A guide for the grouse shooting novice
Grouse shooting
The grouse shooting season opens on August 12 and closes December 10. This particular sport is popular because grouse fly fast and provide a real challenge. Grouse are mostly found in heather moorland, which makes shooting grouse even trickier because the birds aren’t so easy to spot.
The sport is regularly under fire by those that oppose it, from attempts to licence grouse moors to accusations of illegally killing birds of prey. However, a GWCT study estimated that shooting grouse could support over 1,000 jobs and contribute £23.3million to Scottish GDP.
You can find the latest news, features and grouse tips in this section of the website.
What does the future hold for Ilkley Moor without grouse shooting?
On the other end of the phone the keeper let out a short, exasperated sigh. “The peewits will go, curlews, grouse of course, they’ll lose the lot.” “How long until there is a big impact” I asked. “Two years maybe, certainly not more. ” We were discussing the likely outcome…
17 photographs that will make you wish you were out on the grouse moors. Wearing tweeds.
For the past few weeks, our Instagram has been featuring some spectacular images of the grouse moors, courtesy of John Sugden, of Campbells of Beauly, who has been taking photographs on our behalf. They’re wonderfully atmospheric and have provoked serious jealousy amongst the team here who have yet to escape…
I’m a driven grouse shooting novice. Help!
I’ve bought a small day, driven grouse shooting in late October, in a charity auction for me and seven mates.
Grouse shooting: 12 facts you need to know about the Glorious 12th
1. It’s all thanks to the train Grouse shooting got going when the Victorians built railways that made it easier to get up onto the moors, back in the mid-19th century. Suddenly you could travel relatively comfortably with all your equipment and your gundogs. Around the same time, the breech-loading…
Police donation to BASC funds school trips on grouse moors
North Yorkshire Police has donated £3,000 to BASC, which will be used to enable hundreds of primary school children to experience first-hand the work done on conservation on grouse moors and to meet the people who do it. The grant came from the Police Property Fund, which turns unreturnable stolen…
How the grouse debate was won
More than two years of hard campaigning by those who wanted to see driven grouse shooting banned has ended in complete failure. Securing parliamentary time for their issue was more than the anti-shooting campaigners dared hope for when they launched their latest petition to ban driven grouse shooting, and their excitement was palpable. The activists’ hopes were dashed however when what seemed…
Why restrictions on grouse shooting would reduce rural tourism
It will come as no surprise that the inquiry and debate into driven grouse shooting, which was triggered by the online petition on Parliament’s website calling for the sport to be banned, has been at the forefront of the Countryside Alliance’s activities over the past couple of months. However, we have also seen further “attacks” on shooting…
MPs give overwhelming support to grouse shooting
The debate was never going to result in legislation but did represent an important opportunity to get some facts concerning moorland management into Hansard, the Parliamentary record. A large number of MPs attended and over 20 made contributions – which meant that speeches had to be restricted to seven minutes…
Highlights from yesterday’s Parliamentary grouse shooting debate
1/2 IN CONCLUSION: #GrouseShooting debate – @theresecoffey “Gov has no intention of banning DGS…” — Shooting Times (@ShootingTimes) October 31, 2016 2/2 IN CONCLUSION: #GrouseShooting debate – @theresecoffey “But every intention of bringing to justice those who break the law” — Shooting Times (@ShootingTimes) October 31, 2016 Stunning work @CAupdates…
Protecting grouse moors
With around 75 per cent of the world’s heather moorland located in the UK, tied with the fact that heather moorland habitat is in a more critical condition than the rainforests, it is clear that conservation and positive management of the moors to maintain this diverse habitat is vital for its survival. Continuing the overwhelming efforts of the previous generations…
SIGN the petition to keep grouse moors and grouse shooting
Grouse shooting is under threat. And we need YOU to sign the petition to protect grouse shooting and grouse moors. The petition to ban grouse shooting is to be debated in Parliament on 31 October. To aid our side of the debate please SIGN the petition to protect grouse moors…
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 my eyes I realised it was 4.30am and I was “back up north” to help out on a couple of days’ grouse counting.…
Fancy an affordable way of grouse shooting?
It always amazes me how quickly the season comes around, but here we go again — and if you are about to head north, I am sure the excitement is building. Grouse shooting, especially early-season driven grouse, is an expensive form of shooting. However, if you are keen to try shooting this amazing wild bird, then walked-up grouse…
Rain and snow could mean a late start for some this grouse season
Bad weather has once again led to mixed prospects for the start of the upcoming grouse season, according to gamekeepers and sporting agents across England and Scotland. A prolonged period of wet weather, combined with very late snowfall, has led to reduced brood sizes in some areas and some cancelled days. However, keepers are confident that good sport will…
Grouse counts now underway
Moorland estates across Scotland are gearing up for the start of the shooting season and are carrying out counts to gain an accurate measure for the season ahead. Given the long winter and wet summer months breeding conditions have been less favourable on many estates. However, thanks to perseverance and…
The pleasure of working dogs on a grouse moor
For most of us the shooting season is still months away. If, however, you are fortunate enough to work your dogs on the grouse moors, there’s just three weeks or so to go before the start, assuming that grouse stocks are robust enough for shooting to begin on 12 August. However, since the introduction of medicated grit, grouse populations no longer…
How should we do a grouse count on our moorland?
Our small syndicate has taken on a nice bit of moorland in the Grampian region this year and we have been keeping vermin under control. We would like to have one or two days this summer, but we don't want to overshoot our stock. How should we go about doing…
Some grouse shooting lessons
Grouse shooting lessons! Mark Russell reveals the best ways to tackle grouse-type targets in the run-up to the grouse shooting season.
The charm of walked-up grouse shooting
Tramping across heather is mesmeric. One step, another; one step, another. Horizons and granite grab the gaze and it’s hard to focus on the small, be it a flutter of brown as a meadow pipit rises or the red of carnivorous sundews awaiting the next midge to err from the safety of the nearby crusted peat. And then…