People often ask: “How old should my dog be before taking it into the beating line?” The truth is there is no straight answer — so much depends on the…
Nick Ridley
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A guide to the different types of rough shooting
I recently discussed rough shooting (walked-up shooting) with Matt Clark, Sporting Gun editor and how to go about participating in this most enjoyable part of our sport. (You can listen…
All about the cocker spaniel
Look around the shooting field today and you’d be correct in thinking that the cocker spaniel and the springer spaniel are two of the most popular gundog breeds. But the…
The right kit for a succesful day’s rough shooting
It would be fair to say that I am pretty well addicted to my walked-up shooting. Years ago, walked-up or rough shooting was the mainstay of many a Gun and…
The kit you need for gundog training
In this informative video, you’ll discover what’s the best colour to choose for a dummy. The shade that a gundog will see best and which colours are best avoided. Nick…
All-round gundogs – do they exist?
Most of my friends have more than one dog, they may have a spaniel or two for beating, a retriever for shooting at a peg or picking-up and a few…
Ratting with a Sealyham Terrier
The phone rang, “Hello Nick, it’s Harry Parsons, what you doing next Tuesday?” A quick check of the diary and it looked all clear. “Fancy coming out for a day’s…
The German shorthaired pointer
The very first time I saw a German shorthaired pointer (GSP) working was about 25 years ago. I had been invited to photograph an HPR (hunt, point, retrieve) spring pointing test on the Waddesdon Manor…
What ground cover is the hardest for a gundog to work?
A multi-purpose gundog of any breed should be able to deal with anything that is put in front of it. But depending on what part of the country you live in, or whether you…
What’s a gundog worth?
Last week I started my 2016/17 picking-up season at my regular shoot, near Henley-On-Thames in Oxfordshire. During lunch there was the normal early season grumblings about how much people get paid and how such and…
A closer look at the terrier
There is no doubt that the terrier breeds are the “hard men” of the canine world, ready to take on their quarry above and below ground. Most terrier breeds were developed in Great Britain and…
Grouse counts with cocker and springer spaniels
There I was stretched out on a sun-kissed beach drinking cold rum and cokes when all of a sudden I could hear a high pitched shrieking – it was my alarm. As I slowly opened…
Why is the Labrador retriever such a favourite with shooters?
A versatile breed, this hunting companion is the eyes and ears of its owner, can be used to detect drugs, explosives, open doors and even post letters. It can guard, jump, swim, and is the epitome of…
Shooting memories I’d rather forget …
Following a conversation I had with someone at a game fair recently, I realised that despite there being many thousands of gundogs working in the field not many of their…
Hunt, point and retrieve – truly versatile dogs
Many years ago, when I started out photographing gundogs, I used to attend quite a few spring pointing tests and it was at these events where I not only saw…
Run rabbit run, here comes the lurcher
When I was growing up I used to spend a lot of my school holidays with my grandparents in a small rural village in Kent. Next door lived an old man…
Clumber spaniels – a genuine gundog breed
During 2015 there were 217 Clumber spaniel puppies registered in Britain. Compare this with 10,500 springer spaniels and 22,500 cocker spaniels registered and you will realise that this is not…
What is a rough day’s shooting?
Last week, I received an email from one of the subscribers to my YouTube channel. He had been watching one of the latest head-cam videos and he asked what the difference is…
A good day’s sport roughshooting in Buckinghamshire
I was feeling pretty fed up as I checked as many weather apps and websites I could find, the forecast ranged from thick fog to dense mist, the worst conditions possible for a walked-up day…
Picking-up with a Sealyham terrier
I get a real buzz out of watching any kind of “working” dog do what it was bred for, whether that is a hard-going spaniel tearing apart a bramble bush…