A fisherman shoots

A week in the Cromdale hills brings surprisingly good weather, decent numbers of grouse and a pleasing shooting result for Arthur Oglesby

Warm sun kissed the heather-clad tops of the Cromdale hills. For the past week, my wife and I have been the guests of Maurice Kruch, shooting grouse at Revack and Dorback. The hospitality has been quite sensational and

I count myself as extremely fortunate to have enjoyed such a wonderful time. Fellow Yorkshireman and friend David Wilkinson was the only other Briton and we were joined by three of Maurice’s Belgian friends and two Frenchmen, for a total of eight Guns.

The original plan was that we would shoot with double guns and loaders, but the shortage of grouse seemed universal so it was agreed that we would use single guns, with the help of the loaders. Miraculously, we seemed to bring good weather with us and it was a lovely Monday morning when we moved off to shoot the Cromdale beat in Revack.

I do not claim to be the greatest Shot in the business — fishing is my sport — but I do seem to have got out of a long rut when I was not shooting too well at all. Having shot with most of Mr Kruch’s guests in 1978. I knew them to be a formidable team and suspected that I would be the weakest link.

Tense

Drawing number seven put me near the end of the line. A few singletons came through to other Guns and were promptly dropped into the heather. I became slightly tense as the first grouse heading towards me cut in the afterburners and headed for the clouds. I had not touched a gun since the end of January.

So I was pleased when I fired at the sky and my first grouse of the season flew straight into the middle of the shot pattern and crumpled into the heather. That hit gave me the necessary confidence to do it again and again. Of course, there were several misses. But at the end of the day I had not disgraced myself and there was even some praise from one or two of the loaders. I began to feel a useful part of the team.

At the end of one very good drive, Mr Kruch was heard to remark: “Ze grouse have a problem, they find it very difficult to get through the line.” I have shot with some formidable performers, but I don’t think I’ve been in the company of another seven Guns at the same time who have shot so well. Most of them get regular training on Spanish partridges and all are extremely safe and accurate.

At the end of that first day, we had not perhaps seen quite so many

grouse as in 1978 but we had picked a total of 53-and-a-half brace, and that can’t be bad.

On day two, we were on the High Beat at Dorback for a demanding total of six drives and some extremely arduous work for the beaters. It is impossible to praise excessively the way they did their job, and the way the entire operation was organised by the two keepers, Ronnie Douglas and Jimmy Gordon. At the end of that day we had a grand total of 81-and-a-half

“We might easily have topped the 100-brace mark without seriously reducing the stock”

brace, and it seemed more grouse than we could have believed possible.

Indeed it was suggested by the keepers that, if we had been shooting with double guns, we might easily have topped the 100-brace mark without seriously reducing the stock.

Day three on the Erskine beat at Dorback did illustrate a slight shortage of birds. I find grouse migrations very difficult to understand and it was suggested that hen harriers had been seen in the area. Whether this has any material effect I do not know, but this day provided our lowest score for the week; a total of 49 brace.

By now I was shooting with much greater confidence. Of course, there were still the misses and birds that were just chipped at the edge of the pattern. Thankfully my dog, Jason, was doing a sterling job of retrieving and there were few runners that were not picked. I am hopeless at marking birds and simply forget where they fall. It is enough for me to shoot them and remember how many there are to pick. Jason usually makes up for my other shortcomings and he has one of the best noses in the game.

Sadly, he sometimes prefers to use his legs in a mad circumnavigation of the north of Scotland and he can demonstrate a distinct reluctance to hand the birds over once he’s picked them. Not the best all-rounder, but a great mate and game finder.

Day four found us on the Cornaline beat at Dorback, being pestered by midges but seeing a lot of birds. I had drawn off the main battle line. When the day’s total of 86-and-a-half brace was announced, I knew I had not maintained my average.

Right-and-left

Our final day on the hill was to prove the most memorable for me, for the simple reason that I achieved one of the most startling rights-and lefts I’ve ever done. Two birds, very close together, came high over my butt. They were going like bullets at extreme range and I pointed my gun at a void and pulled the trigger twice.

There was a ribald comment from Dick Wilkinson and a wave of congratulation from one of the Frenchmen we had christened ‘John Wayne’. It made me feel very useful indeed. At the end of that shooting day we made a total of 69 brace and there finished another very memorable week.

Danger levels

In the circumstances — a long hard winter, lack of good spring and summer feeding — I was agreeably surprised by the number of grouse we saw. There were still quite a few coveys that were too small to fly and the stock has not been reduced to anything like danger levels.

It seems doubtful there will be much more shooting there this season. Grouse shooting is a privilege that fewer people can now acquire, a diminishing resource being sought by a more affluent society, a page in the history of fieldsports.

On the final day, I spent the odd hour casting for salmon. The river was low, full of red and black fish best left unmolested to fulfil their prime task on the spawning redds. Few were being caught but it was of no consequence. For my final week, I’m being joined by several friends and guests on my course at the Seafield Lodge hotel. I am not here to catch fish but merely to show others how to cast and to assist in their enjoyment.

This article was first published in the 4 October 1979 issue of Shooting Times.

“I was agreeably surprised by the number of grouse we saw; the stock has not been reduced to anything like danger levels”

“The river was low, full of red and black fish best left unmolested to fulfil their prime task on the spawning redds”

“Grouse shooting is a privilege that fewer people can acquire”