Our First Season Picking Up - Days 3 and 4

[Mooch. 177]

Well after Day 2's highs, Day 3 was, quite frankly, a bit shit. There were too many pickers up with twice as many dogs between us. One of the guns had got the date wrong and those that did turn up might as well not have bothered 'cos they couldn't hit a barn door! No birds came down anywhere near our position during drive 1 so Max stayed on the lead while we watched the nearest gun's dog pick up all the birds in sight.

 

I thought we had a half decent position for drive 2. We were stood right in the middle of the pen all the birds were heading for. During the drive a Roe buck ran past us about 10 feet away which was probably the highlight of the drive for us! Most of the birds sailed, unhit, over our heads. Once the drive was over Max did find a squatter in a pile of brash and caught a strong running cock both live to hand.

 

Drive 3 was very nearly a complete and utter disaster for our picking up carrier. Before the drive had even started the flankers in the beating line spotted a runner with a wing down and I was the nearest dog handler. By the time I had got Max up the bank the pheasant had disappeared into a patch of brambles so I would now be sending him on a blind. To my relief he headed off perfectly in the right direction but my confidence soon turned to horror. The bird got up into the air and headed straight for the flushing point of the drive with Max in hot pursuit. Fortunately there were no birds there yet and, having lost sight of his quarry, Max responded to my recall whistle without too much delay. Massive embarrassment averted. We stayed where we were during the drive plugging a hole in the beating line. With the drive over we headed down to the pegs and picked one hen pheasant which Max decided to crunch despite it being stone dead. I can only put this down to his, so far, leashed enthusiasm.

 

Drive 4 was poo as well. We were stood in the middle of a muddy field directly behind a gun with two dogs. Again we could only watch as these two picked all the birds in front of our eyes. Bearing in mind this is generally a 400 birds-a-day shoot the guns only managed to hit 171.

 

Picking up Season 1 Day 4 didn't start much better either. We found ourselves at the end of the line behind a good gun for drive 1 but also next to a much more experienced picker up. I left the mid-drive runners to him but we got one dead hen pheasant post drive because his two yellow labs had their mouths full!

 

Drive 2 probably produced our best retrieve of the season so far. We were at the end of the line again behind two guns. One of the guns took a shot a partridge which didn't really react but as it glided past it looked like it had a leg down . I followed it with my eyes as it glided on a good 500 yards before disappearing behind a log pile. I turned my attention back to the drive as more birds were falling in front of us. With the drive over a nearby guns wife released her two cockers which proceeded to pick all the birds while we could do nothing but watch. I decided to go and search for the partridge I had spotted earlier. I walked Max closer before letting him off the lead and letting him sniff around. As we approached the log pile I called him back in to heel before directing him back. He knows this log pile well and he knows it houses rabbits but he didn't spend too much time here preferring instead to hunt the long grass on the far side from me. All of a sudden his head went down and he disappeared from sight before emerging with the wounded partridge in his mouth.

 

Drive 3 started with Max and I helping to catch a Red Setter that had escaped from a nearby house and was running around chasing birds in the area of that days 5th drive. The guns had already started by the time we got the dog under control so I positioned us way back watching for pricked birds as they rounded the corner of a wood. Luckily this actually paid off with a partridge crash landing behind us before ducking into a bramble patch. Brambles are no barrier for Max and the partridge was swiftly retrieved.

 

The guns were shooting well and it was decided that they could fit another drive in before lunch so they walked to drive 4 which was actually in the same field. I thought we had a good spot right in the middle of the line with no other dogs nearby. Unfortunately once the drive was over the guns and pickers up just released their dogs and the field turned into a dog scrum as each tried to find the downed birds. Max emerged with one cock pheasant but he would have had more if he had paid attention to my directions.

 

For drive 5 we stood with another picker up which was handy for dog training tips! Drive over and we moved forward only to find those damn guns wives with their damn cockers sweeping the ground right in front of us . I sent Max for a cock pheasant which he picked from right under the cockers noses . He then found another pheasant tucked between the fence of a pen and the electric wire.

 

That was it for us. Overall not a bad day as we are still novices at this game and even Max's over-excited whining lessened to almost nothing as the day progressed.

 

Total birds for the day - 366