send for a fresh couple of his oldest and most experienced dogs, and,
with the greatest care, begin to beat this reserved ground. If the day is
favourable, and he has not strangely mis-managed, he ought to make bloody
work. Should his range be along the steep side of a mountain, the birds
are much less likely to leave the ground; when raised, they will probably
(unless he is beating up and down the hill, which is neither an easy nor
good way) fly straight along the mountain-side, and the young
grouse-shooter might suppose would drop down upon a line with the place
they rose from; but no such thing, the pack, after getting out of sight,
before lighting will take a turn, and fly a considerable way either to the
right or left. The sportsman must judge by the wind, [If high, grouse are
very apt to fly with it, unless they have some stronger motive to the
contrary.] nature of the ground, &c., which direction they have taken: if
he can see the way their heads are turned just when going out of sight, he
may also form a shrewd guess; but if he does not find them on the one
side, he must try the other. Should he have the whole of a detached hill,
even if a small range, the birds are so unwilling to leave it at the
beginning of the season, that they will often fly round and round until he
has completely broken them; no finer opportunity than this for filling the
bag. Early in the season, when an unbroken pack is found at evening feed,
if the birds do not rise together, too much care cannot be taken to search
the ground. They often wander a good way from each other, and after
hearing a shot will lie till they are almost trod upon.
On some of our moors grouse are as plentiful as
partridges in the preserved turnip-fields of Norfolk: no man would then
break his beat to follow a pack; but let him select the lowest and most
likely ground, as near the centre of his range as possible, for his
evening shooting. Grouse, and indeed all game, when raised, generally fly
to lower ground, and when they begin to move about on the feed, are more
easily found by the dogs; for which reason the evening is always the most
successful time of the day.
[Should the sportsman knock down an old cock and lien,
and afterwards have the mortification to see the "squeaking" pack rise all
round him, my advice is not to massacre them from the idea that if left
alone they must necessarily die a more cruel death. I know most
keepers will say that the young birds would starve, and until lately I was
of the same opinion ; but I began to doubt the truth of it a year or two
ago, and this season had an opportunity of proving its fallacy. On a part
of my moor where the birds are very scarce I got a point, and after
killing a brace was proceeding to pick them up, when the young pack rose,
five in number, as decided "squeakers" as ever struck remorse into the
callous heart of the shooter. I at once determined to ascertain whether
poults left in so unprotected a state must die. So after ranging
the ground most carefully for a considerable distance, to be certain there
was no other pack near, I left them undisturbed for eight days. At the end
of that time I found and shot two of them, not at all fallen off in
condition, and quite large enough to count in the day's return of the
slain. These poults were not in company, but at a little distance from
each other. It therefore appears to me that their great danger is from
vermin, missing the warning cry of the old birds when an enemy approaches.
There can be no doubt of its being both cruel and destructive to the young
brood to murder their protectors; but should the sportsman unfortunately
do so, and not discover his mistake till too late, he had better give
them the chance of escaping vermin than shoot them out of
humanity, erroneously supposing that they cannot but die of
starvation.
The experienced grouse-shooter well knows how little it
will avail him to attempt to find out the best part of a moor with which
he is unacquainted, by a distant coup d'oeil,
or by theory, however plausible. On the same range the packs will
be strongest and most numerous one year on the top of the hill, another on
the brow, and a third on the flat at the foot, and this often without any
assignable reason. A man who chooses his range by rule will be as likely
to fix on the worst as the best. The only plan, supposing he has neglected
to make himself acquainted with the ground before the 12th of August, is
to find out from the shepherds where the packs are most plentiful, and
concert measures accordingly. It often happens that, if the hatching-time
is very rainy, the best packs may be found on the brow of a hill, from
being less exposed to the wet ; and in a dry sultry season the best places
to range are the flats between the hills, or even the tops, if dotted with
"peat-hags." [Places where peats have been "cast" or dug out, in which the
mosswater collects, and affords drink to the grouse. Sometimes these
"hags" are formed by natural rifts in the bog, with a small red brook
running through. This water is very unwholesome, and a man had better bear
his thirst than drink it. The peat-stack is a sure index of these supplies
of water, and can be seen at a considerable distance.] The very reverse,
however, may be the case if there are few mossy springs or "peat-hags" on
the flat or top, and if the hill-side is supplied with water for the young
packs by a constant succession of little brooks. It is impossible for a
stranger to find out these minutia without
questioning those who are in the habit of travelling the hill. and who
will be just as likely to know what is of more
consequence, vim., where the packs are to be found in the
greatest abundance.
As to the ground immediately round him, a man
accustomed to the moors can always tell whether it is likely to harbour
game: and let him be ranging the top, the ridge, the brow, or the flat at
the foot of the hill, if he is surrounded by alternate patches of old and
young heather, interspersed with numerous green mossy springs, or
peat-hags, half filled with water, he is in full expectation of a point.
If, on the contrary, the ground is bare and the heather burnt, or if it be
growing in one unvarying crop of rank luxuriance, he looks anxiously for a
break, and almost grudges the unflagging exertions of his persevering
dogs: still he never gives
up hope, and often finds game where he least expects it.
When grouse are raised on the top or brow of a hill,
the flight is generally much shorter than when found on a level at the
foot. In the latter case they generally fly far out of sight, but if the
ground is hilly and uneven they often take a few dodging turns, and drop
down at no great distance. On the steep peak of the heathery hill I have
seen them fly quite round, and again settle not far from where they were
first discovered. In fine weather, before the packs are strong, and
especially before they have been much shot at, their flights are usually
not near so long as they are afterwards ; but even then, should the day be
windy, they are generally rapid and uncertain. When this is unfortunately
the case, they are so capricious in the choice of their refuge as often to
baffle the most determined tramper of the moors.
Grouse are much more difficult to
find in the middle of the day than in the morning and evening, when they
move more about ; but in sultry weather they lie quite still, except at
feeding-time, and not having stirred perhaps for hours the dogs may come
within a yard or two before winding them. To procure shots at such times
tries the mettle both of the sportsman and his dogs. During continued rain
they are apt to gather beneath the shade of a hillock, or in scaurs and
ravines. To continue ranging is mere waste of time until it clears and the
ground has dried a little, for, to say nothing of the other miseries, the
birds, even when found, will not run a yard in the wet heather, and
generally take wing at a long distance. When the weather is boisterous
they are very fidgety and wild even at the beginning of the season : it is
then easy to see who does and who does not understand anything of
grouse-shooting. Every inequality of ground must be taken advantage of;
the sportsman should crouch as much as he can, wearing a drab-coloured
cap, which will often take him five or six yards nearer his game than the
lowest-crowned hat he can procure. If possible he should always advance
from lower ground, walking up any cracks or hollows in the moss. When this
is skilfully done, he appears to the birds at a greater distance than when
they see his whole figure prominently coming down upon them from higher
ground. I have already said, that, if you have reason to suppose the pack
are on the side or at the foot of a steep hillock,
only a gunshot in height, the best plan
to pop upon them within reach is
to come straight over the top, but under other circumstances this should
never be attempted.
Most young shots are
not content unless they are upon the moor by peep of day on the
long-anticipated 12th of August, - and what is the result? They have found
and disturbed most of the packs before they have well fed, and one half
will rise out of distance and fly away unbroken. Had the moor been left
quiet till eight or nine o'clock, fair double shots might have been
obtained at almost every pack, and many would have been scattered for the
evening shooting. It will generally be found that, if two equal shots upon
equal moors uncouple their dogs, one at five o'clock, and the other at
nine, and compare notes at two in the afternoon, the lazy man will have
the heaviest game-bag, and his ground will be in the best order for the
deadly time of the day: to say nothing of his competitor's disadvantage
from having fruitlessly wasted his own strength, and that of his dogs,
when many of the packs would not allow him to come within reach. My
advice, therefore, to the young grouse-shooter, is always to wait till the
birds have done feeding. If he starts at eight o'clock, and travels the
moors as he ought, there is time enough before dark to put his powers to
the proof, however he may pique himself upon them. I do not mean to say he
must rush over the ground, but keep up a steady determined walk, up hill
and down hill, without flagging for an instant, unless the dogs come upon
the scent of game. Of all sports grouse-shooting is the most laborious;
none can stand a comparison with it, except deerstalking; and yet the
veriest "soft," puffing and blowing at every step, may put off a whole day
upon the moors travelling them I will not call it, and boast after dinner
that "he wonders how people can find grouse-shooting so toilsome and
fatiguing; fox-hunting is much more so!"
There are a few rules which a man
not accustomed to climb hills will find his account in observing, if he
would escape the suppressed smile of derision which his flagging will be
sure to excite from the sturdy hillman who carries his bag. One is, to eat
a very light breakfast; another, to drink as little as possible ; but
especially no spirits and water. If you can hold out without drinking till
your luncheon or dinner-time, your thirst will never be very oppressive;
but once begin, and the difficulty of passing a clear brook is tenfold
increased. The provision-basket should only consist of a cold fowl, or a
few sandwiches, and a bottle of table-beer or light ale. When you again
begin your exertions make your attendant carry a bottle of strong tea,
without cream or sugar, which will more effectually quench your thirst
than a whole flask-full of spirits and water to correspond. Should any
object to this "teatotal" system, a little fruit may be no bad
substitute. When I first took out a licence, I thought the spirit-flask
almost as indispensable as the powder-flask, but experience has since
taught me that nothing more effectually expends the remaining strength of
the half worn-out sportsman than a few pulls at the liquor-flask, however
diluted; he gains a temporary stimulus, which soon ends in complete
exhaustion.
As the season advances and the birds
become strong on the wing, the difficulty of breaking the packs is tenfold
increased, and the sportsman's energy and activity doubly tried; for,
although he has not to endure the burning heat of August and September,
yet his pace may be with advantage quickened, as there is less risk of
passing birds; and he should also carry a heavier gun. Taking everything
into consideration, a medium between the common fowling-piece and that
recommended for wild-fowl shooting on the lochs will be found the most
efficient. A gun of this description ought to carry No. 5, or even 4, with
the same regularity as a common gun would No. 7. Some fire very large shot
among the birds, when they rise, in order to disperse them: this may often
succeed, but is a most unsportsman-like proceeding. The plan I always
adopt is, first to select my ground for the evening, taking care that it
is full of hillocks; grouse have a great liking to them, and when thus
concealed their flights are much shorter. I then commence ranging my other
ground as described; and when I get a shot, although the pack should rise
at some distance, I select one of the leaders, and, if it drop, the pack
is far more likely to break, and the nearer birds are left for the second
barrel.
Always cross the dog a good way
ahead when he points, and cock both barrels; it is impossible to bring
down your birds in crack style otherwise. Unless shooting in company, I
generally have my gun cocked, and held ready to fire, when walking over
ground where there is any likelihood of birds rising - this I only
recommend to the experienced sportsman.
Never increase the size of your shot
when the birds are wild, unless with
a larger gun. Those who object to this
additional weight, or who give their gun to be carried by a servant, will
make but poor work at this season, as many of the best chances rise
without a point at all. Stick to the last to scattered birds: one broken
pack at this time is worth a dozen others.
About an hour before dusk, be upon
the hillocks with your most experienced pointers: if they have been
accustomed to grouse-shooting at the end of the season, they will hunt
round them with the greatest caution; and when they wind birds, if ever so
slightly, will point and look for your approach. Suppose your dog,
statue-like, on one of the hillocks, - watch the direction of his nose,
walk rapidly and noiselessly round in the opposite direction, as it were
to meet his point, and you will most probably come upon the birds within
fair distance. Should the hillock be steep, and only about a gunshot in
height, walk straight over the top, and if the grouse be, as is most
probable, on the side or at the bottom, you are certain of a tolerable
shot: should you have broken any packs in the morning, and driven them
here, you are very likely to get some excellent chances.
As the shades of evening close upon
you, the birds will lie much better: many a capital shot have I got when I
could scarcely see them. A very indistinct view of his object is quite
enough for a good snap shot who is accustomed to his gun, and I would not
guarantee the success of any other at this time of the year. In fact, you
must be prepared for every shot being a snap at the beginning of the day,
and many at the end. By always following the above directions, I scarcely
ever, to the end of the season, came home with less than two or three
brace after a few hours' shooting, upon a moor where I used, in August, to
average from fifteen to twenty in a whole day.
No man ought to beat the same range
oftener than twice a week, as packs of grouse, after being dispersed,
seldom all collect in the evening like partridges, but are often some time
before they gather; the best days are those with a warm sun and light
breeze. Cold wind and rain, after October, makes them flock; and it is of
no use to disturb them till it is fine again, when they disperse. You may
expect good sport the first black frost. A sort of lethargy seems to come
over the birds: I have seen several in a day standing up, without an
attempt at concealment, within forty yards - a rare opportunity for
poachers and bad shots.
Many suppose that grouse change
their ground with the changes of weather, and even lay down rules what
parts of the mountain they frequent according to its variations. I have
watched them narrowly for many years, and am firmly of opinion that they
only shift to the longest heather on the lee side of any knolls near their
usual haunts, when they want shelter from the sun, wind, or rain. When
they become strong on the wing, and the weather is cold or boisterous,
they will shift from one mountain-face to its opposite counterpart, to
avoid the cold and take advantage of the sunshine, provided the distance
does not much exceed their ordinary flight. This, I think, they never
willingly do at the beginning of a season. I have likewise heard it
asserted that grouse descend the hills to feed : this I also believe to be
erroneous; and have no doubt that, at feeding times, they only move to the
first short, sweet patch of young heather, the tender tops of which form
their chief food during a great part of the year, except indeed in winter,
when many of them come down to lower ground than they ever frequent at
other times. The young poutts eat the seeds of the various grasses
and weeds that grow in the moors, and are particularly fond of sorrel. At
the hatching-time the hen devours quantities of earth-worms with great
avidity.
BLACK-GAME
Black-game do not pair like grouse; and shooting the
hen [Many gentlemen are now beginning to shoot the hens, observing the
great increase of black-game and decrease of grouse in some districts.
This may in part be attributed to the advance of cultivation ; but I
cannot help thinking the black-game have a good share in driving off the
grouse-as I know of one instance where the latter were killed off, and the
former again returned to their old haunts. I believe it is also more than
suspected that the capercailzie, wherever they are introduced, have a
great inclination to dispossess both. It is a curious fact, that the young
capercailzie thrive better under the foster-care of the grey hen than if
left to their natural protectress. When a capercailzie's eggs are
discovered, they are divided among several grey hens, whose nests the
keepers search out for this purpose. The grey hens, however, will not sit
upon them, unless some of their own eggs are also left. But when the young
are hatched, they pay equal regard to both; and it is not until the
capercailzie are fully grown that they drive away their step-mothers, who
dread them as much as hawks.] and young birds at the beginning of the
season is a simple business. You have only to make yourself master of the
places they frequent. They may always be found near a short thick rush,
easily seen on the moor, the brown seeds of which form the principal food
of the young packs. When your dogs point near these rushes, and especially
if they " road," you may be almost sure of black-game. The old hen
generally rises first, the young pack lying like stones ; no birds are
more easily shot.
The old cocks, even in August, are never very tame :
for although, where the heather or rushes are long and rank, they may lie
tolerably well at first, yet even then they are sure to rise very high,
and take a long flight, generally quite beyond your beat: they are
sometimes found singly; at others, in small flocks, from six to ten.
Their food on the moor consists of cranberries ;
another berry, found in mossy places, called in Scotland the "crawberry;"
and the seed of the rush before named. [I shot a fine old cock last
August, 1840, whose crop was full of a yellow flower of the dandelion
kind, very common on the moors.] They, being very strong on the wing, have
not the same reason as the young packs for keeping near their food, and
are often found far from it, especially in the heat of the day; shelter
from the sun being their chief object. There can then be no better place
to beat for them than among thick crops of bracken. Should you find them
in such good cover, they will often give you a capital double shot.
As the season advances, black-game are the wildest of
all birds. Fair open shooting at them is quite out of the question. As
they never eat heather, [Black-game when domesticated do eat heather,
likewise grouse the tops of birch, alder, &c. : this, in both cases, I
believe to be an acquired taste, as I have often opened their crops at
different times during the shooting season, and never once detected
heather in those of black-game, nor anything except heather or corn in
those of grouse.] their food on the moors soon becomes scarce ; they then
much more frequent the stubble-fields and copses by the hill-sides. You
may often see twenty or thirty feeding together on the sheaves, when the
corn is first cut; but exceedingly alert for the approach of an enemy. I
have seen them doing the farmer as much injury as so many barn-door fowls.
Your best plan then is to hide yourself among the sheaves, and wait for
their feeding-hours. If you are well concealed, and select the proper part
of the field, you may have an opportunity of killing a brace sitting with
your first barrel, and another bird with your second.
As the fields become bare, and the days shorten, they
begin to feed three times; namely, at daybreak, at noon, and an hour
before dusk. To get a shot then is much more difficult. I have made a hole
in the stone walls which enclose most of the Highland fields, in order to
shoot through it. I have also placed a bush on the top to screen myself
when rising to fire; but they have such quick sight and acute hearing,
both well exercised when feeding on this dangerous ground, that I have
found it a better plan not to attempt the sitting shot. My way is to crawl
as near the place where they are feeding as possible, and make my
attendant and one of the farm-servants enter at each end of the field
opposite, and come leisurely down towards the birds; they are then almost
sure to fly over your head, and give you an excellent double shot. Care
must be taken, however, to ascertain that no sentinel is perched upon the
wall, or any high ground near, as there often is at the beginning of the
feed. Should there be, wait patiently till he joins the flock. I have
also, by this method, often got a capital chance at grouse feeding on the
stubble, which they sometimes do in the lowlands, when returning from my
shooting-ground in Selkirkshire.
In a country where there are few corn-fields you may
get the best sport at old blackcocks by judiciously beating the
plantations on the sides of the hills, especially if there are birch and
alder in them, the tender tops of which form a great part of their winter
food. They are still more likely to frequent these belts if juniper-bushes
are near; but great caution is necessary in beating them. After quietly
taking your station at the upper side, send your man with an old and very
steady pointer to the under ; keep about thirty yards in advance of them :
the man must remain outside the plantation, striking the trees with a
stick, and making all the noise he can; the pointer must not, if possible,
range out of his sight. You are thus pretty sure of the shot ; but if your
man beats through the belt, the birds are very likely either to fly
straight forward, or out at the under side. Two brace of old cocks maybe
considered a good day's sport. If the plantations are very large, beat by
sections in the same way.
Even in woodcock shooting in large covers,
unless there are a number of guns regularly placed between the beaters,
more harm than good is often done by a noisy crowd. I never take more than
one attendant, my retriever, and an old pointer. When I get a point, I
choose the most open place, and send my man to strike the bush on the
opposite side; employing my retriever to beat any very thick cover near.
This, however, he is not allowed to do unless desired. Any man who adopts
this plan will eventually be more successful than with beaters: more birds
may of course be put up when a number of people are scouring the woods;
but the shots will neither be so many nor so fair.
Black-game and grouse are easily tamed; ptarmigan, I
believe, never. The keeper of the pheasantry of Rossdhu had a black-cock,
a grouse, a partridge, and a pheasant confined together. They agreed
pretty well, and the grouse, being a hen, hatched two successive seasons.
The first year the whole of this cross-breed died; but the next, with
great care, a couple were reared. They were both cocks, and, when come to
their full plumage in winter, were a blackish brown, something between the
colour of a grouse and a black-cock. They were presented by my late father
to the Glasgow Museums, where they may now be seen. I have given in the
frontispiece an accurate likeness of that in the College Museum.
Before ending this subject, I may put gentlemen on
their guard against two ways of poaching grouse and black-game, I believe
not generally known. The first is, hunting the young packs before the
moors open, with a very active terrier or "colley." If the dog understands
the business, he will chop a great many in a day. On a moor in
Roxburghshire, I saw a sheep-dog, accompanied by a young farmer,
performing to admiration. I had the curiosity to watch their proceedings
until I saw the dog snap a young grouse, quick as thought. The other plan
is to set traps on the peat-stacks, or in the green springs where the
birds come to drink and to eat small insects : this last may be continued
all the season. We often hear that these traps are set in the former case
for hawks, and in the latter for carrion crows. They may be, but any one
who understands the habits of grouse and black-game, knows what birds they
are most likely to catch; and if this way of destroying vermin is
persevered in by the keepers, "the laird" will soon begin to shoot his
grouse minus a leg. |
