Beanwood
Administrator
Yesterday was our second shoot venue. Closer to home being only 45 minutes or so away. I had already spent a half day with the gamekeeper so had some idea of the lay of the land. Very different drives, and actually very different from what Bramble was familiar with, huge, open green valleys, lovely views across for miles. Most of our work and training has been in more enclosed cover and woodland, but at the time I didn't figure this would be too much of a problem. In reality, having such an open view and just us and another picking up made it really hard work! Bramble's arousal level got very high, and although on the whole a good job, we did have a few blips!
So we arrive on the day and meet everyone. @Mr Beanwood came with me as an extra with Benson to help with picking up. There were 8 guns and one other picking up, a lovely and very helpful chap with 3 fabulous cockers. He also came with a dry sense of humour which proved useful later!
The shoot was very friendly and well organised. Everyone knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be. It struck me early that with only 2 pickers up (Benson was an extra...) we had a huge responsibility to make sure we picked everything, numbers really count on a shoot. The bag was generally a small one, roughly 80, on 5 or 6 drives depending on how the day is going, although there are a lot of birds, a mixture of pheasant and partridge, they are exceptionally challenging in the fact they flew high, meaning to shoot anything the guns have to be very, very good. Which actually they were! We did spend a lot of time sweeping through after the guns, both Benson and Bramble hunted well so only the odd bird was lost. Benson was actually a star, picking partridge in some very challenging conditions.
Sat in the back of the wagon....
The fabulous cockers!
The last drive, you can see the huge miscanthus (7-8 foot high...) behind where we had to pick partridge from at the end of the drive...
A quick video of the last drive..it was hard going trying to keep an eye on all the guns when birds were coming in from several directions...
Me getting lost in the miscanthus!
Seriously trying to find partridge was like needle in a haystack. Benson came into his own, and picking 2 out of the four...Bramble another and one of the fab three the last one...so well done that chocolate boy! 
Finally 2 tired but happy dogs, and very tired OH!
So we arrive on the day and meet everyone. @Mr Beanwood came with me as an extra with Benson to help with picking up. There were 8 guns and one other picking up, a lovely and very helpful chap with 3 fabulous cockers. He also came with a dry sense of humour which proved useful later!
The shoot was very friendly and well organised. Everyone knew what they were doing and where they were supposed to be. It struck me early that with only 2 pickers up (Benson was an extra...) we had a huge responsibility to make sure we picked everything, numbers really count on a shoot. The bag was generally a small one, roughly 80, on 5 or 6 drives depending on how the day is going, although there are a lot of birds, a mixture of pheasant and partridge, they are exceptionally challenging in the fact they flew high, meaning to shoot anything the guns have to be very, very good. Which actually they were! We did spend a lot of time sweeping through after the guns, both Benson and Bramble hunted well so only the odd bird was lost. Benson was actually a star, picking partridge in some very challenging conditions.
Sat in the back of the wagon....
The fabulous cockers!
The last drive, you can see the huge miscanthus (7-8 foot high...) behind where we had to pick partridge from at the end of the drive...
A quick video of the last drive..it was hard going trying to keep an eye on all the guns when birds were coming in from several directions...
Me getting lost in the miscanthus!
Seriously trying to find partridge was like needle in a haystack. Benson came into his own, and picking 2 out of the four...Bramble another and one of the fab three the last one...so well done that chocolate boy! Finally 2 tired but happy dogs, and very tired OH!
Looked a great day though and all dogs looked very happy.
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